Among The Show Winners 
This past show season has brought many new varieties to the foreground. Many recent 
introductions have found their way to the show bench and have become prize winners in 
their classes. More is being done to create interest in the new varieties and gladiolus shows 
are becoming more popular and are gaining a larger attendance every year. Hurray for the 
GLADIOLUS! 
MINUET—so long a favorite with us-—is ceding its place to COLONIAL MAID, ISOLA 
BELLA and GERTRUDE SWENSON. ELIZABETH THE QUEEN has received much favorable 
comment this season, and another season, with this variety more widely grown, | think we 
shall hear still more about it; also, the newer LAVENDER RUFFLES. POESY and LAVENDER 
QUEEN seem to be receiving interest in some sections. Each year the lavender shades, pur- 
ples and the blues, become more closely related. MRS. MARK’S MEMORY (red-violet) is 
one fine variety as is NAROOMA (bright magenta). Both are tall, exhibition glads and 
there is no doubt in my mind that they will be leaders in their color class as soon as the 
stocks are more plentiful. GLOAMING, an attractive purple decorative with white line in 
the throat, proves itself a nice cut flower and, | must say, | don’t know why it isn’t grown 
more widely. JOSEPH HAYDEN, a pale violet blue with a darker purple throat, is showy as 
well as handsome. It is a bit weak in the stem but still seems to be satisfactory as a cut 
flower for mixed bouquets, etc. BLUE BEAUTY, MILFORD and ALLEGRO seem to be the 
ones that have pulled down the ‘“‘blue’’ honors at the shows this season. As you look through 
the show lists, | think you will realize that BLUE BEAUTY appears as a winner more than 
most any other variety— (this is based on casual observation of show winners and not a tab- 
ulation of same). . 
Smoky varieties have been losing in popularity, according to our sales MOTHER MA- 
CHREE is sliding back to be replaced by a darker, and more showy VAGABOND PRINCE and 
MIDNIGHT SUN. WAMPUM and NORWOTTUCK are fine additions to the smoky class and 
will be seen in the show room more in the next few years. STORM TRIUMPHANT, a dark 
slaty smoky, makes a nice exhibition variety but some people think it is too dark. 
The last few years have shown the results of many hybridists’ interest in bettering the 
yellow varieties of glads. ROYAL GOLD and GOLD DUST are two fine yellows from one of 
the world’s great hybridists. The first is a light, ruffled yellow—and a good one too—while 
the latter is a deeper yellow, plain petaled, and an early glad of the decorative class—a fine 
early commercial. Newer still is MOTHER KADEL which was exceptionally fine here at the 
farm this year. | feel sure that this variety and YELLOW PERIL have a real future in store 
for them. MARY DAMARIS is a fine glad and makes a fine show of color with six or eight 
open florets but | do wish | could add a few inches to the length of the spike; however, this 
isn’t essential for home use. | am glad to see CANBERRA and GOLDEN DREAM leaving 
the show bench. 
BUFFETTE and ALSACE seem to be the best buff varieties—certainly the best of all | have 
seen or grown! Both are strong, tall, almost rank, growers. BUFFETTE is a more orange 
toned buff while ALSACE is a bit on the pink side of buff. PEGGY LOU, despite its lack of 
stem from ground to flower (which many criticize), has won a great many ribbons this season, 
as has that magnificent pure pink—-ROSA VAN LIMA. CAPEHEART and ETHEL CAVE- 
COLE are due to receive their share of popularity in the lighter pink class. 
The overcrowded, salmon-pink group includes many varieties which stand high in my 
esteem. As a group they are: PRESTIGE, with its mellow salmon pink coloring and attractive 
ruffle. DIANE, a more orange salmon, has rightfully received many prizes this year as it 
will in the next few years. MARGUERITE, a bright salmon; KING WILLIAM, a more pale 
Picardy; FLORA FARMER, a deep rose salmon with a nice ruffle; and the gorgeous MARGA- 
RET JOAN, of Errey’s, which has proven to be a fine exhibition shell pink. 
BLACK OPAL still leads the field of “black reds’? with REWI FALLU second. BLACK 
MAGIC and BRUNETTE, two more of Errey’s dark reds, are coming up in the decorative sec- 
