What new annual garden flowers will appear in the next few years? Perhaps that seems like a foolish question.
Isn’t it a little early to talk of new things today when those for this past year are not even in bloom? But plant breeders are looking far ahead!
New Annuals
The new annuals for this year flowered in the All-America Selections trials two years ago and on seed farms in California. Colorado, Holland, and Costa Rica crops which will provide seed for next year’s novelties, are already well started.
Clamorous new garden annuals, which will not be available to home gardeners for several years, are to be found in the breeding plots. Also, in this country’s eye, several flower breeders have visions of new varieties of petunias, phlox, marigolds, and snapdragons—ideals that may not be achieved for perhaps ten years.
Visiting Flower Trial Grounds
Last summer, I had the rare opportunity of visiting the flower trial grounds of some of the major retail seedsmen in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York and most of the large flower-seed farms on the West Coast, where I talked to many hybridizers.
Being a plant breeder myself, I was taken into the “sanctum sanctorum” of the breeding grounds, where I saw what was “cooking” while we discussed the objectives the hybridizers hoped to attain.
With the steady stream of novelties coming from seed growers, some gardeners may think that there will soon be an end to new varieties. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A new color seldom appears in a flower-like Heavenly Blue morning glory or Salmon Supreme petunia. Still, when a new color does appear, it opens the way for a whole series of new varieties.
Salmon Supreme From 1938
Take the salmon pink color, which appeared in the petunia Salmon Supreme in 1938. In the twelve years after its introduction, at least a dozen other petunia varieties trace their parentage to Salmon Supreme, and the most popular was Fire Chief.
And there are many more to come! The figure is astounding when estimating the number of possible new varieties from just this one color break. It is possible to have light salmon, medium salmon, and deep salmon varieties in double and single petunias, large and small-flowered varieties, fringed and ruffled varieties, dwarf and tall ones, and many more.
In recent years, breeders have paid much attention to petunias, which are increasing in popularity and importance. No other flower is widely adapted to home garden use or gives such freedom of bloom and brightness of color.
Double Petunias
All-double petunias caught the public fancy in 1935 when they were introduced by the Japanese breeder T. Sakata. Several factors kept them from becoming popular then—the high price of the seed and their rather weak growth and poor germination.
Furthermore, the percentage of large, well-fringed full doubles was low since there were many small semi-doubles in most varieties.
Colossal Shades of Rose Petunia
With American-grown seeds, however, double petunias came into their own. Colossal Shades of Rose petunia, developed by the Canadian breeder, R. Simonet, was the first large-flowered double petunia introduced from seed grown on this continent.
It was also the first 100 percent Grandiflora (giant flowered) petunia of any type. The flowers were all large—every seed from every packet could be expected to produce giant-flowered plants. Also, they were all full-double, ruffled, and fringed.
Improved Allegro And Caprice
Sonata, a full-double, all-large pure white, was the first 100 percent Grandiflora double or single petunia in true color. Allegro Improved, the deep salmon, was offered for the first time in 1950, and Caprice Improved, bright rose pink, is new for 1951.
Caprice Improved has been called the freest blooming of the all-double petunias. The newer all-double petunias already rival the small flowered singles in freedom of bloom and general garden satisfaction.
New Double Petunias
What, then, may we expect in the way of new varieties of double petunias in the next few years? First of all, I would say every variety of large-flowered double petunias not already uniform for type will soon have an improved 100 percent large form or disappear from the catalogs.
Florists and home gardeners will cease to tolerate 20% to 30% percent small semi-doubles when uniform strains are available.
Then, several colors are not represented in the giant all-double petunias. Strangely enough, we do not yet have a deep rose of the color of the single giant Dazzler or HNC (dwarf compact) Topaz Queen.
Caprice
Caprice is the nearest approach to this color. There also is room for a deeper salmon than Allegro. A good dwarf-fringed full double, as deep in color as Fire Chief or Tango, would be a knockout.
Then, too, there is a need for a double petunia with deep rose and white variegated flowers. Work has been started on the above varieties, and they should reach the public within five years.
Double Amaranth Purple Petunia
Many people would like a better double amaranth purple petunia than is now available. Pan-American Seeds offered such an improved variety in 1952 under the name of Rhapsody. Rhapsody is the most uniform dwarf, giant double petunia I have ever seen.
The flowers are 3 ½” to 4” inches across, deeply fringed, and borne on dwarf compact plants. It is a deep burgundy wine purple that is just about the complement of lemon yellow.
