1948" BULB - CA TAL O.G 1 

Our lG4S Vutroductious 
WHITE CHRISTMAS (Fischer) 
Myrna X (Maid of Orleans x White Ribbon) 
(614-41) 
White Christmas is a flower that one 
dreams of but rarely sees. Scrutinizing its 
grace, elegance and dignity one is captured 
by a silent message that is beyond this world 
in its purity and power. This ruffled, waxy, 
snow-sculptored stylist has been named 
White Christmas because it is as uplifting 
as a snowy, white Christmas in our northern 
climate. A whole day was spent arranging 
and photographing the basket featured on 
the opposite page. As the day came to a 
close we realized that the White Christmas 
message had done something to us. Our 
souls had been gently bathed in beauty. 
White Christmas is snowy white with a 
cream cast in the throat. Sometimes one 
will see a glint of pink in its makeup. Six 
to nine 6” florets come well attached to tall 
17 to 20 bud spikes. Few glads open as well 
in water. It is a remarkably robust grower, 
distinctly disease-resistant and precocious, 
blooming well from small bulbs. The past 
two seasons, I could wish for better floret 
placement and better propagation, tho pre- 
viously it was excellent in both respects. 
Old bulbs are prone to split badly and need 
all but one eye removed. It makes beautiful 
bulbs and good sized bulblets which germ- 
inate nearly 100%. White Christmas bulblets 
are one of the best growers in the field. 
As a seedling, I called White Christmas 
“My Solveig White’, because of its similarity 
to that great advancement in_ gladiolus 
breeding. White Christmas is a likeness of 
the once famous Solveig, but it has the 
vigor of Picardy and Maid of Orleans added. 
It is derived from the Prestgard strain which 
was noted for its purity of color and beauty 
of form. Myrna is (Maid of Orleans X Shir- 
ley Temple). Shirley Temple is (Picardy X 
Ruffled Beauty). 
White Christmas was the _ three-spike 
grand Champion of the ’47 Nebraska show 
where the renowned J. Elton Carter, after 2 
hours of careful deliberation and fond hand- 
ling gave a single spike a high score of 92, 
and it takes a mighty good spike to rate an 
honest 85 to his critical eye. Incidentally, 
Mr. Carter was one of the judges that hung 
the purple ribbon on Solveig when it was 
exhibited as a seedling at the American 
Gladiolus Society show in Cleveland in 1931 
where Solveig was awarded the only First 
Class Certificate that society awarded to ex- 
hibition gladiolus in sixteen years of glad- 
iolus judging. White Christmas was 3-spike 
grand champion at the Iowa state show last 
summer. Kenneth Weale, of Massachusetts, 
exhibited White Christmas and won the New 
England Commendation Award with a score WHITE CHRISTMAS 

