COLONIAL GARDENS’ REPORT ON THE MAKE YOUR GLAD 
INTRODUCTIONS FOR 1940 1939 BLOOMING SEASON HOBBY PAY FOR ITSELF 
LIBERATOR (Baerman) (Sultan (Crow) x Flaming Meteor) 
We have always made it a rule never to name a glad after a 
political or controversial figure, so lest anyone jump to the conclusion 
that this name has anything to do with either side of the current insan¬ 
ity abroad, we hasten to make a complete disavowal! We have had 
this name up our sleeve for several years awaiting the arrival of a red 
or scarlet gladiolus sufficiently outstanding to merit so great a name. 
When the brilliant scarlet seedling which won the grand championship 
in the seedling class at Wisconsin in 1938 proved a runaway propaga¬ 
tor in addition to possessing all its other fine qualities we decided we 
had the scarlet we wanted. Liberator is a brilliant, bricky orange- 
scarlet of the highest lustre and smoothness we have ever seen in a 
scarlet glad. A slight silveryness of sheen may be noted at the ex¬ 
treme edge of the petals. Form is so precise as to make the florets 
look carved. 
Liberator is descended from the four greatest reds of an earlier 
generation: Purple Glory and Dr. Bennett (Sultan), Pfitzer's Triumph 
and Aflame (Flaming Meteor). 
A very consistent regular performer of good height, producing fine, 
cuttaL le spikes from small bulbs and even blooming from bulblets in 
75 days. Foliage, so often indicative of vigor, is up to three inches 
wide. We consider Liberator a very auspicious beginning for a new 
decade of glad introductions. 
Bulbs each, any size: $12.00. Bulblets: $1.00 each. 
LEGEND (C. Fischer) (Picardy x Maid of Orleans) 
The soft, lush, quiet beauty of this huge light pink glad carries a 
remarkable effect of bland tranquillity. In form it is somewhat remi¬ 
niscent of Margaret Fulton but is more elegantly recurved, and of 
course it is far larger. In fact it rivals well grown Picardy for size. 
The color of Legend is a pure light pink blending to an entirely 
unmarked creamy white throat. Will show a light flecking in certain 
weather. Has a stronger spike than Picardy and will not crook in hot 
weather. A very tall grower with heavy foliage. Placement is excel- 
len; propagation heavy. Top notch in color, size, height, and general 
vigor. 
Bulbs each, any size: $12.00. Bulblets: $1.00 each. 
EDVARD GRIEG (Prestgard) (Parentage unknown) 
Our first "blue" introduction. Similar to the well known Ave 
Maria in color except that the throat marking is less distinct. The tall¬ 
est blue we grow. Even from planting stock it will open eight large 
florets at a time. Has fine foliage and a good bulb. A good propa¬ 
gator. We consider Edvard Grieg a genuinely worthwhile addition to 
a very limited color class. 
Bulbs each, any size: $6.00. Bulblets: $.75 each. 
GOLDENHEART (C. Fischer) (Picardy x Pruitt No. 169) 
Usually the color classification of a glad is determined by the 
color found near the edge of the petals—in this case a warm light pink. 
But this could hardly be called a pink glad, as the soft yellow of the 
throat pours out in such generous profusion as to cover fully two-thirds 
of the petals. If you grow the beautiful variety, Conquest, we might 
describe Goldenheart for you as a ruffled Conquest with much more 
yellow in the throat. The fine suede texture of Picardy is very notice¬ 
able is this seedling. A tall grower with a moderate flowerhead; good 
propagator. 
(Pruitt No. 169, as we learned several years after using it, was a 
seedling of Betty Nuthall x Glorina). 
Bulbs each, any size: $3.00. Bulblets $.50 each. 
The 1938 blooming season was the finest we have ever enjoyed 
since we began growing glads. However, the 1939 season in spite of 
being much drier, was a close second—our local rains having been 
well spaced. 
