SEPTEMBKR 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



443 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Bulbs. 



Please don't forget that your Ro- 

 mans and Paper White that are cov- 

 ered with a few inches of soil out of 

 doors are entirely divorced from 

 mother earth and get no moisture 

 from Ijelow, and therefore must Ije 

 soaked during a dry time at least once 

 a week. We are not getting much 

 rain, and I believe this is general. 



Sxeet Alyssum. 



W'e find a great use for that simple 

 little plant, the double sweet alyssum, 

 and it must be raised from cuttings, 

 so cut back a few plants now and give 

 them a watering, then they will by 

 middle of October give you some nice 

 cuttings. 



Verbenas. 



The same can be said of verbenas if 

 you still raise them from cuttings. 

 Hard wood of verbenas is no good; 

 you want the young, succulent growth. 

 The early light frosts we get end of 

 September does the verbenas no harm. 



Begonias 



Very few of the flowering begonias 

 now want much shade. The right way 

 io to take it off by degrees, which is 

 easily done with a broom. Metallica 

 and all that type are much better 

 with the least shade. 



We have made Gloire de Lorraine 

 grow. It is growing now as freely as 

 a pie plant in spring and I don't know 

 how we did it. They are now in 5- 

 inch pots. They have had a heivy 

 shade all summer and the soil used 

 was almost half genuine leaf mould, 

 that is, pure decayed hardwood leaves. 

 Shade seems very essential to this 

 gem of a begonia, but we will grad- 

 ually give it less. Cuttings of the 

 young growth have made good plants 

 and so have plants from the leaf cut- 

 tings, if they were allowed to remain 

 long enough in the sand so that they 

 started off with several shoots. 



Callas. 



The Bermuda lily has about 

 knocked out the calla. If you still 

 grow them they should be now well 

 started in 5 or ti-inch pots in a cold- 

 frame. Give them lots of water and 

 leave them out as long as possib'.e. 

 You can always run them in when you 

 feel danger of frost. I think 1 was 

 once guilty of saying that planted on 

 a l)ench was about the best plan. From 

 later experience I would say don't do 

 it. On the bench when the roots get 



crowded you do get immense flowers 

 and lots of them, but in pots they can 

 be moved round to suit your conveni- 

 ence. You get as many flowers and of 

 a more useful size. Callas are often 

 planted in too light a soil; use heavy 

 loam with a third of cow manure. 



Boston Ferns. 



If you planted out a long bench of 

 young Boston ferns in .June and they 

 are getting crowded you can lift and 

 pot every alternate one. There ssems 

 no end to the usefulness of this beau- 

 tiful plant, and you should not waste 

 a runner, Little plants should be pot- 

 ted either for future planting or for 

 ferneries. We have customers now 

 who want their fern dishes filled en- 

 tirely with Bostoniensis. 



Gloxinias. 



We are often asked by letter what 

 to do with the gloxinias in the winter 

 months. My posted friends will ex- 

 cuse me a moment, I know, if I brief- 

 ly say, when the leaves are about gone 

 lay the pot on its side under some 

 warm, dry bench where no drip will 

 touch them, and let them remain there 

 till next February or March, but don't 

 do this suddenly. As soon as the 

 flowers are gone let them dry up 

 gradually. 



The next best thing to do. and per- 

 haps the cheapest, is to dump them 

 on the rubbish pile, as you will buy 

 just as good bulbs and better for 5 

 cents apiece. 



Crimson Ramblers. 



Last year we were veiy succes.-ful 

 in growing Crimson Ramblers in pots 

 all summer, starting with a dormnit 

 plant on the 1st of April. They are 

 not quite as good th's year, but th? 

 principle is the same, and when they 

 have made canes of 6 or 7 feet, three 

 or four to each plant, now is the crit- 

 ical time. 



The strong eyes on these canes are 

 the buds that are going to give you 

 the fine trusses of flowers for next 

 Easter. If from now on the weather 

 is warm and moist and you have the 

 pots plunged in frames, as they should 

 have been, the eyes will start and 

 your labor is in vain. Get the pots 

 out of the plunging material and 

 stand them on boards and water Uss. 

 In case of heavy rains you can tip 

 over the plants. By this treatment 

 the canes will be good and ripe in 

 November. 



I am well aware that just as good 



Crimson Ramblers are forced from 

 plants lifted out of the nurseries in 

 November, but they want lots of care 

 when first lifted. If grown in pots, 

 any fool, unless he is a "regular 

 fool," can force them. 



Ulrich Brunner. 



We have a few hundred Ulrich 

 Brunners treated exactly the same, .and 

 we expect fine flowers from them, but 

 they must be now gradually dried oft. 

 This applies to all H. P. roses in 

 pots. 



Carnations. 



With all the dry weather up to July 

 1st carnations about here seem to be 

 doing finely. All shade of every kind 

 should be off the glass after the plants 

 have hold of the ground, which is 

 from ten days to two weeks. All the 

 ventilation you can possibly give is 

 needed. 



You are sure to have some small 

 plants left in the field. If lifted and 

 potted in 5-inch pots and all flowering 

 shoots pinched off they get well es- 

 tablished by November and will go 

 through the winter finely in a cold- 

 frame and make splendid stuff for sell- 

 ing to your customers next spring. 



Remember the carnation is almost 

 a hardy plant and if they are well 

 rooted and plunged in leaves in the 

 frame there is litt'.e fear of the co!d 

 hurting them. The greatest danger is 

 neglect of airing on mild, sunny days, 

 which starts them growing. 



Just a word about the new kinds. 

 In lifting 13,000 carnations we have 

 lost exactly two plants and those were 

 The Marquis, and the grub of the May 

 bug is to blame for that. We are pick- 

 ing fine flowers of Mrs. Lawson. Af- 

 ter all. this, I believe, is going to 

 turn out a magnificent flower. Ethel 

 Crocker is sending up fine long stems 

 and fine flowers. Lady Minto seems 

 very early and has fine long stems. 

 The Marquis is a grand plant and 

 promises soon to have a fine crop of 

 flowers. Estelle has the same shaped 

 bud as the Evelina type, but it can ' 

 be a much better carnation. Mr. Wit- 

 terstaetter sent us a few Enquirer and 

 the few flowers that have appeared are 

 grand. 



About earliness in carnations: All 

 seedlings have a tendency to grow 

 more than flower, but after a few- 

 years of artificial reproduction which 

 cuttings are. there is a greater incli- 

 nation to send up flowers, so I think 

 if we complain that any of these new 

 varieties are late it is our fault in 

 management. 



Prepare for Frost. 



Frost that hurts usually appears 

 along about the end of this month, 

 so you should be prepared to either 

 bring in or protect your sweet stevia, 

 azaleas, daisies, etc. When plants are 

 in pots they are easily rushed indoors, 

 but when still in the ground and dug 



