7oa 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



October 23, 1902. 



Australia resembles the climate of this 

 eountiy so far as its eflfect on the mum 

 is concerned. Certain it is that many 

 of our best varieties today are of Aus- 

 tralian origin. Nellie Pockett, T. Car- 

 rington, Australia and others. Mr. 

 Pockett seems to be the most prominent 

 raiser as is shown by the number of 

 varieties bearing that name, and some 

 of his latest novelties are really start- 

 ling. Mrs. T. W. Pockett is, I think, 

 the most beautiful chrysanthemum I 

 have ever seen. It is a Japanese as 

 large as the largest flowers of Carnot 

 and somewhat on the style of a good 

 flower of that variety. The color is a 

 deep clear yellow and the general ap- 

 pearance of the flower intensely fascinat- 

 ing. The habit of the plant is ideal — 

 dwarf and exceedingly robust. 



C. J. Salter, another of Pockett's 

 giants, is truly a monster. It is the 

 largest incurved I have ever seen — nine 

 inches across — and canary yellow in 

 color. Appleton is dwarfed in size by 

 this new arrival. It is also exceedingly 

 robust in growth and I believe such va- 

 rieties as thrso when thev arc exhibited 

 iegBiammmmmmm 



will place the mum on a more popular 

 plane than it has ever been. 



Charles Longley is another immense 

 thing, rosy purple in color and \ery 

 striking. It would be interesting to 

 know what varieties Mr. Pockett used 

 to cross with to obtain this race of 

 giants. 



Millicent Richardson is another va- 

 riety on the rosy purple order, but much 

 brighter in color than the last named. 

 It will possibly be more popular than 

 Longley, but either one is a great ad- 

 vance. 



I know not gentle reader whether any 

 of these varieties will be for sale next 

 year or not. Possibly some of them 

 may, but these notes are not intended 

 to help the sale of any variety. I write 

 of varieties as I find them, and hav- 

 ing nothing for sale write sometimes 

 perhaps critically, but always, I hope, 

 truthfully so far as my own experience 

 with varieties is concerned. Tliese Aus- 

 tralian novelties I do not possess but I 

 am in a good position to observe them 

 closely and they are putting our own 

 varieties completely in the shade. 



T,i;i.\x BoRu. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Azaleas. 



Some weeks ago I had occasion to 

 speak of newly imported azaleas. They 

 will be arriving in a few days. Perhaps 

 you have yours. Let me remind you 

 once more that it is very essential to 

 dip the ball of roots in a tub of water 

 for a minute or so or until the ball is 

 thoroughly saturated. Some lots may 

 not need this as much as others, but it 

 won't hurt any of them. Do this after 

 you have cut the ball down with a sharp 

 knife or hatchet to the desired size. 

 That does not hurt them and you don't 

 have to use a pot that looks two sizes 

 too big for them, or as I would look if 

 . wearing an old hat that once belonged 

 to Mr. Gladstone. Any cool house mil 

 do and in more favored climes a cold 

 frame will do for another month, but 

 no frost. 



After being potted a week or so you 

 should select the plants you want for 

 flowering at Christmas, and the freshly 

 imported plants are the ones for that 

 purpose, not the summered over plants, 

 as would most likely be supposed to be 

 bes»t adapted for that purpose. Leave 

 those for Easter for they are better at 

 that time than the fall imported plants. 

 They are not so inclined to make these 

 young growths at base of flower bud 

 which if allowed to grow soon rob the 

 flower buds of their strength, and you 

 have a flowerless plant. Some varie- 

 ties should never be flowered the first 

 season but have one summer under your 

 care and then they are magnificent. 

 Notably that fine variety, Bernard An- 

 dreas, which is a fine, bright, rosy pink, 

 superior to the much-in-demand Mme. 

 Van der Cruyssen. Tlie latter, how- 

 ever, forces finely the first winter after 

 importing, while Bernard Andreas is 

 about useless the first year, but the sec- 

 ond it puts Van der Cruyssen in the 



shade. For Christmas sales there is 

 nothing in white that equals Deutsche 

 Perle. Simon Mardner is the best deep 

 pink we know of and Vervaeneana is 

 the fine variegated or mottled pink and 

 white. Azaleas sell well at the holidays. 



Rhododendrons, Etc. 



