With the heroism and farsighted business acumen of their kind, the Dutch and other European gladiolus hybridizers continued their plant breeding work on as extensive a scale as possible during the long years of World War II.
Growers in this country are just now beginning to give these latest creations of the continental plantsmen a fair trial on American soil.
The writer was fortunate to have several of the Dutch gladiolus novelties bloom in his garden at Winter Park, Florida, this spring, some of them perhaps for the first time in the United States.
Through the kindness of A. Miller, president of the American Bulb Company, wholesale distributors of New York and Chicago, I was able to grow nice specimens of the following new varieties:
- PRESIDENT TRUMAN
- GENERAL EISENHOWER
- ROOSEVELT’S MEMORY
- HARRY HOPKINS
- LEEUWENHORST
- TOP SCORE
- VINCENT VAN GOGH.
All of these but the last two were originations of the well-known Dutch hybridizer, Salman, and he undoubtedly named them with an eye to the post-war American market.
Most of the bulbs received were scarce this season, even in Holland, and only two forms of most were allotted to me.
These were planted in April in sandy loam, and with good rains and some overhead irrigation, also a good treatment of 5-6-4 commercial fertilizer in the ground before planting, they produced satisfactory blooms except on a few hot days in June when the thermometer went to the upper 80’s.
New Dutch Gladiolus Varieties
Harry Hopkins Variety
Most striking of the varieties tested, in my opinion, was HARRY HOPKINS, which received a preliminary award last July at the Haarlem (Holland) flower show and was voted the “best Bordeaux-red variety” in the show on July 29, 1946.
It is a rich, lustrous, large-flowered, straight-stemmed gladiolus, about the color of the red, rose Better Times and several shades lighter than the dark Australian gladiolus Black Opal.
It was extremely pleasing to all who saw it in my garden, although perhaps too dark and intense for a popular market-cut flower. I know no other gladiolus with the same color and quality at this time.
HARRY HOPKINS produced vigorous stems and four good bloom spikes, which held up well in the sun. I cut the two bulbs into halves before planting, as I did with all the Dutch varieties, to ensure an increase in stock.
The bulbs were planted 3″ inches deep in furrows and about 4″ inches apart in the row. From 1 1/2-inch diameter bulbs cut in half, HARRY HOPKINS produced 10-hud spikes, which opened out six and seven at a time.
A local florist declared they would sell well, and they attracted immediate attention from all visitors.
The blooms were 5″ to 6″ inches in diameter and would doubtless be larger under better conditions. It is a midseason variety and notable for the rare beauty of the flowers under artificial light at night.
Roosevelt’s Memory Variety
ROOSEVELT’S MEMORY proved to be a tall, sturdy, slender type of gladiolus, ivory white with a faint purple feather in the throat. It won the Award of Merit last year in Holland and was voted the “best white novelty” at the Haarlem Show on July 29, 1946.
The flowers are large and well shaped, up to 7″ inches across according to the Dutch catalogs, though mine were 5″ to 6″ inches from cut bulbs. There were 10 to 12 buds to the spike, and six or seven opened at once.
It was a showy flower in very good taste as a floral memorial to the late American president. It should be popular as a garden flower in this country when available at a reasonable price in a few years, and it may prove a good commercial. It has wiry stems and narrow foliage.
President Truman Variety
The variety PRESIDENT TRUMAN has never been exhibited at any flower show up to this year. Still, because of its outstanding excellence in the hybridizing grounds, it was regarded as a “King of (Ands” in Holland.
It is a heavy plant with broad foliage and well-open flowers of salmon pink with a creamy white throat and base. This white center is larger than most gladiolus of this type that I have observed.
The Dutch catalogs say this variety has 28 to 30 buds and grows 5 1/2′ feet tall. With me, cut bulbs gave rather short (3-foot) spikes with close-set attractive blooms.
It is reported to be a Picardy seedling, as also is ROOSEVELT’S MEMORY. The Dutch know what to use for good parent stock!
General Eisenhower Variety
GENERAL EISENHOWER is another interesting begonia or shrimp pink, with broad open flowers that were unusually large for the size of the spikes which my bulbs (No. 3’s) produced. (I did not cut these up since they were so small.)
The bloom spike was short, 3 1/2′ feet, but sometimes these imported varieties need acclimatizing in Florida before they reach their full stature, and some kinds never do as well in Florida as in the North.
Top Score Variety
TOP SCORE is a lovely red, early, and vigorous vermilion, but its flowers cannot stand the hot sun of Florida.
The blooms are enormous and triangular, up to 7″ inches across, and with 10 to 15 to the spike from cut bulbs.
On July 29, 1946, the Haarlem flower won a special certificate for the “best red novelty.” It also received a First Class Certificate on July 15 in Holland last year.
It should be given a fair trial in northern gardens, as a vase of this gay variety is more brilliant and informally attractive than the American red variety Stoplight. It is “exhibition” rather than “commercial” in type.
Leeuwenhorst Variety
LEEUWENHORST, a variety that has made a lot of noise in the Holland catalogs, received a First Class Certificate in Holland on July 22, 1946.
It is a light lavender pink and is supposed to be a 25-bud number, 5 feet tall, but it came short and bullheaded with me. It may be that the Florida climate did not agree with it, so I shall try it again.
Vincent Van Gogh Variety
The new variety VINCENT VAN GOGH I found pleasing but hardly sensational after the others. It is salmon pink with white and carmine markings in the throat.
44659 by Wyndham Hayward