Orchid Beauty And Burpee’s Orchid
Another improvement that has been needed in double petunias is a real dwarf compact, well-fringed version of the orchid-lavender color found in the tall-growing Orchid Beauty and Burpee’s Orchid. This is definitely to be expected in the improved all-double form of Minuet. which will also make its appearance in 1952.
Salmon Pink Cheerful
Another color not yet represented in double petunias is the light salmon pink of Cheerful. Then there is also the possibility of a full line of small-flowered double petunias in the class with America, Rose Marie, and Mrs. Eisenhower.
These, known as the carnation-flowered class, could easily be developed if there were sufficient public demand for them.
New Class of Single Petunias
A new class of single petunias that promises even greater importance than the doubles is that of the new F1 (first generation) hybrid grandifloras. PanAmerican now offers two varieties which are uniform 100% percent Grandiflora dwarf fringed.
- Tango (scarlet salmon), which is equal to Fire Chief in brilliance but has large fringed flowers 3″ to 4″ inches across borne on vigorous yet compact plants.
- La Paloma is also uniform, large-flowered, and pure white with a yellow throat.
- Bolero is a bright rose with large fringed flowers home in great profusion.
It is practically impossible to breed and grow seeds of these varieties which will come true to the Grandiflora type. This is because pure-line Grandiflora petunias are such weak-growing, shy-seeding varieties that they cannot be used to grow a crop of seeds.
They can, however, be used as pollen parents in the production of uniformly large-flowered hybrids. Within the next five years, home gardeners can expect a full range of colors in these dwarf, ruffled, and fringed first-generation hybrid Grandiflora petunias.
Dwarf Fringed Varieties
The line-bred dwarf fringed and ruffled Grandiflora petunias have come in for considerable attention by breeders in recent years. Rosita is the nearest thing to the HNC (dwarf compact) habit in the Grandiflora class.
- Carmencita scarlet salmon
- Setting Sun, bright rose
- Colorado Sunset, light rose pink, are fine where lots of medium-large, nicely fringed flowers are wanted in a restricted space.
Other colors to fill out this class are needed. A companion to Rosita with a clear luminous light salmon color is definitely “in the bag.” A much-improved violet-blue and a beautiful dwarf fringed orchid lilac are also possibilities.
California Giant Group of Petunias
California plant breeders have paid a lot of attention to the California Giant group of petunias. These huge open-faced single flowers come in a narrow color range of reds, variegated, maroon, and lavender shades.
Breeders have vied with each other in producing larger and better California Giant petunias, but they have not been able to eliminate most of the weaknesses in this class except by reducing the size.
Recent mixtures such as Garden Giants and Little Giants have been a move in the right direction, sacrificing size to gain vigor and freedom of bloom. Certainly, if this class is to maintain its position, there will have to be new, clearer colors and still more vigorous and compact growth.
Small-Flowered Petunias
Despite the tremendous amount of work that has been done on the small-flowered or hybrid type of petunias, there is still plenty of room for new varieties and improvements in this class.
Bodger’s achievement in bringing out Fire Chief last year shows that there are still possibilities for new, unthought-of varieties of the common garden petunia.
Burpee’s Hybrids
Also, Burpee’s work in breeding varieties with hybrid vigor opens a new field for advancement. Burpee’s hybrids Silver Medal and Pink Sensation have been widely acclaimed wherever they have been grown because of their tremendous vigor, compactness, and freedom of bloom.
Harris Hybrid Gypsy
Harris’ hybrid Gypsy is new for 1951 and is a deep rich salmon, deeper than Silver Medal. Last year Pan-American introduced Rose Charm, a happy companion to Pink Sensation and Silver Medal in the deep celestial rose shade.
Hybrida Nana Compacta
The most popular type of petunia is the so-called HNC type (hybrida nana compacta, or dwarf, compact-growing, small-flowered petunias). Breeders are continuing to give attention to this class because their compact growth makes them popular with the gardener.
However, HNC petunias vary widely in vigor and type of growth as well as in the size of the flower. Bodgers is working on a whole series of HNC petunias containing all the colors with the same plant habit, and they hope to increase the flower size in this class. Heretofore, a variety of colors also meant a variety of heights and sizes.
Balcony Petunias
The balcony petunias are generally somewhat taller, less compact in growth, and have larger flowers than the HNC petunias. As a group, they are just as variable in habit as the HNC class, and no doubt the same will be done for this class as is being done by Bodgers Seeds for the HNC group.
