686 



TheWeeidy Florists^ Review, 



matter over, as we are cacli day, as at 

 present, losing ground, lowering our pro- 

 fession, our wages and also the price of 

 our productions. 



We must have a national society, and 

 the first year of this new century is the 

 time to form it, anxl the city of Buffalo 



as good a central meeting place as we can 

 find, besides having the advantage and 

 help there which we shall surely get from 

 the Society of American Florists. 



Up and at it! 



W. L. Palmer. 



11 Read street, Lowell, Mass. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Bedding Plants. 



There are few weeks in the year busier 

 than those before us just now, for every- 

 thing used in the flower garden wants its 

 last shift so as to be ready for bedding 

 out, which varies in different latitudes. 

 With us plants that are hurt by a slight 

 frost are not safe outside before the 25th 

 of May. We often risk geraniums by the 

 15th and many seasons have done well by 

 so doing, and again have seen them cut 

 down black on the 20th. Coleus, alter- 

 nanthera and cannas we never put out 

 till the last few days of May. But this 

 is no guide to those who live in a more 

 temperate clime. 



At the risk of repeating what I have 

 perhaps written of lately I propose to tell 

 you now just what I would consider a 

 good shape in which to have your stock 

 for spring sales. It would be next to im- 

 possible to mention everything you grow 

 and at the same time I don't expect that 

 many of my readers grow everything I 

 have spoken of, but unfortunately there 

 is yet a lot of us whose peculiar line of 

 business demands us to grow or supply 

 most everything for the flower garden 

 from a carnation to a castor bean. Never 

 has the need of the application in our 

 business of the principle of division of 

 labor more impressed itself on me than 

 the last few days. And it is coming, but 

 it has not yet reached us all, and so we 

 plod along. 



I would like to find just now all the 

 hardy annuals such as asters, stock and 

 phlox transplanted an inch or so apart in 

 flats and put on a dry bottom in a sunny 

 position in a cold-frame with the means 

 of covering the sash on cold nights. The 

 cannas in 4-in. pots in a bright, warm 

 house where on warm days they can have 

 plenty of ventilation. The caladiums in 

 5-in. pots in the same situation. Alter- 

 manthera in 2-in. pots or flats in a mild 

 hot-bed, where they will grow like the 

 proverbial weed and can be hardened off 

 later by the removal of the sa^h. 



The zonal genuiimn^ (li:it were prop- 

 agated last Sepliiiil ihl iirlober are 



in 4-in. pots and nn I,, n, 1,, - in ibe light- 

 est houses; no sliadc' lair tluni. but if 

 you could possibly put two or three inches 

 of plunging material between the pots it 

 will save you labor in watering and keep 

 the plants a better color. With us our 

 zonals are fast putting up their flower 

 trusses and we can use the flowers, and 

 the plants are all fhe better without the 

 flowers till near lir^Miri- time. The zo- 

 nals that v.. 11 |,i.-,„|.j ,l,.,l in iM.liniary 

 should iiM« }„■ ill :; ,,i :;' in |,,,N ;iii,l will 

 make po.nl lird.liii^; i.l:iiit< l,y the end of 

 May. Ydii should have a good stock of 

 Salvia splcndcns of the dwarf early flow- 

 ering variety. The salvia is a plant that 

 you do not want to have too early and 



pinched for pot room or they are very 

 liable to get covered with red spider. So 

 small plants now shifted into 3 and 

 4-inch will make the right size plants by 

 sellin» time. Every year there is more 

 demand for these common but showy 

 plants. 



We use a large lot of vincas for vases. 

 Propagated in the fall they should now 

 be growing in 3-in. pots and by the end 

 of next month they will be the right size. 

 You should also have a large lot of trail- 

 ing abutilon. Its variegated foliage 

 makes it very desirable for window 

 boxes. For both these plants and many 

 others we have to find a place along the 

 edges of benches so they can grow out. If 

 stood together on a bench they soon spoil. 



You should have a big lot of sweet alys- 

 sum just shifted into 3-in. pots and 

 plunged in a mild hot-bed. We have 

 never had enough of them. There should 

 be a large stock of lemon verbenas. Plants 

 about now shifted into 3-in. and put into 

 the hot-bed will make splendid bushy lit- 

 tle plants by bedding time. Ageratum is 

 such a rank growing plant that we keep 

 them in the benches. This is another 

 plant you don't want to have too early. 

 Plants even propagated now and later 

 given a 3-in. pot will make splendid bed- 

 ding plants. Tuberous begonias I would 

 like to have now in 3 and 4-in. pots, but 

 only just started. They also will do bet- 

 ter in a mild hot-bed than in a greenhouse 

 and, like many other things, can be hard- 

 ened off. 



