2 FEBRUARY 1934, Page 17

New Plants

The race of gardeners like the Athenians love some new thing, and this year they have found in their catalogues a greater than usual number of novelties ; not, of course, in species, but in varieties. The sweet pea has had a quiescent period for several years. There have been plenty of new sweet peas, but none very new. The most considerable addition was perhaps the Sestet Queen, a white variety that was more apt than others to have six flowers to a. stem, even when the cultivation was more or less perfunctory. This year, though other novelties are perhaps more brilliant, there is a .new, blue called myosotis, which is a distinct advance in a colour of which the tribe is rather shy, and to my mind the most useful of all sweet peas , are those with an inclination towards blueness, such as the very popular Gleneagles. There is also .a new class of variety christened "fantasy," which runs capriciously through a wide range of tints, though the standard is said to be self-coloured.. Another novelty perhaps worth some special emphasis is a bright red. elarkia, named by Carter's Glorious. This annual continues to grow in favour because of its super-excellence for.picking. When really well- grown it has shoots that suggest a bush rather than a bedding plant, and even the lesser buds open completely in water.

W. BEAcu ThomAs.