574 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Acalyphas — Abutilons. 



I hope you got everything lifted or 

 propagated before the frost came, but 

 in many parts of the country no frost 

 has yet troubled the florist. There is 

 one bedding plant we are going to dis- 

 card, and that is achyranthus. There 

 are so many better things for an edging 

 to a canna bed. The acalyphas are 

 splendid, and a border this year which 

 is magnificent round a large block of 

 Tarrytown canna is Abutilon Savitzii. 

 You can lift plants of this splendid abu- 

 tilon, cut them back some and keep in 

 a temjjerature of 50 until February; 

 then give it more heat and begin to 

 projKigate. I find that if you don't 

 want large plants of acalypha for dec- 

 orating purposes you can lift the old 

 plants from the beds (even if they are 

 touched with frost it will not hurt) and 

 just lay them in flats under the benches 

 with their roots covered with moist 

 earth. They will want no watering un- 

 less it is a dry hou.se and will remain 

 in this condition until February, when 

 they can be brought up, cut back some 

 and started growing. The old plants 

 will make splendid stock for a sub- 

 tropical bed and give you plenty of cut- 

 tings for young stock. 



Cannas. 



Everyone ought to know liow to take 

 care of canna roots but there is fre- 

 quently a failure, and like many other 

 things it is called "bad luck." But there 

 is not much luck about gardening. 

 When a hail storm comes and breaks all 

 your glass that is bad luck, but when 

 you allow your canna roots to rot be- 

 cause they are in the wrong place, that's 

 not luck. For some years I have found 

 the very best place for the cannas was 

 beneath a carnation bench. Cut off the 

 tops within a few inches above the 

 ground, and if it's fine weather, no harm 

 after you have shaken off the earth to 

 let them remain out of doors in the sun 

 for a couple of days, then remove them 

 to the house, but don't put them on the 

 earth or they will start growing again, 

 which will spoil a lot of them. Place 

 some old boards on the earth and on 

 these place the roots. Another thing, 

 look out for drip. There should be very 

 little drip from a carnation bench until 

 toward spring and then you have got 

 the cannas out. If there is any place 

 where the drip comes through remove 

 the canna roots, for a continuous drip 

 on them will rot them. 



Alternantheras. 



If you did not propagate alternan- 

 thera in the summer as I have frequent- 

 ly suggested during the month of Au- 

 gust, you can lift a lot of the old 

 plants now and plant them in flats as 

 thick as you like. The principal thing 

 about keeping alternanthera. especially 

 the best of all, paronychioides major, 

 is to keep them warm and dry. I don't 

 mean absolutely dry, but on the dry 

 side. The cooler the house the less wa- 

 ter thev want. You don't want thein 



to grow, you just want them to exist 

 during winter, or until next March, 

 when they are torn to pieces and every 

 portion of the plant will root. 



Azaleas. 



The azaleas will soon arrive from 

 Belgium. These are a very important 

 plant now with the florist, not only at 

 Easter but throughout the winter. 

 There is a' good demand for a well 

 flowered azalea and for winter decora- 

 tions they are largely used. Time was 

 when we* considered it about as cheap 

 to throw away the unsold azaleas in the 

 spring as to summer them over, but we 

 are of a very different opinion now and 

 for several years the kept over azaleas 

 have been much our best plants, par- 

 ticularly the following Easter. Their 

 care during the summer has often been 

 written up. I will just say now that 

 they should never be exposed to any 

 frost. And remember that these azalea 

 plants that you have kept over are not 

 the ones to force. That may seem 

 strange, but the freshly imported plants 

 force much easier. The plants that you 

 have summered over should be kept in 

 a very cool house and will with little 

 trouble come in at Easter in great per- 

 fection. 



