New Guinea Impatiens Breeding Program Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS0234

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 2 linear feet of materials gathered by Dr. Robert J. Armstrong in the course of research, development, and distribution of hybrids of New Guinea impatiens at Longwood Gardens. He recognized the importance of documenting the history of the breeding program and Longwood’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He provided to the National Agricultural Library his materials from Longwood, including a pedigree book he maintained for the breeding program, letters, notes, and slides of his work. Additionally, he contacted other participants involved in researching and distributing New Guinea impatiens to ask for their notes, reports, brochures, correspondence, and photographs for the collection.

In conducting research of New Guinea impatiens at Longwood, Armstrong used a shotgun approach to breeding. He bred each plant in every combination possible, resulting in over 1,200 color slides of plants grown in plots outside and in the conservancies. The slides are numbered and correspond to numerical entries in the breeding book. To locate the pedigree of an impatiens plant shown in a slide, one would note the identification number on the upper left-hand portion of the slide, then refer to the pedigree book and find the corresponding identification number.

Because of the showy look of the flowers and variegated foliage, Armstrong gave the first set of ten plants circus-related names. The Circus Series was released to selected gardens and growers in 1974, followed by ten more in 1977, and finally a set of six in 1979. The collection contains brochures of the hybrids released in 1977 and 1979. See the appendix for a list of all releases made by various breeders during this time period.

Armstrong received numerous letters from plant breeders, public horticulture institutions, commercial growers, and private plant collectors about Longwood’s research program, requests for cuttings of hybrids, and responses about the performance of the cuttings. Longwood staff distributed excess plants to their cooperators with the agreement that the cooperators would provide spare plants of interest to them. Correspondence between Armstrong and USDA plant explorer Harold F. Winters provides particular insight into the New Guinea impatiens breeding program.

Publicity materials in the collection consist of advertisements, USDA release notices, and distribution lists. Both Longwood and USDA developed commercial plant source lists to send in response to general requests for the plants as their purpose was developing the plant for display uses and distributing information about breeding and culture. At least one commercial grower, Mikkelsens Inc. in Ashtabula, Ohio, released progeny of the original plant exploration trip for sale to the public.

Other items of note include and a bibliography of articles written on New Guinea Impatiens and a copy of Joan Marie Benjamin’s comprehensive history of the development of New Guinea Impatiens in which she interviewed the key players involved in the partnership. Benjamin wrote this master’s thesis as a student of the University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program, which was developed to train future leaders in the field of public horticulture.

Dates

Creation: 1971-1985

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Organizational History

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service and the Longwood Foundation of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, jointly sponsored an expedition to the subtropical highlands of Australian New Guinea from January to April 1970. Horticulturists Harold F. Winters and J. J. Higgins collected impatiens, which were released by USDA Plant Genetics and Germplasm Research Institute in February 1972 to nurserymen, plant breeders, and other scientists. Geneticist Robert J. Armstrong bred new varieties with ornamental leaves at Longwood Gardens.

Biographical / Historical

1886 New Guinea impatiens first introduced in Europe Early 1900s Begonia mite infestations on plants caused limited cultivation 1956 Agreement made between Longwood Gardens (Longwood), Kennett Square, Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service, Horticulture Crops Research Branch, Beltsville, Maryland to co-sponsor plant exploration trips January 4 – April 14, 1970 USDA plant explorers Harold F. Winters and Dr. Joseph J. Higgins embarked on a 10-week joint plant exploration trip to New Guinea to collect ornamental plants, resulting in 840 live collections of seeds, plants and cuttings 1971 USDA Germplasm Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland provided Longwood with propagated plants from the plant exploration trip after a period of quarantine and inspection at the USDA Plant Introduction Station at Glenn Dale, Maryland Longwood's geneticist Dr. Robert Armstrong selected New Guinea Impatiens for breeding because of their short life cycle February 1972 USDA released and distributed the original collection of twenty-three New Guinea impatiens plants to public and private institutions; over one hundred universities and commercial plant breeders received them 1972 Mikkelsens Inc. in Ashtabula, Ohio released progeny of the original collection for sale to the public Dr. H. Marc Cathey, Chief of Florist and Nursery Crops at USDA assigned research geneticist Dr. Toru Arisumi to study breeding behavior, genetics, and chromosome numbers and characteristics of New Guinea impatiens April 1973 Winters, Head of the USDA Germplasm Laboratory, studied differences in flower longevity in plants grown in the greenhouses 1974 First set of ten, unpatented Longwood cultivars named the Circus Series released to selected gardens and growers First USDA cultivars released under the Rainbow Series and made available to anyone who requested them 1975 USDA introduced two more cultivars to the Rainbow series 1976 USDA introduced a seed variety ‘Sweet Sue’ 1977 Dr. Armstrong developed ten more Circus Series cultivars and released them to Longwood cooperators USDA introduced the Painted Impatiens Series Winters’ study published 1978 Longwood’s breeding program ended At least sixty New Guinea Impatiens cultivars from various breeders were released by this point; popularity as a bedding plant 1979 Longwood made a final release of six Circus Series cultivars 1980 The cooperation of Longwood, USDA, other not-for-profit organizations, and commercial growers contributed to bringing the plant out of obscurity and making it the best-selling bedding plant in the United States in 1980 (Voigt 1989) 1986 Dr. Arisumi retired and the USDA New Guinea impatiens program was phased out; some of his plants were propagated and grown at the University of Maryland for electrophoretic research conducted by Ph.D. candidate Virginia Lerch

Total Size of Collection

3 flat_pamphlet_box

1 boxes (1 box, 12 x 10.75 x 8.75)

4.25 Linear Feet (4 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Content Description

The New Guinea Impatiens Breeding Program Collection, compiled and maintained by Robert J. Armstrong, contains a pedigree book from Longwood Gardens breeding program; slides showing the original New Guinea impatiens collection and the progeny developed from them at Longwood; and letters, memoranda, reports, brochures, and press releases concerning the breeding program.

Bibliography

Arisumi, Toru and H. M. Cathey. "About Our Cover, the New Guinea Impatiens." HortScience 11, no. 1 (February 1976): 2.

Armstrong, Robert J. "An Impatiens Circus, the Longwood New Guinea Hybrid Impatiens." American Horticulturist 53, no. 1 (Spring 1974): 14-18.

Benjamin, Joan Marie. The History and Development of New Guinea Impatiens. Thesis, University of Delaware, August 1990. http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/3717

Creech, John L. "The ARS--Longwood Plant Explorations." Plants & Gardens 23, no. 3 (1968): 50-55, 86.

Winters, Harold. "New Impatiens from New Guinea." American Horticulturist 52, no. 3 (Fall 1973): 16-22.

_____. "Flower Longevity in New Guinea Impatiens." HortScience 12, no. 3 (June 1977): 261-263.

Related Collections at the National Agricultural Library Harold F Winters Oral History, National Agricultural Library. To be released in 2019.

Related Collections at Other Institutions The University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program is a partnership that aims to train future leaders in the field of public horticulture. Below are theses related to the partnership of USDA and Longwood Gardens:

Benjamin, Joan Marie. The History and Development of New Guinea Impatiens. Thesis, University of Delaware, August 1990. http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/3717

Tschanz, Eric Nathan. "A History: The U.S.D.A.--Longwood Ornamental Plant Exploration Program." Thesis, University of Delaware, 1977. http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/2918

Longwood Gardens ARC - Archives. “Joseph Higgins papers on New Guinea Impatiens 1963-2004.” Accessed December 12, 2018. http://l92006.eos-intl.net/L92006/OPAC/Details/Record.aspx?BibCode=3369…