Evening star., 1948-08-08

July, August and September are
''glad" months in many local gardens.
While 1t is possible to have giads In
bloom from late Nay until frost.
few have the space to permit con-
tinuous series of paintings necessary
to provide for such long season OF
bloom. Some gardeners fail to
realize the possibilities of this excel
lent cut flower. and make q single
planting in late April or early May.
However, this is not quite as bad as
it sounds, for the cormS usually vary
in size from small to large, which
tends to prolong the Towering sea-
son. Planting at various depths has
the same effect.
Washington has not had large
gladiolus show In some years and
the home gardener lacks a good
guide to choice varieties. While the
catalogs are filled with descriptions
of hundreds of varieties, we must
not overlook the fact that not all
varieties do well in our soil and
climate. There are, however, sew
eral large growers in this area and
it will pay interested gardeners to
visit them and select those varieties
which have the desired habit of
growth, color and form of flowers.
Some Good Whites.
The following are few OF the
local suggestions on worthwhile
varieties but it is suggested that you
check them in the field. OF the
white varieties, Maid of Orleans, an
old favorite of several local garden
ers, might well be compared with
Silver Wings, new sport OF
Picardy. 1t is still relatively high
priced and some will prefer to try
Snow Princess or Mount Index.
Silver Star is another good white
but has throat markings which may
not appeal to some. Margaret
Beaton, white with brilliant
markings in the throat, is still good
and is inexpensive.
Among the cream -colored varieties
Leading Lady is well worth grow
ing-it has good form and is sport
of Picardy, which should convince
any glad grower that it is worth a
trial. Corona, Gardenia and Shirley
Temple are other good. inexpensive
cream -coIored varieties.
Yellows are still scarce and dif-
ficult to grow in this area. Miss
Bloomington, variety introduced
in 1929, is still one of the best
Spotlight, a new and rather ex-
pensive variety, is rated much bet
ter. Van Gold and Mother Kadel
are worthy of trial
Orange, Salmon, Pink.
Bit O'Heaven is still good among
the orange shaded varieties. Mar
oueeta has higher rating, because
Bit O'Heaven has slight hooding
of the florets. Orange Gold, new
(1946) variety, looks like a coming
variety in this class. The Mems
Garden Club of Montgomery Coun-
ty recommends Barcarole, Kestrel
and Lantana.
Picardy still rates tops in the
salmon shades. Margaret Fulton
and Debonair are other good in
expensive varieties. The former has
the higher rating. King William is
newer and some think it very at
tractive. All are worth trying and
they are inexpensive.
Greta Garbo is perhaps one OF the
best of the pinks, although new
conner, Cover Girl, promises to offer
serious competitors when it sheGomes
more plentiful. Other good pinks
are Big Top and Jeanie. Ethel Cave
Cole is an excellent cut-fiower but
not able to compete with those
named above in exhibition.
Algonquin is still the best OF the
scarlets; Beacon rates second. Both
are well-knoWn varieties. inexpen-
sive and better than DR.. F. E. Ben
nett and Red Phipps.
Among the reds it looks as though
Red Charm and Black Opal have
completely superseded Dr., c. Hoeg
and Morocco. Hawkeye Red is al
orange-red that rates well for ex-
hibition. Reds are still something
of a problem here and it is well
to try some of the newer ones.
Recent Introductions.
| Among the rose-shaded varieties
one grower has the following sug-
gestions. Burma, heavily ruffled
rose with lighter shade in the
throat; Charmaine, a medium rose
with markings in the throat, and
Miss Wisconsin. Burma and Miss
Wisconsin are relatively recent in
/ Productions.
Minuet has long been rated as the
best of the lavenders. and it is still
good for cutting. For exhibition
purpose, however, some will rate
Lavender Prince and Lavender
Queen higher. Elizabeth the Queen
is also rated higher by some and,
because it is inexpensive, may well
be added for trial.
King Lear still rates high among
the purples and is the Oldest OF
the varieties currently recommended
by one grower However, Convoy, a
Palmer origination tas is King
Lear, is believed to have better
color Purple Supreme is good
dependable variety for late-season
cutting.
Blue Beauty is one of the better
rated varieties in the violet group.
1t is an old, well-known, inexpen-
sive favorite. However, newcomer,
Abu Hassan, promises to be a bet
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