If you carried over any carnations from 

 last fall in a cold-frame for bedding out 

 for summer bloom, or propagated any 

 very early for the same purpose, it is time 

 they were planted out. Your customers 

 foolishly wait till coleus time and then 

 ask for carnations. Sell them and get 

 them planted out as quickly as possible. 

 Centaurea gymnocarpa is still used for 

 bedding and more with us as a veranda 

 box plant. We prefer to grow them in 

 the benches in a light house as they get 

 a better color and hardier growth than 

 when put into a hot-bed. There is al- 

 ways a good demand for Cobaea seandens. 

 Ours are just shifted from a 2-in. to a 

 4-in. pot and a slender stake of two feet 

 high put to them. Keep them in a cool, 

 light house and they will be amply large 

 enough. 



It is difficult to say how we would like 

 to have coleus because we want them in 

 all stages. Just now we are shifting a 

 thousand or two from 2}-in. to a 4in. 

 and giving them their last pinch. In 

 a warm, bright house where the heat is 

 kept up tlie-o will make large plants, 

 with us so useful for vases and veranda 

 boxes. There is no better place than the 

 hot-bed for your main crop of Versehaf- 

 feltii and Golden Bedder and these two 

 comprise 90 per cent of all the coleus vou 



want. We are now shifting a big lot of 

 these bedding size from 2 to 3-in. and. 

 they will make good, sturdy plants by 

 bedding time. 



Though a plant entirely out of the bed- 

 ding class I would just say that our cy- 

 clamen are now in 3-in. pots on a shelf. 

 I know many of jou have a strong objec- 

 tion to a shelf, but when crowded they 

 come in very good. Be very.careful that 

 they never sutfer from extreme dryness, 

 for it does them great harm. 



I forgot to mention earlier a very im- 

 portant plant; that is, the ivy geranium. 

 We have lately shifted all ours from a 

 3 to a 4-inch. We use these very large- 

 ly. There is no other place for them but 

 a shelf, because they must have room 

 to grow in width and not in height. I 

 have often seen these plants allowed to 

 bloom long before selling time. They 

 are the most profuse bloomers early in 

 the season. Keep the flowers pinched off 

 until the middle of May or it will stunt 

 their growth. The common white pyre- 

 thrum, often called Feverfew, is, as j'ou 

 all know about hardy. They should be 

 in a cold-frame. Our fuchsias are now 

 in 4 and 5-in. pots, growing vigorously. 

 Don't neglect tying them (that is, the 

 varieties that need it), and here is a 

 plant that must have some shade. 



Heliotrope is another plant that we 

 have in successive batches and often we 

 have them too early and they get rusty 

 and shabby before market time. Thrifty 

 plants in 2-inch pots, if pinched and 

 shifted now, will make the best for bed- 

 ding. Lobelia we have just shifted from 

 a 2 to a 3-inch. They always go on 

 the shelf and we never have too many. 

 Mignonette sown in February should now 

 go into a hot-bed. Three plants in a 

 3-inch pot make nice plants. Every one 

 should raise these favorites from seed, 

 but they do not, and it is surprising how 

 many are asked for at bedding time. 



Nasturtiums of the climbing varieties 

 should be now in 2A or 3inch pots, and. 

 as I have frequently had occasion to say, 

 they do not want a rich soil. These also 

 we put on the shelf. If very small plants 

 now, they will be plenty large enough by 

 the time you are filling vases. 



The great majority of people do not 

 plant out pansies until late in May. This 

 is a big mistake. Those we have win- 

 tered under glass in a cold-frame are 

 now coming into flower and now is the 

 time we sell them. They do better and 

 you have a month bloom before it is time 

 to put in the permanent sunuuer plants. 

 Get rid of them as soon as possible, for 

 now thy command a better price. 



I have had very little to say about 

 pelargoniums for a long time for the 

 reason that I am about disgusted with 

 the way they sell. The -zonal geranium 

 is so much more satisfactory that they 

 have entirely displaced the show pelargo- 

 nium. It will soon be their season of 

 blooming. I can only say this about 

 them: never let the fire out in the house 

 they are in. One damp night and the 

 petals will drop, lodge on the leaves and 

 rot them. Continual mild fumigatiorh 

 and plenty of warm fresh air is the se- 

 cret of growing pelargoniums. 



Tlie petunia is a very important plant 

 with us for various purposes. They grow- 

 very fast. Our plants have just been 

 potted singly from the flats into 21inch 

 pots and stood in the lightest and cool- 

 est house we have. In a hotbed they 

 grow altogether too strong. I see at 

 last that the little plant that nobody 

 seemed to know much about. Pilogyne 

 suavis, is now hpUts .Tdvertiscd as the- 



