By the end of the nineteenth century seed company and nursery
catalogs would offer for sale many varieties of one plant. That
was possible because of the new system of mass production of
seeds and plants. Like any business, the garden industry sought
ways to incease its inventory and market share. The growing
conditions of California where the nursery business could
continue all year enabled new plants to reach the market much
more quickly. The book Sunshine, Fruit and Flowers, first
published in 1896, featured the California seed business C. C.
Morse and Company with its fields of sweet peas. The book said,
“Particular attention is given to the sweet pea, one of the most
popular of all flowers. Of these they [Morse] aim to grow every
variety the sweet pea specialist can name, and more than ninety
varieties are now cultivated.” The W. R. Shelmore Company in
Avondale, Pennsylvania offered more than seventy-five varieties
of coleus in its 1895 catalog. The catalog said, “We have one of
the best collections in t