APPRAISING THE NEW ONES 
I shall confine my remarks mostly to the newer varieties, believing 
that the older varieties are too well known to need comment. However, 
let me say, that in many instances the new varieties are no better, and 
perhaps not as good as many of the old standbys. 
Among the white varieties that caught our eye this summer were 
Mother Fischer, a tall stately grower that made spike after spike, with 
7-8 beautifully ruffled blooms open at once, Karen Marie with its clean 
chaste plain petaled blooms, and Maria Goretti, the new pure white from 
Holland that we only bloomed from two bulbs but are now anxious to see 
from a larger planting. White Symphony can make a huge spike of bloom 
for the show bench but with us seems to lack a strong enough stem for 
commercial use. White Goddess continues to make those fine show spikes for which it is famous 
while Florence Nightingale is still the one we grow for its all round commercial and exhibition 
qualities. The new Presto with its large cherry throat is certainly attractive but lacked the height 
supplied by Richard Crooks the new blotched variety from Holland. 
In our field Columbia and Lief Erikson stood out among the new cream varieties. Columbia 
has the wonderful color combination of Corona along with fine growing habits and health. 
Lief Erikson seemed almost fault free and should become widely grown commercially as well 
as pushing its competition around on the show table. Tahoe, tho not the best for color, makes 
a tall stately spike and opens well from tight bud after being cut. Connie G. and Leading Lady 
will continue to win blue ribbons and rosettes along with the news ones. LaValle with its 
striking blotch and unusual floret shape can make huge spikes. 
Two outstanding new ones among the light yellows are Ruth Lorene and Howard V. 
Wright. Ruth Lorene, the lightly ruffled sport of Spotlight, is an excellent commercial while 
Howard V. Wright is a fine exhibition variety with its 7-9 large round blooms open at once. 
Candlelight, tho a short grower, is the earliest variety to bloom for us and valuable in that 
respect. Gene and Lancelot are good cut flower varieties and Lodestar has great beauty of 
the individual florets. 
Gold we think is the most beautiful of the deep yellow varieties. A short flowerhead 
doesn’t seem to stop its blue ribbon winnings and just on color and ruffling alone it will go 
a long way as a commercial. About the tallest yellow we have grown is Gelber Hercules which 
easily grew 51/,’ tall for us tho it did seem to space its 8-9 open florets a little too far apart 
under extreme culture. Robert Alan has proved itself a fine cut flower and blue ribbon winner 
while Sundance would be the best of them all if it’s bulblets grew better and it didn’t misplace. 
Hans Van Meegren has a beautiful clean color and was well received by the florists as a cut 
flower. 
_ The buff varieties are still dominated by Patrol and Quiberon on the show table although 
Wilma Dittman and Sheherazade can make fine spikes and are excellent growers. Marathon 
is certainly a huge variety but the color was disappointing. 
Daisy Mae goes on winning in the light orange class just about as surely as Little Abner 
seems to get out of his many scrapes. Orangetown is the leader in the 300 class. 
The addition of Gatineau to the deep orange varieties gives us a fine early one to go with 
the later blooming Orange Gold and Betty Duncan, both fine cut flowers. Boccherini another 
new one is also of a fine commercial while Circe and Chief Pontiac seem to be the ones to 
take the blue ribbons in this group. 
Among the light salmon varieties late blooming Gorgeous Deb is well worth waiting for 
as we think its heavily ruffled florets are just about tops for beauty. The new King Size is 
just that, truly huge, and still possessing sufficient beauty of color and form to become widely 
grown. Pink Pride, almost as large as King Size, has the ability to open large spikes when 
cut in tight bud although it did show some flecking for us this summer. Both Luxury and 
Polynesie make perfect formal show spikes with the latter being a fine commercial as well. 
Of course Picardy, the perennial contender of this class, can still produce those outstanding 
spikes which made it famous. 
The deep salmon group includes Boise Belle with its beautiful edging making it a most 
distinctive variety, the blotched Bold Face, a reliable blue ribbon winner, and Dolly Vardon, 
the huge salmon with a cream throat. Glorious, the leader in the 300’s, will now receive 
competition from Boise Belle, a tough customer to beat. Majestic can easily make 7” blooms 
and Cordova is one of the most reliable spikemakers we have grown. 
The scarlet class still finds Red Wing at the top for exhibition purposes although the 
new Sans Souci, from Holland, should give it a close run as more stock gets around. We like 
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