THE POPULARITY OF SWEET PEAS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 17, 23 April 1913, Page 38

THE POPULARITY OF SWEET PEAS.

I he experience of another season lias enhanced the popularity of the sweet pea; there is nothing like it, and it is quite right to say that no flower of the garden has succeeded in capturing the hearts and afleetions of so many people. I he sweet pea is cosmopolitan to a degree; go into any aristocratic garden yon like, and you will be sure to find a selection of up-to-date varieties of sweet peas, and yon may pass on from there to the garden of some enthusiastic cottager, and. you will find flourishing

therein the same varieties, grown just as well, dowering just as freely, and looking equally effective and in place. What other annual have we which adorns all sorts and conditions of gardens alike, which lends itself to varving circumstances so well, and fascinates the public to the same extent? Have you ever noticed how the man who grows and loves sweet peas- and who doesn’t in these days?- likes to "O abroad with a few of his favourite flowers in his coat? Men who never wear a buttonhole at any other time of the year break the rule when their sweet peas begin to bloom, and if two men meet, each having a button hole of sweet peas, the characteristic reserve of the average Briton vanishes at once, there is no need for formal introduction, and they become chummy without the slightest hesitation or reserve.

Let me just give you an instance. A short time ago I stepped into a railway carriage, having a couple of blooms of

Evelyn Hennig in my coat; in the corner on one side was a man with a nice buttonhole of Countess Spencer, ami before the train started a third traveller took his seat, and he boasted some four-flow-ered stalks of John Ingman. There was no need for any introduction, though we were all three total strangers to each other, everything else was taken for granted, for we met on common ground, as we were all sweet pea growers without being experts, cranks, exhibitors, or anything of the kind. Newspapers lay unheeded on the seat, for there was something else to talk about. Before the train started conversation began in comparing the merits of the several buttonholes, and from that we went on describing our various methods of culture, offering mutual sympathy in cases of difficulty, and chatting over .the good or bad qualities of this or that variety, speaking of them as sweet pea growers do. in a personal sense, as we might have done if we had been talking about absent friends and acquaintances. It was with genuine regret that we parted, and possibly I shall never meet either of the two travellers again, but if I do the mention of sweet peas will be quite sufficient to renew the acquaintanceship. Have you ever noticed that sweet peas have an influence in making gardeners of men? I do not mean professional gardeners. of course, but men who grow fond of their gardens, lured to the love by the fascinations of the sweet pea. Let me give you a ease in point. I know a man, a townsman to his finger ends, who never had an inch of garden in his life until last year, and when he got it he looked upon his strip of border as a burden and a responsibility. Having some sweet pea seeds left over in the spring, T asked the man if he would like to have them, but he wasn’t particularly keen about it. and took them because he had to put something in his border, and thought he might as well grow sweet peas as anything else. That man is a different individual to-day, and the change came when his sweet peas began? to bloom. The members of our local bowling club complain that they see .so little of .the man. and the fact is that he spends most of his time in his garden, tending his sweet peas, and when not thus engaged he is out and about inspecting tin* flowers of his friends and neighbours. This is no instance of fiction. but a true fact, and it goes to show what may be done by giving a wav a few spare seeds rather thin leaving them to shrivel up in the bottom of the packets. Ihe sweet pea is the flower in the garden which above all others teaches the virtue of unselfishness, and men who ere positively stingy before become suddenly generous when they commence ’rowing sweet peas. Perhaps one cannot ittribute so much credit to them for

this change of character as to the sweet pea itself, the cutting of which is an essential item in its culture. I know men who specialise in roses, carnations, and other flowers, and are always pleased to see their friends, and show them round, but the privilege of the latter is to look, and not handle, as the flowers are not intended to be cut and carried away. There is a different feeling altogether with sweet peas, for the grower knows that if he allows the flowers to fade on the plants and form seed pods the display will soon be over, so it becomes the most natural thing in the world for him to cut you a bunch, of flowers to bring away with you. after they have undergone a critical inspection on the plants. The grower may affect an air of generosity as he hands you th* bouquet. which would lead you to think that the gift comes from the fulness of his heart, but you can come to what conclusion yon like about this, and give credit to the Hower itself, which makes a law of its own that it should be cut. There are people about who are more than a little selfish in respect of their

gardens, and would never dream of giving away a bunch of flowers, but let us hope that all such may become sweet pea growers, and learn th * lesson of unselfishness which the flower teaches. As an exhibition flower the sweet pel is justly popular, and it is doing a good deal to improve the method of staging flowers at exhibitions. I am speaking here more particularly of village shows than big exhibitions, and am thankful to say that, so far as 1 know, no one has ever yet insulted the sweet pea by exhibiting it on an ugly green show board. In respect of this point I was very much struck the other day by the contrasis at a village flower show. The exhibitors bound and fettered by the law of habit and custom, had shown their asters, stocks, zinnias, and carnations on the bare Hat surfaces of uglv bonds, thin which nothing could look more unnatural. hut they had learnt better things in respect of the sweet peas. It is tru* one exhibitor showed his Howers in dis ii"od Day and Martin's blacking bottles, and another cottager had commandeered

every glass and china vase that his wire possessed, but what mattered that, the blooms were standing upright; they were set out in an artistic and tasteful manner, such as is characteristic of sweet peas at shows, and it is hope I that this departure from the beaten track of custom will lead to better things in the methods of exhibiting other flowers at shows. It is very much to be regret ted that so many new sweet peas are sent out before they are fixed, and if this sori of thing continues I am afraid it will a fleet the popularity of tin* flower; but I wonder how many people there are who in a quiet way aspire to the raising of a new sweet pea. I'he world knows a great deal more of Mendel's laws than il would ever have done if the sweet pea had remained tie* commonplace Hower that it once was. and several of my friends have told me in confidence that they have effected some crosses founded on the principles of the above law. and they hope to get a good thing or two as the result of the same. In conclusion, the queenly rose nia\ he still our national flower; I don't argue •to tin* contrary, and comparisons arc odious, but how far is the sweet pea behind in the a fleet ions of the people? This thought occurred to in.* the other day w hen I visited an old-established show at which classes for sweet peas were introduced a few years ago. There was no overlooking tin* fact that in point of number the sweet pets over (shallowed the roses, and it would be difficult to say which flower came in for the greater share of attention from th* visitors. But there. I have said enough in support of the popularity of sweet peas, and my excuse for writing this article at all is the desire to call attention t<> phases of sweet peas growing other than those which are ntrictly practical. (TH.11.. in "The Gardener's Magazine.”