The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



8J7 



the remark "That's good enou^'li." In- 

 sist that it be done properly. 



The hose is a great help to us in our 

 dry seasons such as last year, l)ul. it is 

 sadly abused and should only he in the 

 hands of a gardener. While water ad 

 libitum is all right for the cannas it is 

 often the ruin of geranium and coleus 

 beds. In the former it spoils llie flow- 

 ers of geraniums and induces a leafy, 

 soft growth with little flower, and with 

 eolcus it makes a long, rank growth, 

 just what you don't want. 



Veranda Boxes and 'Vases. 



You should be prepared at this time 

 with a very large pile of very rich 

 soil if you fill many veranda boxes and 

 vases, for we use up a great deal of it. 

 It is necessary that it should be very 

 rich and if you don't have plenty of 

 rotted manure you can use bone meal. 

 In a veranda box of 10 or 12 iiulics wide 

 we use about as many plants as would 

 fill a border three feet wide. This 

 crowding I am aware is wrong, but 

 people must have immediate elVcct and 

 this crowding means that before the 

 summer is over the soil is one mass of 

 roots, so make it rich. This is a great 

 city for veranda boxes. People prefer 

 them to cutting up the lawn in front of 

 their houses, and it is admitted by all 

 who visit our city to be a great embel- 

 lishment to our residence streets. 



There is one trouble about them; we 

 started the price too low some years 

 ago and it has been almost impossible 

 to raise it. In figuring up the plants 

 we find that they amount at retail to 

 quite as much as we get for them in 

 the boxes, and our labor and soil and 

 moss thrown in. But against that we 

 must consider that we are not selling 

 them at retail; it is as good as whole- 

 sale and better, for we use what we 

 choose and it helps to clean up lots of 

 stuff for which there would be no sale. 

 We get for boxes eight to ten inches in 

 diameter 75c. per rimning foot. We 

 ought to get .$1.00. At the former price 

 you can live and go to the annual con- 

 vention. At the proper price you might 

 gain a "moderate competency" with 

 fifty years' strict attention to business. 

 It's not nearly as good a business as 

 being successful with American Beau- 

 ty roses, but we can't all be that and 

 some must be satisfied with the plebe- 

 ian end of the business. 



Outdoor Tulips. 

 We are often asked just now, "what 

 shall we do with our tulips to have 

 them flower next year?" Now the best 

 answer is to tell them to throw them 

 away and buy more next year. The fact 

 is, while flowering or just after the 

 bulbs are building up the growth that 

 gives us the flower the following year, 

 and if dug up and dried oft' as soon as 

 the petals are dropped is treating them 

 badly. If you expect to have flowers 

 next year the bulbs should be left in the 

 ground till the tops are about dried up 

 and that with early tulips is at least 

 the first week of June. If the bulbs 

 are planted deep there is no better way 

 than to leave them in the ground and 

 plant your summer flowers without dis- 

 turbing the roots. If you lift the bulbs 

 dry them off well and store them away. 

 William Scorr. 



Aqiiilegia can.-lde 



HARDY PLANTS. 



The accompanying plan indicates a 

 double bay window house, north front, 

 standing at the street level, on a lot 40 



feet wide, with only a narrow walk at 

 each side of house. 



All plants included in the design are 

 herbaceous and all will reappear each 

 spring. If desired, some bright colored 

 late flowering annuals can be planted be- 

 side the early blooming perennials to 

 help the show" for the latter part of the 

 summer ; petunias, verbenas, annual 

 phlox and candy tuft would serve the 

 purpose, and a few plants of Salvia 

 splendens brighten a garden wonderfully. 

 These annuals will not hinder the reap- 

 pearance of the perennials the following 

 spring. 



The two beds could be slightly raised 

 or a low border of boulders might be 

 placed around them and the interspaces 

 set with any of the hardy ferns. 



There is a certain degree of formality 

 in this design which cannot be avoided. 

 To attempt to make it irregular would 

 be merely an afl'ectation. 



.John Higgins. 



Ed. Flokist.s' Review: As you asiv 

 for criticisms of the planting plans, by 

 Mr. Higgins, I would suggest many 

 changes in the plan for a lot 50x100 in 

 your issue of May 9. 



In the narrow bed at back of the lot 

 the ends are planted with purple bar- 

 berries. I think purple trees and shrubs 

 not being normal colors, should be used 

 only for contrast effects. Planted as 

 proposed the bed would be bare, the 

 central perennials starting late, though 

 contrast with garden asparagus in July 

 would be good. I would prefer to make 

 an irregular bed widening at the upper 

 right hand corner and plant Cornus sib- 

 irica, golden v?iIlow (kept cut to a 

 shrub), single kerria, purple barberry 

 and Spirea aurea. Then I would rele- 

 gate the aquilegia to this bed, it has no 

 place in a conspicuous bed in front of 

 house. 



If paeonies are desired, space them 

 well and plant Lilium superbum between, 

 and in front plant Gaillardia grandiflora, 

 thus giving continuous bloom to frost. 

 I would leave out the purple barberry ( 2 ) 

 opposite (6) for reasons before stated. 

 And Forsythia suspensa has no place 

 in so narrow a bed with walk at side. If 

 Forsythia is desirable in such a narrow 



lot, which I doubt, use F. Sieboldii, a 

 more compact grower. I have seen F. 

 suspensa cut down this spring (30 years 

 planted) that had spoiled the grass in 

 a circle 40 feet in diameter. 



I would rather use a finer foliaged 

 shrub like rhodotypos for 17 and 18, 

 planting Lonicera tartarica. alba and 

 rubra in place of Japan quince. The 

 dwarf trees are all right unless the weep- 

 ing mulberry is tender. It is apt to kill 

 back in exposed situations. A tree lilac — 

 Syringa japonica — would be better. 



Geo. L. Clark. 

 ' Kewtonville, Mass. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 



Cuttings should be rooted now right 

 along as time and space can be found 

 for the operation. The earlier rooted 

 stock can, if necessary, be topped now, 

 and such tops make very fine cuttings, 

 because they are in a nice, healthy, 

 vigorous condition. 



Of course, it is a severe check to a 

 plant to be topped in this manner, but 

 if care and common sense are employed 

 in the operation the plant will very 

 soon recuperate. Such plants can be 

 planted out, if desired, and several 

 shoots taken up or they make very use- 

 ful plants for growing on in pots and 

 flowering in an 8 or 9-inch pot, leaving 

 as many stems as the condition of the 

 plant warrants, and your knowledge of 

 what your market calls for as regards 

 quality may suggest. 



Cuttings rooted from now on are best 

 kept to single stem. Many propagat- 

 ing houses at this season get pretty 

 hot during the day, and a better place 

 for rooting cuttings is a cold-frame 

 placed in a sheltered position under a 

 north wall, if possible. If in a posi- 

 tion where the sun will strike it, the 

 glass should be shaded during the day. 

 The main point to be observed is to 

 keep the foliage of the cuttings from 

 wilting and to this end they should be 

 frequently syringed and liberally wa- 

 tered. If allowed to wilt too much the 

 cuttings will get dry and hard and will 

 not root satisfactorily, naither will 

 Ihcy make as good plants if they do 