The thrills began with the first glad that came into flower (in the 
greenhouse), Myma —one of the discoveries of the season. This huge, 
richly ruffled tall creamy white does not quite equal Shirley Temple at 
the latter's best (as enjoyed on the Pacific Coast', but unlike the latter 
which is a very doubtful doer in hot weather, Myma was magnificent 
in extreme heat, crooking not at all. We are pleased to give Myma 
our highest recommendation. Few glads that we can think of offhand 
combine so fully the high beauty to thrill the fancier, with the stalwart 
qualities of performance that the commercial grower requires. Also 
outstanding among the whites was Pfitzer's much touted Edelweis. 
This huge flower possesses fine form and a papery whiteness that is 
absolutely snowy. We liked Snowwhite a great deal also. Every 
fancier will want to have it. Margaret Beaton is certainly one of the 
dozen finest glads we grow. This variety won the grand champion¬ 
ship at the Minnesota State Fair this year and was also runner-up. 
Spikes were entered by two different growers (neither Colonial Gard¬ 
ens), indicating how generally well this glad performs. . . . Incidentally, 
no one will ever know what Margaret Beaton was bred from. Our 
friend Mr. Twomey, one of the youngest hybridizers in the glad game, 
secured it as the result of his initial effort from unrecorded crosses made 
from some dime-store glad bulbs given by a friend. (Though Beaton 
may have been beginner's luck, subsequent carefully planned crosses 
from the same originator, indicate that dame fortune evidently knew 
what she was about.) But here is what I was getting at: This sum¬ 
mer we had a seedling bloom that almost duplicated Beaton (tho the 
small marking may have been even pinker)—and it came from a quite 
incredible cross: Picardy x Marmora. The fact that a number of 
whites came from this cross (some of them pure whites) indicates that 
no error was made. (After all Ariadne, the other new blotched white, 
came from Picardy x Red Lory.) . . . We must not overlook Vredenburgh, 
an earlier, larger, whiter Maid of Orleans, which reminds one consid¬ 
erably of the great Edelweis. It promises well as a commercial . . . 
Lastly, to share one of our seedling thrills, I'll mention the largest glad 
that ever bloomed in our garden or fields: a snow white seedling of 
Picardy x Minuet, larger than Picardy, Heritage or Miss New Zealand. 
Before if came into bloom the buds (there were over 20) were set about 
5" apart on the stem. When nine 6Vi" blooms, set so well apart were 
open at once it was unquestionably the largest glad we have ever 
bloomed. However, tho this was the second year it bloomed, 1 want to 
be careful to "knock on wood" because so many seedlings lose in later 
bloomings that something that made them great . . . All in all, it was 
quite a white year! 
In the other color classes, glads that stand out in retrospect are 
King Lear, a magnificent purple, Gloaming an ideal commercial in 
great favor with the florists, Diane a taller, larger, plain-petalled Bar¬ 
carole, Aladdin, a superb beauty that may not be a commercial, 
Usona, an unusually smooth new smoky, Greta Garbo, an apricot from 
Konynenburg and Mark, Jasmine, Palmer's new lemon yellow, a real 
beauty. Sensation was startlingly large but hardly a color-thrill. Mar¬ 
guerite was not as good as in the West, but give it time to get ac¬ 
climated. It is a really great glad. 
Chamouny, as usual, attracted more attention from garden visitors 
than any other variety we bloomed. Women, especially, have a 
weakness for this unusual bright cerise-rose color. 
Irak was excellent—one of the most outstanding novelties without 
any question. Amulet is certainly one of Palmer's best- a magnifi¬ 
cently rhffled apricot. Arethusa was fine, but varied a little in color, 
depending on the weather. Freckles would make a real name for itself 
if it were only a good propagator. Algonguin was good, but Memory 
of Hindenburg outdid itself this season among the reds. Changeable 
Silk probably has the most subtle beauty of any gladiolus. It is a 
very gopd doer with us. Virginal Rima is still a phantom of delight. 
Puritan and Cavalier were finer this summer than we have ever grown 
them. I hope they did as well elsewhere, and that their outstanding 
beauty is not obscured by other glads of greater size. New Era is still 
in everybody's dozen best. Rosalie made more of a hit with others 
than with the writer. I'll admit it's good, however. Morning Serenade 
is all we claimed for it in color—the impalpable glowing softness of the 
dawn is surely there. Rulfled Beauty and Paradise, neither so new, 
were both among the best. 
