The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



615 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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Easter. 



Easter comes but once a year ; make 

 1 lie best of it. No use to get worried ; 

 smiles pay better tlian scowls. A good, 

 coiisiirnli.iii- I'laiit-iiijii In care for your 

 stocl^ 1-. .1 \ri\ \alii,il.lc personage; get 



one i I \n"i Mi""'i ii viiu have none. 



WliaUvci \uu du hide nervous excite- 

 ment. Stop and tliink and look over tlie 

 situation once in a while. A little plan- 

 iring may avoid much trouble. If there 

 is no time to get out to eat see that food 

 is brought in, and on time, too; a hungry 

 stomach usually produces an unpleasant 

 face and the few moments required to 

 obviate all this is time well spent. 



A florist's store at Easter should be 

 like a battleship going into action, the 

 deck cleared of all useless stuff. Be sure 

 to have the right people in the right 

 place; have pads and plenty of pencils 

 always handy. Avoid creating are im- 

 pression on anyone that they are being 

 overcharged, for such is often fatal to 

 husiness. Remember you are in the busi- 

 »iess 365 days a year, and that your cus- 

 tomers' continuous trade is necessary to 

 keep you up. Therefore, don't try to 

 squeeze all your year into one week. The 

 easy-going customer, or in vulgar par- 

 lance, the "sucker," whom many gloat in 

 "soaking," may wake up some day and 

 prove how easy it is to lose a good patron 

 and how foolish it is to imitate the hog. 



A good shipping clerk in busy times is 

 worth his weight in substantial apprecia- 

 tion. Boys will be boys and are not men; 

 remember that when loading them up 

 with packages for delivery. Don't be sat- 

 isfied and feel entirely relieved of re- 

 sponsibility when you see a plant, bas- 

 ket, or box leave your store; make pro- 

 visions for and assure yourself that it 

 reaches its destination in good condition. 

 A plant delivered in a broken or other- 

 wise dilapidated state is a mute but forci- 

 ble example of your incompetency or 

 carelessness. Temporary help, who know 

 mot plants, are seldom blamable — it is 

 the employer. 



Better to have plants delivered on Sat- 

 urday night than on Easter Sunday af- 

 ternoon or night. Easter presents deliv- 

 ered after noon on Sunday have lost con- 

 siderable value from a sentimental point 

 of view. "Far away" deliveries deserve 

 the same consideration as those near by, 

 ami the same principle applies to small 

 nnd large purchases. The dollar cus- 

 tomer to-day may be a ten dollar cus- 

 tomer to-morrow. Many florists forget 

 this. 



A few moments devoted to the tying 

 up of plants, especially azaleas, lilies, 

 etc., when ready for delivery nuiy make 

 'it unnecessary for you to replace them or 

 try to appease and explain to two angry 

 people, the purchaser and the recipient. 

 Unless pinched for room, and even then, 

 don't crowd all your stock together. 

 Great masses of color may be very ef- 

 fective to the genreral eye. but the pur- 

 chasing eye — the eye yoii are anxious for 

 • — cares not for the massive group; it 

 seeks individual beauty and worth, there- 



them, aii.l iiix .m i;.l.l\ ilie -rl,Tii,.ii il 

 good is SMl i-l,M l,M \ . Il i^ lia.l |i..]i,y tn 

 create tlu' iiri|'i r-^i.ni i.ii any iiiiiul that 

 till' lii'-l -Ihi L IS sold; there are too many 

 11.11 i-i- ili.-r days to justify any one's 

 iii.iiii. iiiai \ Ljiilp of satisfaction in point- 

 ing to tlu: beot stock going to Mrs. So- 

 aird-So. If you sell a handsome basket 

 try to duplicate it at once. If you can- 

 not and some of your customers are un- 

 reasonably jealous (and many such there 

 are) put the basket or plant out of their 

 range_ of vision. 



Making Stock Attractive. 



It is too late now to doubt the wisdom 

 of your purchases. Do the best you can 

 to dispose of your stock at a fair profit. 

 Quality, of course, is at all times most 

 desirable, but inferior goods may often 

 be made to exceed in beauty. In other 

 words, quality of art can always outshine 

 quality of material. A good plant or 

 flower may sell itself; the poor ones 

 need assistance. Almost anything in fair 

 condition has a chance to be sold this 

 Easter; it depends on the manner of 

 presentation. Styles there are to be sure 

 a plenty, you can manufacture some 

 yourself. Made-up baskets of plants will 

 be the leading and most profitable offer- 

 ing in the principal New York stores, 

 and for these mostly anything is suita- 

 ble. We'll give our own and other peo- 

 iple's creations in very brief description, 

 lor time is valuable to all just now. 