Few Snapdragons
Snapdragons still rank high on the preferred list of annual garden flowers. Some confusion has resulted in the classification of varieties in recent years. There are two main reasons for this:
- Preoccupation with breeding for rust resistance
- Mixing of varieties, resulting from insufficient isolation in the fields.
Some of the newer European snapdragon types worthy of investigation by the home gardener are the nanum or dwarf types. The Rock Hybrids are extra dwarf varieties.
The trend for snapdragons in this country is toward the taller, larger-flowered varieties, such as Harris’ Colossal varieties, and the tetraploids.
Colossal Snapdragons
The so-called Colossal snapdragons, which might also include such varieties and mixtures as Velvet Giant and Schelling’s Irish Melodies, form a new group of truly large-flowered maximum or tall varieties.
Maximum Grandiflorum
The old maximum varieties were called maximum grandiflorum (large-flowered), but these bring a new concept of how large a floret on a snapdragon can be.
As new varieties of this type come out, and as colors are straightened out, the florets will probably become still larger and plants taller and more robust. A new Colossal Yellow bred by Dr. M. T. Lewis has about the largest florets seen so far on a snapdragon.
Hybrid Vigor
Still to be applied to the outdoor snapdragon is the principle of hybrid vigor. Pan-American Seeds has been exploring this field, and it can be said that there are great possibilities here for more vigorous, taller, more heat-resistant, larger-flowered varieties.
Double Snapdragons
Double snapdragons from seed are something quite new. Burpee introduced the first semi-doubles about three years ago and now lists three varieties. Snowdrift, a pure white full-double, was introduced in 1948 by Pan-American.
The full-double form is very attractive but must be hand-pollinated to produce seeds since the flower’s throat is so full of extra petals that bees cannot enter to do their work. Both double types can hold their flowers longer than the singles.
Additional varieties in both the semi-double and full-double types will no doubt make their appearance soon.
Tetraploid Snapdragons
The tetraploid snapdragons are here to stay. Their stocky, vigorous growth and a long bloom period make them of definite value in the home garden. Three new varieties of tetras developed by the United States Department of Agriculture are being offered this year.
Burpee is offering two new mixtures and a Tetra White, and several retail seedsmen are listing Pan-American Pink and Tetra Yellow. It is safe to assume that soon there will be a full range of colors in the tetraploids.
There is also the possibility of tetra hybrids, first-generation hybrids between two tetra varieties. Pan-American Pink is the first in this class and demonstrates what hybrid vigor plus the already strong growth from tetraploidy can do.
Tetra Gaillardia
Mention should be made of the possibilities for tetras in other species. A tetra gaillardia was entered in the All-American trials in 1952. Burpee’s Tetra Scarlet phlox has a larger blossom and is about the most intense color of any flower. There is room for other tetra phlox.
Breeding Tetraploid
Breeding tetraploid varieties require more time than originally anticipated and a better understanding of genetics and cytology than the practical breeder. In time, wide new tetraploid varieties in all classes of annuals may be expected.
Chinese Asters
In some species of annuals, such as Chinese asters, disease resistance has long been sought by breeders. Sometimes it has been obtained but lost again because it is such an elusive character and not one that can be spotted by the outward appearance of any plant.
New Disease on Snapdragons
Again, new forms of the disease have arisen, as with snapdragon rusts, making it necessary to breed for resistance to each type of disease.
Wilt-Resistant Asters
Several varieties of wilt-resistant China asters have been developed, but there are none in the Giants of California group. Bodger Seeds are making good progress on resistant varieties in this class in California. Within a few years, a full line of resistant varieties will be available in these aristocrats of the aster family.
Princess Asters
Princess asters are relatively new. These are the ones with crested centers, which seldom revert to singleness. New colors in this group will be added soon; a new crimson is on the way.
Pompon
Pompon asters were formerly popular but disappeared because they could not be made wilt-resistant. Such strains in this class will be forthcoming soon.
Imperial-Type Scabiosa
Imperial-type scabiosa was an instant success when the variety Blue Moon was first awarded honorable mention by the All-America Selections in 1939, but developing other colors in this ball-shaped type proved to be a terrific breeding problem.
Bodger Mixture
However, a Bodger mixture was brought out in 1948, and work is progressing on still other colors and shade mixtures.
Varieties of Marigold
There will be new varieties in marigolds, especially in the extra dwarf group, in base-branching larkspur, and from time to time in most classes of annuals.
New Varieties Possibilities
Plant breeders love their work too much to overlook any chance for improvement or to create entirely new varieties wherever possible. The forecast for new annuals for American gardens is indeed a bright one.
44659 by Charles Weddle