Alsp outstanding, of course, were the seedlings which we are 
introducing this year: Liberator, Legend, Edvard Grieg, Goldenheart, 
and Radiance 
This summer one of our customers sold $175.00 worth of cut flower 
glads to florists and neighbors from a planting covering a single city 
lot (75' x 150'), and would have done even better had he planted only 
varieties that produce the highest percentage of cuttable spikes. (It is 
this consideration along with earliness, and color value that determines 
which glads can be grown successfully commercially.) 
Since many of our customers sell some glads as cut flowers and 
since information as to the best varieties to grow for this purpose is 
frequently requested, I am listing herewith the varieties which in our 
experience produce the highest percentage of cuttable spikes and have 
the colors most in demand. Several years ago we presented such a 
list. This new one is modified to conform to further experience of our 
own, and is divided for the first time into early, midseason, and late 
recommendations. 
When the same variety appears in both early and midseason rec¬ 
ommendations (and sometimes late also) it means that several plant¬ 
ings of this variety are made or that we plant different sizes. (Varieties 
that produce tall spikes from No. 3 or No. 4 bulbs are especially eco¬ 
nomical to grow for cut flowers, and this factor has been considered in 
making these recommendations.) 
Early pinks: Sweetheart, Margaret Fulton. Midseason pinks: 
Margaret Fulton, Debonair, Phyllis McQuiston. Late pinks: Picardy, 
Margaret Fulton, Debonair. 
Early and midseason white: Maid of Orleans. Late whites: Maid of 
Orleans, Mary Elizabeth. 
Early and midseason yellows and oranges: Brightside, Golden 
Poppy. Late yellows and oranges: Brightside, Bit O' Heaven, Golden 
Poppy, Primate. 
Early cream, buff, flesh: Lotus. Midseason cream, buff, flesh: 
Lotus, Duna. Late cream, buff, flesh: Duna, Paradise. 
Midseason and late reds and scarlets: Dr. Bennett, Red Phipps, 
Com. Koehl, Dr. Hoeg. 
Early lavenders and purples: Queen of Bremen, King Arthur, 
Gloaming. Midseason lavenders and purples: King Arthur, Early 
Melody, Gloaming. Late lavenders and purples: Minuet, Gloaming, 
Early Melody (from No. 3's and 4's), King Arthur. 
All season violet: Ave Maria. 
We have, of course, omitted all high priced varieties from this list. 
Also we deliberately held the list down to about twenty-five varieties to 
comprise only the "cream" of the commercials. 
If I had to pick five varieties from this list that are (in our locality) 
the very ultimate in fine performance (cutting 95-100%—and more when 
the bulbs split), 1 would name: Margaret Fulton, Maid of Orleans, 
Minuet, Gloaming, Debonair. Their unfailing height and reliability 
even in dry weather make them commercials par excellence. We sell 
more Margaret Fulton and Maid of Orleans ot florists than we do any 
other varieties. Picardy is the No. 1 commercial late in the season but 
we cannot bloom it successfully here until after August 15 because it 
crooks so badly in the severe heat that often prevails here up to about 
that date. (Incidentally, the commercial sorts recommended here are 
exceptionally heat resistant except for Picardy.) 
Brightside and Golden Poppy sell so much better than any other 
yellows or oranges with our florists that we sell few others. I should 
make one exception. Ruffled Beauty, in a slightly higher price bracket, 
is much in demand as a light yellow. Early Melody has proved a find 
in the lavender class. Its remarkable height from even No. 5 bulbs 
makes it truly outstanding. 
We depend to a considerable extent on "cull" bulbs for our own 
cut flower crop—i. e. large bulbs injured in digging, etc. Of the nearly 
two million small bulbs (planting stock) which we planted this year, 
less than 2% were cut for commercial sale, and these were cut so as 
to save the foliage. (We top all our planting stock—i. e. blooms of any 
size are removed, so that all the strength will go to the bulbs.) 