Along with the azaleas will come 

 rhododendrons, Azalea mollis and per- 

 haps deutzias and other hardy shrubs 

 for forcing. In our soil the ericaceous 

 plants make little or no roots and what 

 rhododendrons and Azalea mollis are 

 not sold we dump on the rubbish heap 

 as it would be an imposition to donate 

 them to friend or foe. So it is not nec- 

 essary to pot them or the shrubs till 

 New Year's. A deep cold frame with 

 some nice friable soil or leaf-mold and 

 the plants heeled in will keep them very 

 well till New Year's, but before they 

 are heeled in the roots should be thor- 

 oughly wet. Perhaps I may be a little 

 clearer in this by saying that rhododen- 

 drons should be potted and in the green- 

 house by New Year's as they take some 

 time to start and expand their flower 

 buds. 



The deciduous azaleas will want only 

 seven or eight weeks in the heat while 

 the deciduous shrubs will vary in time 

 and that of course will depend some- 

 what on the amount of heat you give 

 them. In 60 degrees at night a Deutzia 

 gracilis will want seven or eight weeks, 

 a lilac four weeks. It is a long while 

 yet before you are handling them and 

 what concerns you now is to take care 

 of them at this busy time, for it is a 

 busy time. 



Don't think because a lilac and spiraea 

 or Viburnum is a hardy shrub when 

 well established in our gardens that you 

 can expose them to zero after coming out 

 of a warm box in the hold of a steamer. 



Thej' really get slightly stimulated into 

 giowth during the journey and are in 

 no condition for a severe freeze. Let 

 them be protected from cold cutting 

 winds with sash or boards and later 

 they will endure a freeze without any 

 harm. 



Spiraea. 



Tliat weighty article, the spirsea or 

 astilbe, will soon be along. This pretty 

 feathery flower will stand more abuse 

 when dormant than a tom-cat. but the 

 latter is seldom dormant till dead. Many 

 people leave the case of three or four 

 liundred roots out of doors just as they 

 arrived. If we get a warm spell the 

 roots start to grow and they get matted 

 together. They may not be much the 

 worse for this harsh treatment yet I 

 prefer to unpack and place the roots in 

 boxes witli a little earth between the 

 clumps and a few inches over the crowns, 

 wetting the roots before putting them 

 away. In this condition they are safe 

 till you want to force them after New 

 Year's. 



Bulbs. 



We will hope that you boxed up a 

 good many of each variety of early 

 single tulips for your January and Feb- 

 ruary forcing. If you have them out 

 of doors covered with three inches of 

 soil they will not have needed any arti- 

 ficial watering, at least not with us as 

 rains have been copious; but if in your 

 locality it has been dry you must soak 

 the beds once a week or root grow'th 

 will not be going on as it should and 

 without roots they won't force. 



We are now potting our named hya- 

 cinths in 4-inch pots. These we prefer 

 to put in a cold frame, standing the 

 pots on old boards or a few inches of 

 coal ashes. After a good soaking cover 

 with two or three inches of loam or 

 leaf-mold or decayed refuse hops. This 

 will do till hard winter comes when 

 we cover again with six or seven inches 

 of stable litter and then with sash or 

 frames. Hard freezing would not hurt 

 the bulbs or their prospect of flowering, 

 but it is hard work and a nuisance to 

 be chopping them out of a frozen mass 

 in the months of February and March. 



We grow a good many pans of hya- 

 cinths for Easter, all one color in a pan. 

 They can be planted now in the pan or 

 you can grow the hyacinths in a 3-inch 

 flat, forty bulbs in a flat 2 feet by 1 foot. 

 When they are about in full flower they 

 can he transferred into the pans and 

 will make finer pans than those planted 

 in the fall. There is no fraud about this. 

 The flower will last just as long. Tliey 

 are as lasting and pretty as if grown 

 there all winter. You need not lose a 

 root in taking them out of the flat be- 

 cause the soil can be washed off but 

 that is of no consequence. The loss of 

 some roots will make no difference. By 

 this method j-ou will save room in the 

 frame, save breaking of pots and pans 

 and have no blanks in your pans. We 

 take up tulips from flats when m flower 

 and make into pans to please customers, 

 but tulips do not lend themselves to 

 this treatment and always look floppy 

 and pulled about. Not so with hya- 

 cinths. 



Ciet all your forcing tulips and hya- 

 cinths in Jlats as soon as possible. But 

 don't hurry about planting in beds out 

 of doors. After trying all dates from 

 Qixrly October to a January thaw, I am 

 convinced that the middle of November, 

 or even later, if weather is open, is the 



