May 15. iri02. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



871 



««^i*^<*^<«^<»=a(«^<*^<»?*.<»^'«^*^'«^.<»=a C^'*^'<^ '♦^'♦^^•^.i 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



'^fe»!l^♦>^fe»|•fer»l•^r»>•fe»)^'yr»)•fe»'y^'fe^) 'fe»>-'yr»)'yr»'yr*> '^c9>Vc9,-U:9,-U:9i'U:9,: 



Decoration Day. 



Try to induce societies and school au- 

 thorities to give better recognition to the 

 importance of Decoration Day. Many im- 

 agine plants and flowers are very expen- 

 sive; yon can do much to dispel this by 

 suggesting simple forms of decoration, 

 and by showing a little generosity in 

 your dealings do much to presen-e a 

 beautiful custom. Anything in the shape 

 of plant or flower can be used, and many 

 yeij pretty arrangements can be made. 

 Go to work at once and see if you can- 

 not get all patriotic people to spend 

 some thought and money on decorating 

 the graves of those who have gone before. 

 The national sosiety by proper presenta- 

 tion could very easily get an appropria- 

 tion from the government to annually 

 decorate the graves in the National Cem- 

 etery. We would like to see some organ- 

 ized efl'ort made to that end; it would 

 result in great good, anyhow, and the 

 time has come when every possible way 

 of increasing the trade must be attend- 

 ed to. 



Wedding Decorations. 



''This is the time of the year when 

 flowers are cheap and plentiful and 

 money can be made providing you have 

 any business at all. Let's visit the New 

 York market (the same can be done in 

 most of the large cities) and see what 

 I'an be bought, how it should be made 

 up, and what we might ask for it. Sup- 

 pose we are looking for materials for 

 wedding decorations, we want big, showy 

 flowers. Remember, decorations at this 

 time of the year should be profuse. Here 

 are lilies, both callas and Harrisiis; 

 tlipy can be bought for from 3 to 6 

 cents. Now, lilies are all right for the 

 church, leave them out of the house; six 

 or twelve lilies, six sprays of any green, 

 a yard of white ribbon (gauze or silk) 

 makes a most effective end-pew bunch. 

 Five hundred Harrisiis will make a great 

 sliow in any large building. 



Rcpses — well, you can name your own 

 price. .Some days you can get what are 

 known as No. 1 and No. 2 at $5.00 per 

 thousand; other days they are double 

 that, but even at the latter figure they 

 are dirt cheap, and see what you can do 

 with one thousand roses. Three dozen 

 roses make a bouquet large enough for 

 any woman to' carry. You can pick out 

 the best Brides and Maids for the bou- 

 quet and use the remainder for decora- 

 tive work. You can charge all the way 

 from $50.00 to $100.00 for the work you 

 can do with one thousand roses and a 

 little green and ribbons. A well-made 

 bride's or bridesmaid's bouquet of roses 

 .•an be sold at from $5.00 to $10.00. The 

 most effective bouquet you can make is 

 the loose cluster bunch tied with long 

 streamers; they are on the right and left 

 arm (we mean that in the case of brides- 

 maids walking two abreast the bunches 

 are carrie-d on the outside arm). Be sure 

 every thorn is taken off. 



All manner of blossoms are plentiful. 



You can get a wagonload for a few dol- 

 lars. Of course apple blossoms are the 

 most popular of all for May decorations, 

 and every bride will readily accept their 

 use, but while they can be made a leading 

 feature it is good to have a variety. The 

 "red bud" is very beautiful, so are the 

 double flowering almond, crab and peach. 

 Then there are the dogwoods, deutzias, 

 spireas, lilac, hawthorn, and an endless 

 variety. You may have them on your 

 own place. We do not advocate the de- 

 struction of fruit orchards for wedding 

 decorations, but there are numberless 

 old fruit trees of inferior varieties that 

 could not be used for better purposes. 

 We would not use too much lilac, be- 

 cause many people imagine it is value- 

 lessly plentiful. Purple flowers have no 

 place at a wedding, anyhow, and the 

 more the variety in the matter of spring 

 blossoms the greater the value from a 

 monetary and appreciative standpoint. 



You can make a very respectable wed- 

 ding decoration these days for $100.00, 

 a better one, of course, for more. Out- 

 door grown flowers should be gathered 

 in the early morning and kept in a cool 

 place till required. Lily of the valley 

 can be had for from $1.50 to $3.00 per 

 100. You can make a fine bouquet with 

 from 200 to 350 valley and two smilax. 

 We use the foliage very short and often 

 put small valley in between the large. 