We thought it might be of interest to show approximately what 
percentage of our total cut flower sales was accounted for by each of 
the varieties on our especially recommended list. (We sold some of 
other varieties, of course, also, but for convenience's sake they are 
omitted from this total. Also, in a few cases where we could have sold 
more of a certain variety than we were able to cut, I have raised the 
percentage slightly to give a fair picture oi florist demand in our local¬ 
ity (It may, of course, vary in yours): 
Margaret Fulton 12 percent, Debonair 5 percent, Picardy 7 percent, 
Sweetheart 5 percent, Phyllis McQuiston 5 percent, Maid of Orleans 
13 percent, Mary Elizabeth 2 percent, Brightside 5 percent, Golden 
Poppy 5 percent, Bit O' Heaven 1 percent, Primate 2 percent, Lotus 3 
percent, Duna 5 percent, Paradise 2 percent, Dr. Hoeg 1 percent, Com¬ 
mander Koehl 2 percent, Red Phipps 2 percent, Dr. Bennett 2 percent, 
Queen of Bremen 2 percent, King Arthur 4 percent, Early Melody 4 per¬ 
cent, Minuet 5 percent, Gloaming 3 per cent, Ave Maria 3 percent. 
RADIANCE (Baerman) (Picardy x Tip Top) 
Deep salmon pink verging onto scarlet with a small distinct throat 
blotch of white. Another stalwart performer that, like our other intro¬ 
ductions of this season, should prove a good commercial. Radiance 
opens a long ribbon of bloom. Placement, habits, and propagation 
are excellent. 
Bulbs each, any size: $3.00. Bulblets: $.50 each. 
f&y HeaueAt 
Last year when we offered in our SYMPOSIUM COLLECTION to send any 
twenty-four new glads that might be selected from our list—even if they cost $5 
or more apiece-for a total of only S10, some people thought it too good to be 
true, and a few surmised that we might send only bulblets, etc. However, our 
guarantee of satisfaction and our promise to send not less than a total value of 
$50.00 (the choice of how much we could spare of each variety to be leit 
to us), invoked a very hearty response. When our customers received their 
shipments, an unusual number of them wrote expressing their appreciation and 
surprise at the generous shipments and voicing a hope that we would repeat the 
symposium collection. We had not intended to do so, but on further thought 
decided to try it as a FALL SPECIAL. This offer is too good—and results in too 
great depletion of our stocks—to be repeated regularly. So if you want to get 
another of these wonderful glad bargains, get your order in as early as possible. 
One thing I can definitely state and that is that if the U. S. gets involved in war, 
bargains such as this will be impossible! . . . Any variety on our list may be 
included this year. A 50% deposit will hold your order. As last year, if you 
are not both surprised and pleased with your shipment, you may return it for a 
cheerful refund. Please use the attached special order blank for your order. 
If you live in a locality where there is a market for cut flower 
glads or if you would like more of these cut flower varieties for 
your own and your friends' enjoyment, we make the following un- 
lusual cut flower special: 
We will supply any of the following varieties in lots of not 
less than 200 of each at 1c per bulb, F.O.B. Rushford—one-fourth 
pf each lot to be No. l's one-fourth No. 2's, one-fourth No. 3's, and 
Ipne-fourth No. 4's. This size assortment will give you the proper 
.Succession of bloom and enable you got o start with commer¬ 
cial varieties at a very low price. No matter how many you order 
of a variety we will send one-fourth of each of the first four sizes. 
Thus if you order 1000 Brightside ($10.00) we will send 250 No. l's, 
250 No. 2's, 250 No. 3's, 250 No. 4's, etc. Here are the varieties 
included in this offer (and we are including some good runner-up 
commercials as well as most of the top-notchers mentioned 
above): 
Margaret Fulton 
Brightside 
Debonair 
Golden Poppy 
Picardy 
Queen of Bremen 
Dream O' Beauty 
RcMT.crF. loor, the 
Duna 
Lotus 
Maid of Orleans 
Early Melody 
Berty Snow 
Ave Maria 
Phyllis McQuiston 
Sweetheart 
Recovery 
Golden Dream 
Paradise 
Waraga 
King Arthur 
Baby Decorah 
•’rum order v- ‘Hie price ir 200 bulb- of cr 
variety. We reserve the right to withdraw this special offer at 
any time either as to specific varieties!or as to all varieties, so get 
your order in early! 
If you want to buy special sizes/ here is our regular whole¬ 
sale F.O.B. price on the above 
Per 1000: No. 1—$24. No. 
No. 5—$6. No. 6—$4. 
