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The Weekly Florists' Review ♦ 



SEPTEMBER 14, 1899. 



Frost is Coming. 



This is a busy month, for frosts are 

 expected towards the end of it, and 

 cuttings are much better made before 

 any frost has touched them, even if 

 the frost has not been sharp enough 

 for you to notice it. There are some 

 plants you lift and propagate after- 

 wards and others you have to put the 

 cuttings in now or before any danger 

 of frost. 



The ivy geraniums are of first im- 

 portance. We put them in the sand 

 as we do anything else, with an eye 

 above and below the surface. 



The vincas, used so much in veranda 

 boxes and vases, should not be over- 

 looked. The long growths on the 

 plant that you planted out in June 

 will give you any amount of cuttings. 

 It is not only the top of the shoot, but 

 all that can be cut up (except the 

 very hard portion), and made into 

 cuttings. The green variety is about 

 as valuable as the variegated. Many 

 of the large plants are lifted in the 

 fall and put into 5 and 6-inch pots. 

 They lift well and hold their leaves 

 without any loss. They need the side 

 of the bench, so that their numerous 

 long, drooping growths can hang 

 down. For some kinds of decorations 

 these large vincas are very useful, but 

 they take up lots of room. 



Abutilon vexillarium is another 

 drooping plant that is greatly in de- 

 mand in the spring. Hard pieces of 

 their shoots will not grow, and it is 

 only about two cuttings you can make 

 of each growin. They are by no 

 means as easy to root as many cut- 

 tings. They wilt quickly and must 

 be kept wet and well shaded from the 

 sun. The plants of these, too, are often 

 lifted and put into 4-inch pots, and 

 make very ornamental plants for deco- 

 rations. They must be lifted with all 

 their roots and kept from wilting by 

 shade and sprinkling or they will 

 soon lose their leaves. 



Two common little plants that are 

 invaluable as droopers are the varie- 

 gated glechoma and money vine (lysi- 

 machia). If not done before, put two 

 or three cuttings from the tops of the 

 young growth around the edge of a 2- 

 inch pot and stand in a shaded cold- 

 frame. When rooted plunge them in 

 some material in a cold-frame and let 

 them remain there till next March. 

 When they are brought in and shifted 

 into 3-inch they make fine trailing 



stuff in a short time. If coddled up 

 all winter in a greenhouse they would 

 be useless. 



Verbenas are so largely grown from 

 seed now that only specialists bother 

 with cuttings. If you put in cuttings 

 they will root very well in a cold- 

 frame in flats two inches deep, with 

 one inch of soil and one inch of sand. 

 They like the cool and fresh air of the 

 cold-frame and can be easily handled 

 till you are ready to pot off. Remem- 

 ber that it is useless to put in a ver- 

 bena cutting unless it is a fresh young 

 growth; and plenty of water is needed 

 while rooting. Don't forget a few of 

 any plants that are readily increased 

 by cuttings. 



There are a number of plants that it 

 is economy to lift and propagate dur- 

 ing winter or spring. Pyrethnmi 

 (feverfew) is one. Acalypha lifts well 

 and when cut back later it makes 

 young growths that root easily. The 

 double sweet alyssum cannot be pro- 

 duced from seed and it is a most use- 

 ful plant, both indoors and out. You 

 should cut back a dozen plants now 

 and lift before frost. They will give 

 you lots of cuttings, and we always 

 need them. Salvias all lift and are 

 propagated later, and so can ageratum. 



If you have not grown any lobelias 

 for stock in pots, then shorten back a 

 few plants and lift at once. A plant 

 that has done well with us. or rather 

 has again proved one of the very best 

 summer vines, is Pilogyne suavis. As 

 I don't find this in any dictionary of 

 gardening, it may not be its correct 

 name, but it is awkward enough to be 

 correct. It has a very slender, wiry 

 stem, with a dark green leaf about one 

 inch in length and breadth and a very 

 small, inconspicuous white flower. 

 When disturbed the leaves have a 

 very faint odor of musk. It is a rapid, 

 vigorous grower and forms a dense 

 mass, a perfect veil of foliage. It roots 

 easily from cuttings, but is rather 

 troublesome to keep over winter, and 

 those who first see small plants of it 

 might think it a very small affair, but 

 when I tell you that a plant in a 6- 

 inch pot covered densely a space 8 

 feet by 6 feet, it will give you an idea 

 of how it will grow. It would not 

 make a good basket plant, but for a 

 veranda box or for climbing on a trel- 

 lis I don't know its equal. In com- 

 bination with maurandya it is fine out 

 of doors in summer. 



Hydrangeas that are wanted for 

 early spring flowers, if in pots should 

 not be crowded just now. Spread them 

 so that light can get at their lower 

 buds. Don't take them in till they 

 have had a slight frost; it ripens the 

 wood and fits them better for forcing, 

 and as the season advances they want 

 less water. 



Last year we flowered a few dozen 

 Bougainvillea Sanderiana as well as I 

 believe it is possible to make them. 

 They are a tropical p'.ant and must not 

 have the least frost, but whether in 

 pots or planted out, I believe they 

 should be allowed to remain out as 

 long as it is safe, so that the shoots 

 will ripen, which they did last year. 

 That, I believe, was the cause of their 

 blooming so profusely. When first 

 moved in we put them into a house of 

 50 degrees at night and after Christ- 

 mas gave them 60 degrees, when at 

 the axil of the leaf the flower bud ap- 

 peared. It takes a long time for the 

 flower, or rather bracts, to develop, 

 almost three months from the time 

 you first see the small flower buds. 



We have a number of Crimson and 

 Yellow Rambler roses in 7 and 8-inch 

 pots plunged out of doors. Cut back 

 in the spring, they have made growths 

 of five and six feet. From now on till 

 hard frost we don't want them to 

 make any more growths, but by colder 

 weather and a much shorter allow- 

 ance of water we expect them to ripen 

 their canes; so only give water enough 

 to keep leaves green and wood plump. 



Let me remind you once more that 

 when your plants of poinsettia are 

 large enough to shift, they should go 

 into their flowering pot at once. To 

 disturb their roots when well ad- 

 vanced is disastrous to them, and they 

 will lose their leaves sure. Better to 

 have their pots full of roots and have 

 to feed some with liquid the last 

 month than be shifting them after end 

 of this month. If you grow only for 

 the cut stems, they are much easier 

 managed planted out in five inches of 

 soil on a bench where the house is not 

 below 60 degrees at night. And there 

 is this about the planted-out ones: 

 When root action is vigorous, which it 

 would be on those planted out, they 

 will put up with a lower temperature 

 without losing their leaves. This I 

 have proved with the poinsettia, and 

 it is doubtless true of almost any other 

 plant. Mind, I don't say that a tender 

 plant will endure frost any better than 

 a plant in a pot, but one that is re- 

 ceiving good nourishment from the 

 roots can withstand a lower tempera- 

 ture better than one whose roots are 

 inactive. It is more often the condi- 

 tion of the roots than the temperature 

 (hat brings our poinsett'a to the sere 

 and yellow leaf. WM. SCOTT. 



lACKMAN'S CLEMATIS COCCINEA 

 HYBRIDS. 



One of the greatest boons to the 

 lover of flowering vines was the pre- 

 sentation to the public in 1863 by 