In the first place, people accustomed 

 to growing plants generally prefer to see 

 them in plain, clean pots. The expressed 

 desire to have plants delivered so is 

 yearly increasing among the most sensi- 

 ble; of course the growers don't bother 

 cleaning the pots; you should, though, 

 and often a soft, water-soaked common 

 red brick rubbed on the pots will give 

 them a good brightened up color. Ordi- 

 nary plant pots and saucers covered with 

 enamel paint in good colors, such as foli- 

 age green, white, genista yellow or cher- 

 ry red have been and will continue to be 

 ;very popular; they are cheap and add 

 much to the effectiveness of any plant, 

 providing of course the color is appro- 

 priate to tlie flower. White and yellow 

 seldom fight, but the reds and pinks 

 are often troublesome. 

 • The general run of large plants will 

 be put in basket pot covers, and foliage 

 green or white is the best. Often plants 

 such as Crimson Ramblers, etc., which 

 carry all their flowers on top, are made 

 ^lore festive, we mean attractive, by a 

 short bow or two of broad ribbon half' 

 way down the plant, but again look out 

 for war in colors. Plenty of ribbons are 

 being used this Easter, but they are he- 



used more sensibly. They no lon- 



I ( hoke or cover the flowers, but are 

 nilac:hed to the stem or foliage only to 

 cover defects, or add emphasis to the 

 beauty or color of the flower. 



The ribbons are broader this year, are 

 of one self color, and the tones are 

 softer and more beautiful than ever. 

 Taffetas and satin finished Liberties are 

 the greatest favorites. We have found 

 one brand of ribbon in New York that 

 •we think the best of all for florists' fine 

 fwork. Speaking of ribbons and baskets, 

 they come iiji'jiilv Iii-li : one needs be 

 careful in seh- i imh ami ivicnt; a large 

 stock of sueh iiiai.iiil i- essential in 

 some stores, biil many .an dispense with 

 them. 



The tendency this year is for the lar- 

 ger and better plants. The average lily 

 in a pot is too small ; many of them have 

 been put three, six, nine and even twelve 

 in a pot or tub and they sell quickly. 

 The tubs can be painted green, white or 

 yellow, the bands a different color, and 

 often a broad sash of light blue ribbon 

 is preferable to white, tied half way up 

 the stems. 



The best and newest things we have 

 seen this sea.son are the gaudy colored 

 Porto Rican Carnival hats. So far they 

 have not been used by the florist, but 

 could be made a great feature when 

 (filled lightly with flowers and tied with 

 band and hanging bow of bright colored 

 soft ribbon. The hats would be prized 

 as favors even more than a basket, be- 

 cause they are fantastic and novel. They 

 are very large, of many colors, and the 

 edges are rough and unfinished, giving 

 them a very odd appearance. These hats 

 are destined to form a principal feature 

 at many affairs during the summer. 



The Porto Rican matting we made 

 mention of in previous notes is used in- 

 stead of crepe paper in the leading store-. 

 It is more expensive, of course, but is 

 richer and more artistic. Very fine ef- 

 fects can be obtained by ruffling or un- 

 weaving the edges from four to six 

 inches. It does not become soggy from 

 a little water and does not crumple up 

 in a woebegone manner like paper does. 

 We are using it with contrasting ribbons 

 of which the following are a few: 



Color Combinations. 



The matting is arranged to hide bare- 

 jness of stem as well as to cover pot. 

 Suppose you trim a lilac, white or green 

 mat; tie round with broad bow of white 

 or lavender ribbon; if white lilac, blue 

 or light pink ribbon is best. With deep 

 pink azaleas use white mat and white 

 ribbon; the same on light pink unless 

 you can match the flower with ribbon, 

 then use green mat. With white azalea 

 use white mat with pink or blue rib- 

 bon. A soft yellow will go well with 

 bougainvillea, dark green around the 

 violet, primroses, genistas, acacias and 

 ericas, with same colored ribbon or one 

 to match flower. Scotch plaid effects 

 can be got for the ericas, but there's a 

 little jealousy left among the clans and 

 these ericas are not Scotch anyhow. 

 That flat of roses or bulbs would" look 

 better if the box were painted green. 

 No time to do it now, so we put green 

 mat around — just enough to hide box 

 and soil, and tie with bright harmoniz- 

 ling color ribbon. Where the flowers are 

 light it is safer to use a darker ribbon; 

 where the flowers are dark, a lighter 

 nobon. 



Tlie half open hamper basket is a win- 

 ner this time; with zinc lining it is fine. 



