166 



The Weekly Florists' Review ♦ 



JULY 20, 1899. 



useful plant for cutting in the summer 

 time, for what can be more welcome 

 in a bunch of flowers than a few sprays 

 of the sweet Lemon Verbena. 



Don't sell out clean in the spring. 

 Save a dozen plants and shift them on, 

 plunging them outside in pots in sum- 

 mer. At the approach of frost bring 

 them in and stand them under your 

 lightest and coolest bench and give 

 them only water enough to keep the 

 wood from shrivelling. In early Feb- 

 ruary we shake them out, shorten back 

 the unripened and weak wood and 

 start them going again in fresh soil 

 and pots, with us a 4-inch. Placed in 

 a temperature of 55 degrees, in a few 

 weeks they are covered with young 

 growths which are just the thing for 



cuttings. They root easily but not 

 nearly so surely as many of the soft- 

 wooded plants. I prefer the sand to 

 be a little warmer than the house. 

 Keep the sand well soaked, twice a day 

 is not too often, and never let the cut- 

 tings wilt from the sun or dryness. 



In April we shift them from a 2-inch 

 to a 3-inch pot and plunge in a mild 

 hot-bed, where by the middle of May, 

 with one pinching, they will have made 

 fine, bushy plants. They want lots of 

 syringing to prevent red spider, and if 

 the proper fumigation is regularly giv- 

 en they will not be troubled with fly. 

 A florist should always be supplied 

 with them for they are usually diffi- 

 cult to procure when wanted. 



Aquatics. 



Imagination has powerful influence 

 over the human mind. The feeling that 

 puts heat into an empty stove also 

 spreads cool breezes 'round anything 

 from the river or lake. This is partly 

 why water flowers are very fashion- 

 able this season. They are not alone 

 most beautiful and adaptable to most 

 forms of decoration, but they suggest 

 the many romances and pleasures and 

 the refreshing delights associated with 

 and to be found upon laughing streams 

 and rivers or shimmering lake. In 

 very large table decorations, low, flat 

 water tanks are used. Once in a while 

 they are raised a little above each 

 other to break formality. These tanks 

 are of zinc, about six inches deep, and 

 as large as the table will permit. Sil- 

 ver sand and a few small goldfish are 

 put in the water, the sides of the tank 

 are covered with a broad, irregular 

 frame of Lycopodium denticulatum 

 and small ferns, which can easily be 

 arranged on a board, three or four 

 lotus flowers are grouped in the center, 

 and, if possible, in the corners, and 

 several varieties of water lilies are 

 employed; small leaves are used, the 

 open flower is wired to the leaf, and a 

 wire stuck in the sand will hold them 

 in place. Of course, this form of table 

 decoration is difficult, and is sure to 

 be a failure unless you have plenty of 

 room. With lots of space and proper 

 material, however, it gives the artist 



an opportunity to exercise his genius— 

 to create something very grand. 



Simpler forms and none the less 

 beautiful can be arranged by filling a 

 low cutglass bowl with nymphaeas. 

 Place the bowl on a cheap mirror and 

 fringe off with selaginellas or ferns; 

 but despite the fact that you must use 

 heavy bordering material to obliterate 

 the identity of the mirror, or reduce 

 the prominence of bowl, still there 

 should be an airy lightness about the 

 whole, some delicate spray or flower 

 here and there, to add to its beauty. 

 Still again, a simple glass bowl or 

 green salad or fruit dish filled loosely 

 with water lilies makes a charming 

 little center piece. Gold or silver ves- 

 sels should never be used for water 

 flowers. Some very fine canoe shaped 

 vases can be had, and wherever they 

 are used make them up with that care- 

 less beauty suggestive of a boat full of 

 lilies on the water. Overcrowding of 

 flowers is neither pretty nor excusable, 

 unless they are suggestive of over- 

 flowing loveliness, in which case the 

 greatest care should be used to avoid 

 premeditated formality or sardine 

 compactness. 



There is nothing grander than a 

 vase of lotus with a few tips of As- 

 paragus tenuissimus. Water lilies 

 should never be used on the table un- 

 less they are open. Varieties can be 

 had to open for day and night work, 

 and every color is among them to 

 choose from. A pink or yellow water 



lily decoration is something fine, 

 though when the whole range of col- 

 ors are judiciously mixed they are in- 

 terestingly beautiful. You can use 

 these flowers to great advantage in 

 basket and design work. Baskets com- 

 posed entirely of water lilies are pret- 

 ty, but when you use them for funeral 

 work, and they are very appropriate, 

 you must strip the green off them, and 

 'tis best to either make the design en- 

 tirely of them, or group them. Noth- 

 ing is handsomer than a cross, anchor 

 or wreath made of one colored 

 nymphaeas. These flowers are also 

 being used for street and evening 

 wear. Very fine white ones can be 

 bought for $2.50 or $3 per 1,000, which 

 makes them one of the cheapest flow- 

 ers on the market for funeral work. 

 Colored ones can be had from large 

 growers of aquatics and they will cost 

 from $3 to $10 per 100. Eichhornia 

 crassipes, both varieties, make a fine 

 wreath; in fact, these flowers are use- 

 ful in many ways, and they are just 

 as pretty as many orchids; in fact, 

 they should be called water-orchid in- 

 stead of water-hyacinth, and it's 

 strange more of them are not used. 

 Mr. Tricker's new hybrid nymphaeas 

 have done much to popularize water 

 flowers, and the use of them in decora- 

 tions is yearly increasing. 



Seasonable Flowers. 



July is the month when good flow- 

 ers are scarcest. The new crop roses 

 are already appearing, but on account 

 of shortness of stem are useful only 

 in made-up work. A few long-stemmed 

 Maids and Brides are being cut from 

 left-over or two-year-old stock. Hy- 

 brid Perpetual roses are scarce, just a 

 few Brunners are coming in, and a 

 very few of them are the best colored 

 rose at present. Kaiserins are the best 

 white roses on the market at present. 

 They make a lovely bride's bouquet; 

 use a few buds and make them loose, 

 no foreign greens showing. When 

 making up designs use most of the 

 open roses short, and festoon with the 

 best and half-open ones, a few buds 

 included. Kaiserins are difficult to 

 ship because they are very easily 

 bruised; they should be handled as lit- 

 tle as possible, kept cool and dry on 

 top, and when packing wrap each 

 flower in wax or damp white tissue 

 paper; a little care taken will be 

 more than amply repaid by results. 

 It's strange there are more of these 

 roses grown east and west than in 

 New York (poor New York will have 

 to grow nothing but rubber flowers if 

 she continues to grow merely to satis- 

 fy Greek peddlers). 



The new Canadian rose. "Lady Doro- 

 thea," should be a success, because it 

 is a most charming color (deeper than 

 the old Sunset), is sweet and free 

 blooming, and of fine shape. We would 

 like to see it on the market because 

 the color is wanted. Get hold of some 

 new rose for next season, or a very 

 old one; either will suit if well grown. 



Fancy caladiums are now being ex- 

 tensively used by private people, and 