All dispatch should be used in getting 

 your azaleas unpacked. Y^ou can re- 

 duce the size of the ball quite a little 

 without doing the slightest harm to the 

 plant, and to accommodate the ball of 

 roots that they often have would need 

 such a pot that the plant would look 

 unsightly and over potted. The great 

 majority of our plants should be in 6, 

 7 or 8-inch pots. As soon as you have 

 chopped ofl' what roots are necessary 

 you should dip the ball a few minutes 

 in a tub of water. This is most essen- 

 tial because if potted as they arrive 

 all the watering you can give them 

 will never penetrate to all the roots 

 and I have seen hundreds die and the 

 importer or dealer be blamed, but it 

 was no fault of his; it was simply that 

 the plants were drying to death. For a 

 few days after being potted put them 

 in a rather shady, cool house. In two 

 weeks after potting select those you 

 want for Christmas. Simon Mardner 

 for a red; Vervaeneana, the beautiful 

 variegated; and the best of all for a 

 forcing white is Deutsche Perle, 



If you grow any of the acacias you 

 vdW now be bringing them into the 

 house and also the Bottle Brush plant. 

 These want to be kept like the azaleas, 

 very cool during winter. 



Hydrangeas. 



Don't be afraid of a little frost on 

 your hydrangeas but keep them as much 

 as possible away from the heavy rains. 

 It is time they were ripening up. They 

 will force all the better if they are 

 given two or three weeks almost com- 

 plete rest. 



Crinison Ramblers. 



The Crimson Rambler roses will do 

 yet for a long time out of doors. The 

 greatest danser now is that we may 



have a warm spell with much rain and 

 in that caM- iImv ;ii<' liiible to break 

 at the stniHLT-i .x.-, -o the plants 

 are better n.nv l.i^l a. -ah. You want 

 them to ripen lluii wucul thoroughly. 

 If you think they are too long without 

 water it is not a great job to raise 

 them up and give them one watering, 

 b\it be sure and not let them get any 

 warm rains, which we may have yet 

 this fall. When most successful with 

 these pot grown Ramblers we left them 

 fully exposed until the middle of No- 

 vember and then by that time they 

 were thoroughly ripe; then for a few 

 weeks we covered them with glass. 

 That was just to keep them from severe 

 freezing. 



I have not yet been successful in forc- 

 ing Ramblers from field grown plants, 

 but as others have I have nothing to 

 say against that method. If you have 

 them on your own place it is all right. 

 The middle of November is plenty of 

 time to lift them. They should iye as 

 little exposed to dryness and draught 

 as possible. They must be lifted, potted 

 immediately and the wood kept plump. 

 Under these conditions you can have 

 success, but when once dried out with 

 me they have been useless, and that 

 seems unavoidable with a railroad jour- 

 ney. 



Carnations. 



For fear some one else should forget 

 to tell you, you ought now to put in 

 a good batch of carnation cuttings at 

 once. They will root easily with or 

 without bottom heat, but a little bot- 

 tom heat helps a good deal. If these 

 plants are grown along in a cool, light 

 house during winter, shifted from a two 

 to a three and again to a four, and 

 stopped once or twice, they will make 

 fine plants to sell to your customers 

 next May. 



We find an increasing demand for 

 these carnation plants. People are get- 

 ting fond of their gardens, not so much 

 for the display it makes as for the real 

 love of flowers, and what can be bet- 

 ter than carnations for them? If I 

 were going to select half a dozen for 

 this purpose I would put Mrs. Lawson 

 as one of the very best, and the old vari- 

 ety William Scott; Crane for scarlet, 

 although if you still grow Portia it 

 is a magnificent variety out of doors. 

 Evelina, is one of the very best out 

 of doors. Another good white would be 

 Flora Hill. A great variety is not nec- 

 essary and I don't know but what many 

 other varieties are good for the purpose. 

 William Scott. 



ROSE NOTES. 



■Watering and Ventilating. 



A good material to place young stock 

 plants on is coal ashes, passed through 

 a half-inch screen, and spread on the 

 bench to the depth of an inch. Worms 

 do not like it and it is not so liable to 

 shift with watering nor get so muddy as 

 sand does. 



Watering and ventilating now play an 

 important part and the grower who be- 

 comes neglectful at this stage is laying 

 up many troubles for himself in the fu- 

 ture. Every individual plant ought to 

 get its full complement of water. The 

 rows nearest the edges of the bench dry 

 out much sooner than the others, and 

 will require a second or even a third 

 going over before they are properly wa- 

 tered. This can only be determined by 



