We have bred new varieties of marguerite and registered 35 cultivars for both cut and pot flowers. For cut flowers, such as 'Southern Elegance White' that has a flower head type similar to 'Zairai-Shiro', 11 cultivars were bred. For pot flowers, such as 'Sunday Ripple', that are heat resistant and flower continuously from autumn, 24 cultivars were bred. To diversify the flower color and scent of marguerite, intergeneric crossing was performed using marguerite as the seed parent and annual chrysanthemum as the pollen parent. We bred new intergeneric hybrids such as 'Peach Queen' with orange ray florets and 'Fuurenka' with a new floral scent.

This study investigated the effects of planting density, container size and period of raising seedlings on the growth and flowering of non-pinched snapdragons. In experiment 1, seeds were sown in July, September or February, and seedlings were planted at a density of 50 or 100 plants per square meter. When sown in July and September, plant heights exceeded sufficiently 100 cm to satisfy the highest quality of cut flowers from that locality. Weight of cut flowers and the number of axillary buds decreased at the higher planting densities. But there was no effect of planting density in a culture system sown in February. Eexperiment 2 investigated the effects of container size (deep or shallow type) and nursery period (21, 32 or 43 days) on the growth and flowering of non-pinched snapdragon cultivars 'Maryland Pink' and 'Light Pink Butterfly II'. Days to anthesis and the length of cut flowers of 'Maryland Pink' decreased in deep type containers. The growth of 'Light Pink Butterfly II' was not affected by the container size. There was no adverse effect of nursery periods up to 43 days on either cultivar.

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