38 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



JUNE 



1900.- 



Geraniums. 



There seem to be two plants that 

 stand out most conspicuously as the 

 leaders in public favor this year, and 

 it has been so and will continue so for 

 a long time. They are the zonal gera- 

 nium and the canna. We make the 

 same mistake every year and grow too 

 many varieties and not enough of the 

 best variety. This year it seems that 

 . out of twenty thousand geraniums we 

 should have had about ten thousand 

 S. A. Nutt, tive thousand Francis Per- 

 kins, and the other five thousand in 

 about five of the ieading varieties. It 

 depends somewhat on your trade. If 

 you cater to the people who are going 

 to walk around and "select" half a 

 dozen, then grow most anything that 

 Is spotted and striped and worthless; 

 or if a catalogue trade where the ex- 

 traordinary description is the impor- 

 tant part of the plant, then any old 

 thing with a long French name will 

 do; but if you do a large flower garden 

 business and want to please your cus- 

 tomers by making fine, brilliant beds 

 that will grow and flourish the whole 

 summer, then lir.it your varieties^ 



I am saying all this with the object 

 of telling you to plant out plenty of 

 stock of the right kinds. Wc hope you 

 have a lot out already, but don't be 

 afraid of putting out another lot. I 

 don't profess to try all the new zonals 

 as they come out, and if any variety 

 that you have has turned out finely 

 keep right on growing it. With us S. 

 A. Nutt is the best dark scarlet, Al- 

 phonse Riccard is a grand orange scar- 

 let, Beaute Poitevine is the best sal- 

 mon, and Francis Perkins is a won- 

 derful pink. The latter has clean 

 knocked out old Emile de Girardin 

 that we on(-e grew so largely. Ernes'. 

 Lauth, an amaranth shade, is ancient 

 but a grand bedder. There is another 

 variety, a light scarlet, that is the best 

 of all to withstand the trying ordeal of 

 a cemetery vase, viz., Prokop Dau- 

 beck. It can't be equaled for this 

 purpose. La Favorite is still with us, 

 the most compact and profuse v.-'.iite, 

 but there are others. 



We want nearly twenty doubles to 

 five singles, yet the singles make fine 

 beds, and, as I have many times re- 

 marked, for a large bed in a park 

 where five or six huadred plants are 

 used in a mass, there is nothing more 

 effective than Gen. Grant, because it 

 is a pure scarlet and the leaf a pure 



green. We think a great deal of Mrs. 

 E. G. Hill as a fine single salmon, and 

 J. P. Cleary is the most profuse daz- 

 zling scarlet we have yet seen. It beats 

 Athlete, which is a good one. We 

 never yet had enough of the variegated 

 silver leaf Mountain of Snow, which 

 should have rich soil to grow at its 

 best. And little squatty Mme. Salleroi 

 is indispensable where you do much 

 bedding. 



I forgot to add some weeks ago when 

 writing about geraniums that you 

 should give these plants that you grow 

 for cuttings plenty of room. It is not 

 effect of color you want, it is short- 

 jointed, sturdy growth, so they must 

 have light and air between them. 

 Cannas. 



Either cannas must be in greatly in- 

 creased demand or many people lose 

 quantities during winter, for early in 

 the season it became evident that there 

 was going to be a scarcity all around. 

 They are a good profitable plant, for 

 they take up but two months in the 

 greenhouse bench. Plant out in deep, 

 rich soil within reach of the hose all 

 you can lay your hands on. Last year 

 we planted a lot of cannas as late as 

 the 20th of June. The weather was 

 dry for two months and with no op- 

 portunity to water they made poor 

 growth and small roots. You want 

 rich, deep soil, then you will get large 

 clumps, which means plants for next 

 year. 



There are so many fine varieties 

 that it is risky to recommend any to 

 the exclusion of others, and like the 

 geraniums, the old varieties are by no 

 means yet on the shelf. But a trial of 

 a few of the newest is most proper. 

 Florence Vaughan is still a grand yel- 

 low, Mme. Crozy is still good, Egan- 

 dale is fine, so is Admiral Avellan. 

 Souv. de Antoine Crozy is the best of 

 the gold tipped type, Tarrytown is a 

 brilliant cherry red and dwarf and 

 tree. President McKinley is an ideal 

 bedding canna, with dark, brilliant 

 flower, and there are many more, but 

 hunting after new ones is not half so 

 much of consequence as growing a big 

 lot of the standard sorts. 



If anyone had now at this late day 

 ten thousand well grown cannas he 

 could sell them at a good price. There 

 is only one so called foliage canna 

 that we consider worth growing, and 

 that is incomparable in its dark, al- 

 most blue, tint. La Grand Rouge. It is 



a beauty and yet fills a place that the 

 Crozy type has not filled. 



WM. SCOTT. 



MOSS PINKS AT EGANDALE. 



iiedding with hardy perennial plants 

 is not often attempted, owing to the 

 comparatively short duration of the 

 period of bloom. While one is glori- 

 fied and inspired by a mass of color in 

 the spring, he soon tires of it. and a 

 relief is gamed when nature's sooth- 

 ing color, green, asserts itself. 



The woods and thickets are gor- 

 geous in color at this time of the year. 

 The plum, apple, hawthorne, dogwood 

 and their associates vie with each 

 other in their floral display: but soon 

 this passes away, and only the mem- 

 ory of their transient beauty remains. 

 In their place, however, is the .sooth- 

 ing, quieting green verdure, that al- 

 ways pleases and attracts. That is 

 the way nature does her bedding. 



That feature, a pleasing, missy 

 green, follows the floral display in the 

 bed here illustrated. It is compoied 

 of Phlox subulata, the ground or 

 moss pink, forms the main outer rim 

 and bears very light pink flowers. 

 P. amoena occupied the center, beai ing 

 a much deeper pink bloom. Bo.h of 

 these species of phlox are found gi ow- 

 ing wild on the eastern coast from 

 New York to Florida. They require a 

 dry, sunny situation, and are much 

 better for some protection in winter. 

 Scantling resting on stakes tempo- 

 rarily driven into the bed. hold lath 

 shading frames used over hotbjds. 

 Over these shades are placed corn 

 stalks. This allows circulation and 

 does not press down upon the plants. 



This bed is situated on a slope bor- 

 dering a roadway and walk. Back of 

 the phlox, in the same bed. are some 

 perennial poppies, the foliage of which 

 dies down after the blooming per od. 

 Behind them (not seen in the picture) 

 are some Callirhoe involucrata. a 

 creeping plant, that covers the space 

 made vacant, and are easily pushed 

 aside when the fall growth of the pop- 

 pies appears. 



The shrubbery belt is composed of 

 lilacs, with suowberries near the cot- 

 tage, and the Rocky Mountain Rubus 

 deliciosus is at the roadway end. 



W. C. EGAN. 



BROTHERLY LOVE. 



Shauniburg, June 3, 1900. 

 Tear Frient: Well, aggording to de 

 ledder wich was addressed mit me in 

 Der Florists' Review de argumenta- 

 tion is do pe seddled by liroderly lofe 

 among de florits. De glut off flowers 

 will pe no more, de bissness will pe 

 imbrofed. de florits will all get rich 

 und redire from bissness if dey only 

 will lofe one anodder. Well, it's a 

 goot idee, but a liddle off it goes a long 

 way, exbessially in de flower bissness. 

 Broderly lofe among de florits is like 

 broderly lofe among bolititians. See 

 bow dey lofe one anodder, each one 