 With ribbons and all you can afford to 

 sell a bouquet of valley for $10.00 to 

 $20.00. Some like sweet peas; you can 

 buy enoxigh of white or pink peas, swain- 

 sona or Marguerites for $1.00 or so to 

 make a $3.00 or $5.00 bouquet. 



It is bad policy to offer flowers singly 

 or by the bunch at regular prices and 

 have some customers want you to make 

 them up into bouquets at the same price. 

 It is always better to say you can make 

 a nice bouquet at a running scale of 

 prices, making due allowance for time, 

 ability and trimming. It may sound as 

 if there is lots of money in the flower 

 business; there may be for some as re- 

 gards cut flowers, but it requires aiility 

 to make them up into designs, and that 

 deserves to be well paid for. Choicer 

 and higher priced bouquets can be made 

 of some combinations, such as valley and 

 cluster of white orchids; gardenias or 

 such tiowers ; cattleyas can be got at 25 

 to 35 cents, and are the finest flowers on 

 the market — it requires two to three 

 dozen to make a good bouquet, and you 

 can ask from $15.00 to $25.00 for it, just 

 according to trimmings and the customer. 



It is merely a waste of time, money 

 and energy to bother with small flowers 

 in large decorations. You need large 

 flowers to make a big show. You will 

 find that hydrangeas are fine and cheap 

 and can be used in many ways. We for- 

 got to say that moss roses, both white 

 and pink, can be had at 75 cents a bunch 

 of twelve, and a few of them set off a 

 bouquet to advantage, particularly in the 

 case of white lilac or lily of the valley. 



Funeral Work. 



In the matter of funeral work the 

 market abounds with splendid material, 

 and often the cheapest and most despised 

 is capable of producing the prettiest de- 

 signs. Take, for instance, pansies; you 

 can buy them for about $1.00 per 1,000. 

 Now, one thousand purple pansies are 

 enough to make a very handsome 30-inch 

 wreath; that, with a large bow of white 

 or purple ribbon, you can charge any- 

 where up to $15.00 for. Of course, each 

 pansy must be put on a No. 36 wire, and 

 that takes a long time. You can use 

 them for other designs, and we know 

 that this simple flower would be used in 

 greater quantity were they suggested and 

 made up properly. White and lavender 

 sweet peas make a very pretty wreath, 

 but there should be some distinguishing 

 form of arranging the colors. You can 

 use one for an inside and outside fringe, 

 the other for center, or make half the 

 wreath one color; sometimes a cluster 

 where the bow is tied goes tine; taffeta 

 ribbon with medium high bow is best 

 with such flowers. 



Sweet peas need to be fairly solidly 

 arranged to be most effective, and you 

 can generally get a good price for a 

 wreath of them. The most generally 

 sought flower, of course, is the white 

 rose, and short-stemmed ones are just as 

 good as the best for made-up work. 

 There is plenty of rose foliage to be had, 

 and where one has time to get it and 

 many wreaths to make it is both econom- 

 ical and more artistic to use it. It re- 

 quires from 150 to 250 roses to make a 

 wreath to sell at from $8.00 to $15.00, 

 according' to grade of trade. It isn't a 

 mere question of how many flowers you 

 use in any particular work ; it's rather a 

 matter of how you can arrange them. 



For young persons or anniversaries, 

 colored flowers, particularly pink, are 

 suitable, but for the general run of trade 

 where artistic effect and the riijht thing 

 is sought you will find that white flowers 

 are best. Carnations make up finely and 

 can be bought at from $5.00 to $10.00 

 per 1.000; 500 white carnations are 

 enough to make a grand wreath or flat 

 bunch. Use small-leaved ivy tips for em- 

 bellishments, or asparagus. Designs of 

 mixed flowers can be made up for almost 

 any price, but except in the case of poor 

 people much discretion should be used in 

 order to have those who are willing to 

 pay a good price retain that, alas! 

 fast decreasing quality. Many prominent 

 florists keep up high prices because their 

 customers imagine they get the cream of 

 the market and do not begrudge to pay 

 for select stock, but you'll find even this 

 class, at this time of the year especially, 

 look for cheap flowers for general pur- 

 poses. But again to funeral work. 



We notice some very fine double white 

 petunias that go finely in set design 

 \vork. Growers who do a local trade 

 should grow a batch of this useful flower. 

 Then there are all the deutzias and out- 

 door flowers that can bo used up, if not 

 in filling in or outlining designs, at least 

 they are good for base work. You know- 

 standing designs need a well-filled base 

 to make them show their best. Callas, 

 and lots of them, are being used in set 

 work. In the ease of a wreath of callas 

 they should be arranged to face alike 

 from both sides, and tie the bow or clus- 

 ter of ivy sprays where they meet at the 

 bottom. A wreath of callas with three 

 blooms across the center, one a little 

 higher than the sides, looks good. It is 



