JUNE 9, 1898. 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



27 



Grandiflora 



Bignonias. 



than special quality, be needed, each 

 box will carry l."> flowers which will be 

 good enough for all general pv.rposes. 



The advantages of these boxes are 

 many. The roots are under control 

 just as much as though pots were used, 

 and this is important, particularly 

 w;th early varieties. Plants can be fed 

 more heavily in boxes than in a bench, 

 which means a larger bloom. If space 

 inside is limited the boxes can be stood 

 outside for a few weeks and are per- 

 haps better outside until the approach 

 of the intense heat of July and August. 

 They will not require much more 

 water than a bench and if desired can 

 easily be moved from one house to an- 

 other. 



In filling the boxes put a layer of 

 fresh sod in the bottom which, in ad- 

 dition to helping the drainag,^, will be 

 fine for the root fibers to worli among. 

 Mum roots love a turfy fiber more 

 than any kind of manure. 

 Shading. 



Shading newly planted benches is a 

 matter that must be settled largely by 

 the position of the houses, time at 

 one's disposal and several other things. 

 The only time we would jeconimend 

 shading is in case of the house running 

 east and west, consequently getting 

 the full glare of the sun at mid day. 

 With such a house a little whitewash 

 spattered over the glass with a sy- 

 ringe, to break the force of the sun's 

 rays, is beneficial. This wi'.l be all 

 washed off in a week or so, but its 

 purpose will have been accomplished. 



It the house has bottom or side ven- 

 tilation (and all modern houses should 

 have) and the house is well syringed 



twice a day, or perhaps three times on 

 very hot days, shading is not neces- 

 sary. Scald will not amount to any- 

 thing if the plants are inured to full 

 sun from the first and a suflicient 

 amount of moisture be kept in the at- 

 mosphere. 



Mums are greatly benefited by a lit- 

 tle shade in the fall when the Uowers 

 are opening, as the sun often burns 

 the petals of pink and dark varieties 

 which have been fed heavily with 

 manure water. 



For the present the object at which 

 to aim is a clean, stocky, short jointed 

 growth, building itself up as it grows, 

 avoiding any kind of rushing or ex- 

 citing treatment. C. TOTTY. 



BIGNONIA GRANDIFLORA. 

 (Tecoma Grandiflora.) 



This plant was introduced in Eu- 

 rope from Japan early in this century, 

 when many valuable Japanese plants 

 were sent to Holland, that country be- 

 ing the only nation which had then a 

 commercial intercourse with Japan. It 

 was first known as bignonia. but sub- 

 sequently included under tecoma. 



The typical variety has large d:cp 

 orange scarlet flowers produced in 

 panicles, and is a most conspicuous 

 hardy climber. The period of inflores- 

 cence lasts from May until autumn. 

 The plant can be trained either to a 

 stake or wall and is hardy in the 

 middle states. 



There are several sub- varieties with 

 flowers of higher and deeper shades, 

 but the type is perhaps the best of all. 

 P. J. B. 



CARE OF AZALEAS, ETC. 



I have been reading what I can find 

 regarding the treatment of azalea 

 plants at this season of the year and 

 find nothing said about repotting. As 

 the pots were crowded very full of 

 roots last fall it does not seem nat- 

 ural that they can go on growing and 

 produce a good crop of blooms for an- 

 other year without more nourishment, 

 by giving more earth or feeding in 

 some way. One article advised giving 

 them the necessary trimming. I would 

 like to have the trimming process ex- 

 plained. 



I would like also to ask if usually 

 fiorists make a practice of washing all 

 flower pots that have been used before 

 again using, and what is the best and 

 easiest way of cleaning them? 



H. H. C. 



I have been asked to reply to the 

 above inquiry. The azaleas that are 

 now usually brought into flower are 

 at least 95 per cent of them brought 

 from Europe. They are gi-own in a 

 peaty soil, very congenial to azaleas, 

 rhododendrons or any of the family. 

 They arrive in October and should be 

 potted firmly. With the very best 

 care you can give them they make 

 very little growth into the new soil, 

 and not even the third year have they 

 made sufHcient roots to need another 

 shift. The soil we give them here is 

 so different from that in whichthey 

 have been grown that it consequently 

 takes a long time before they make 

 much or any growth in the new soil. 

 If it is from a limestone region it is 

 still less suitable for them. Twenty 

 years ago there were comparatively 

 few azaleas imported; they were prop- 

 agated in this country by grafting in 

 the usual way or by cuttings. But 

 there is now no firm on this side of 

 the Atlantic which can compete with 

 the growers in Belgium and Ger- 

 many. When we did handle the 

 American grown stock, which was 

 mostly grown in loam, not unlike what 

 we would use for roses or carnations, 

 we used to see the azaleas root and 

 shifted them as required, but even 

 then a shifting every third year would 

 be sufficient. 



The answer to the inquiries would 

 not be complete unless I spoke of the 

 general care of the azalea from time 

 of flowering till flowering time again. 

 If you import, say, a hundred plants 

 and have a dozen left over for which 

 there was no demand or which flower- 

 ed poorly, the cheapest and best way 

 in which to manage them would be to 

 dump them on the rubbish pile. You 

 will import a much better plant for 

 less than you can afford to carry over 

 and care for an indifferent plant for 10 

 months. If you do want to carry them 

 over, as some of the large dealers do, 

 there are two ways of doing it. As 

 soon as there is no more danger of 

 frost plunge them outside. If it is 

 where they get the morning sun only 



