NEW SWEET PEAS

Evening Star, Issue 22685, 26 June 1937, Page 23

NEW SWEET PEAS

While it is always a good plan _ to include a large proportion of triedvarieties of sweet pea, it is equally advisable to add a few novelties, because of the excitement of trying out something new and because there is always the, chance of finding improvements on existing varieties. Most of the newcomers are as useful for exhibition purposes as they are for ordinary decorative purposes. This year novelties are fewer than usual, due partly to the bad seed harvest, and early orders are necessary to ensure delivery (says ‘ Popular Gardening,’ London). Purple King is a bright and cleanlooking flower of the shade that is often termed royal purple It can be grown near any of the white or cream shades for contrast. One of the novelties bears the name Coronation. It is a pretty shade of rich salmon pink on a cream ground, and there is a flush of apricot in its colouring. The growth is robust, flower stems are very long, and the blooms are up to exhibition standard. New colours are rare these days, but Red Rover and Wood Violet are distinct from anything in commerce. The former is a rich shade of red with a velvety sheen, a very strong grower with plenty of fours and occasional lives and many duplex standards. The blooms last well when cut. Wood Violet is a rich violet-blue, with practically no red-dish-violet in it; this makes it a brighter and cleaner shade. It is a ; very strong grower, with particularly long stems. Long-stemmed sweet peas are invaluable for those who desire their blooms mainly for cutting and home decoration. Pink and pastel shades of sweet peas are always popular. They are extremely pretty iti artificial light. Picardy has the pink of apple-blossom, and a deeper rose-pink in its make-up; and it is going to be a strong rival of the popular Mayfair. Greta is a rich shade of salmon -pink. It is a large, frilly flower of great refinement, with well-placed blooms on long, stout stems; it is very vigorous. Prestige is a beautiful flower of soft and delicate pink colouring, flushed over a cream-buff ground. I have grown it for two years as a seedling, and can testify to its size, frilliness, and vigour. It is an excellent all-round novelty. A newcomer named Betty has salmonpink and apricot so delicately suffused that it is almost a self-colour; it is one of those delightful soft shades that is sure to be popular, especially with ladies. Winsome is a pastel shade of pearly pink. Two new white varieties named Snowdon and Bridal Veil are sure to be grown by those who are not satisfied with the purity of some of the existing whites. Both are dense white with plenty of substance in the petal, and of great size and fri'liness. They_ are of vigorous habit and strong constitution. Rich shades, combining scarlet, orange, and cerise, are found in Vivid, a bright scnrlet-orcnoe that plows in the sunlight. Orange King, of somewhat similar colouring, and Simplicity, a lovelv Any of these would form a striking contrast, with lavenders, blues, or purples. Abyssinia, a rich deep maroon of the Warrior type, Carmine Gem, an improvement on the old variety Lustre, which was noted for its vigour and length of stem. Regal,' another rich rmrple of distinct tone, and Cambridge Blue, the colour of the University blue, make up a quartet of _ bright seifs. Morning Mist is more mixed in its colouring, being almost a grev lavender, rather a unioue shade. I have grown this ns a seedling, and if restricted to a single loader- it will give large frillv blooms with many double and triple standards..