Albert Buell hardly knew a petunia from a pansy. Today, he's the proud father of the modern gloxinia judged by experts to be among the finest available anywhere in the world.
Albert's was not trained in the field of horticulture growing gloxinias was a sideline. Albert's life took a turn when his aunt brought home a blue slipper gloxinia from an old ladies' home in New Hampshire. The flower color was not clear and the blooms were relatively small. To Albert, this was an entirely new plant exciting his curiosity. Then and there he decided to make a thorough study of all gloxinias to discover how many kinds there were, and what it took to make them grow.
Thus, before World War II cut off all imports of bulbs from Europe, he bought tubers of the named varieties then available. Their performance, though good, left much to be desired in size of flower, variety of color, plant habit and arrangement of the blooms on the plant.
Like all plant collectors, he also began swapping plants. For one of his blue slippers, he got from a Mr. Twiss a plant with bell-shaped blooms having a variegated purple color, which was to figure later in his breeding work.
In'42, Albert tried his luck with a packet of seed purchased from a Boston seedhouse. The instructions said to start them in a dark place. So when the seed was sown in a box of soil, he placed it on the top shelf in a cupboard. Fifty seeds came up in two weeks, but when he switched the box to a bright sunny window, only four tiny plants survived the shock. Of these, one later died, another blasted, one had small blue flowers, but the fourth had hybrid characteristics. The plant was compact, foliage was luxuriant, the flowers were a velvety red color, speckled at the edges. This one later proved to be a good pollen parent. Albert was now ready to start his breeding program in earnest.
The first crop of seedlings to bloom in'43, resulting from the red seedling crossed onto the Twiss purple, were much finer than he had anticipated. There were rich purples and reds, both in solid colors and in speckled red and purple. Still others were of pastel tones in pink, blue, lavender, often being very delicately tinted.
New blood was brought into his hybrids in'46 when he purchased 20 mixed tubers from a Philadelphia seed-house. Most of this batch had poor flowers and foliage, but there were three good plants having big ruffled flowers with deep bowls. Their color was the reverse of that of his own hybrids, for their area of solid color was along the petal edges with the speckling in the center.
From this point on, his crosses were made back and forth in various combinations, resulting in dozens of exquisite colors in many tones varying from pure white to deep purple and all the tints and tones in between.
The results of some crosses are unpredictable, others follow a fixed pattern. For example, one plant purchased as a tuber was small flowered but very ruffled, when bred with a plant Albert called "Rainbow"-a red-toned, but not solid colored flower, it produced nearly 100 per cent deep velvety red flowered plants with blooms up to 5 inches across and all beautifully ruffled.
This same plant crossed onto purple flowers gave either red or purple flowered offspring, also of large size and ruffled.
Each fresh crop of seed increased his stock of plants like coleus from seed, first by the hundreds, then to thousands. The little greenhouse, which he built' behind his house, had to be extended. Then another section was added, and still more glass to give him space enough to grow small plants, raised more seed, and still have ample space to propagate his choicest plants from leaf cuttings.
In his early years, he sold plants to local customers, to those who heard of him by word of mouth or through the small advertisements he ran in garden magazines. Soon, one of the country's largest dealers in rare bulbs became his sole retail outlet. Albert then began to concentrate on growing and shipping the plants, with the aid of his wife, and a full-time helper.
Albert's experiments in growing gloxinias resulted in some rather positive ideas on soil mixtures, temperatures, light intensity and general management of the plants. He supplemented his greenhouse experiences with notes on plants grown on his own, and with reports from customers.
Thank Albert Buell for the great range of colors and markings of the flowers we see today. Albert was once asked about which color appealed most to his customers. He said, "You know, they're all beautiful, and people who come here say they like the speckled ones and light tinted ones as much as the deep ones. But if they're buying only one plant to start a collection, they'll almost always choose a red one."
Enjoy rich color of the gloxinia - and thank Albert!. - 29955
Albert's was not trained in the field of horticulture growing gloxinias was a sideline. Albert's life took a turn when his aunt brought home a blue slipper gloxinia from an old ladies' home in New Hampshire. The flower color was not clear and the blooms were relatively small. To Albert, this was an entirely new plant exciting his curiosity. Then and there he decided to make a thorough study of all gloxinias to discover how many kinds there were, and what it took to make them grow.
Thus, before World War II cut off all imports of bulbs from Europe, he bought tubers of the named varieties then available. Their performance, though good, left much to be desired in size of flower, variety of color, plant habit and arrangement of the blooms on the plant.
Like all plant collectors, he also began swapping plants. For one of his blue slippers, he got from a Mr. Twiss a plant with bell-shaped blooms having a variegated purple color, which was to figure later in his breeding work.
In'42, Albert tried his luck with a packet of seed purchased from a Boston seedhouse. The instructions said to start them in a dark place. So when the seed was sown in a box of soil, he placed it on the top shelf in a cupboard. Fifty seeds came up in two weeks, but when he switched the box to a bright sunny window, only four tiny plants survived the shock. Of these, one later died, another blasted, one had small blue flowers, but the fourth had hybrid characteristics. The plant was compact, foliage was luxuriant, the flowers were a velvety red color, speckled at the edges. This one later proved to be a good pollen parent. Albert was now ready to start his breeding program in earnest.
The first crop of seedlings to bloom in'43, resulting from the red seedling crossed onto the Twiss purple, were much finer than he had anticipated. There were rich purples and reds, both in solid colors and in speckled red and purple. Still others were of pastel tones in pink, blue, lavender, often being very delicately tinted.
New blood was brought into his hybrids in'46 when he purchased 20 mixed tubers from a Philadelphia seed-house. Most of this batch had poor flowers and foliage, but there were three good plants having big ruffled flowers with deep bowls. Their color was the reverse of that of his own hybrids, for their area of solid color was along the petal edges with the speckling in the center.
From this point on, his crosses were made back and forth in various combinations, resulting in dozens of exquisite colors in many tones varying from pure white to deep purple and all the tints and tones in between.
The results of some crosses are unpredictable, others follow a fixed pattern. For example, one plant purchased as a tuber was small flowered but very ruffled, when bred with a plant Albert called "Rainbow"-a red-toned, but not solid colored flower, it produced nearly 100 per cent deep velvety red flowered plants with blooms up to 5 inches across and all beautifully ruffled.
This same plant crossed onto purple flowers gave either red or purple flowered offspring, also of large size and ruffled.
Each fresh crop of seed increased his stock of plants like coleus from seed, first by the hundreds, then to thousands. The little greenhouse, which he built' behind his house, had to be extended. Then another section was added, and still more glass to give him space enough to grow small plants, raised more seed, and still have ample space to propagate his choicest plants from leaf cuttings.
In his early years, he sold plants to local customers, to those who heard of him by word of mouth or through the small advertisements he ran in garden magazines. Soon, one of the country's largest dealers in rare bulbs became his sole retail outlet. Albert then began to concentrate on growing and shipping the plants, with the aid of his wife, and a full-time helper.
Albert's experiments in growing gloxinias resulted in some rather positive ideas on soil mixtures, temperatures, light intensity and general management of the plants. He supplemented his greenhouse experiences with notes on plants grown on his own, and with reports from customers.
Thank Albert Buell for the great range of colors and markings of the flowers we see today. Albert was once asked about which color appealed most to his customers. He said, "You know, they're all beautiful, and people who come here say they like the speckled ones and light tinted ones as much as the deep ones. But if they're buying only one plant to start a collection, they'll almost always choose a red one."
Enjoy rich color of the gloxinia - and thank Albert!. - 29955
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