1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



J041 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Memoranda on Easter Plams. 



Six mouths from now our recollection 

 of what sold best, of what we had a sur- 

 plus and of what we could have sold 

 more than we had, will not be as clear 

 and definite as it is today, so I propose, 

 in addition to the mental memoranda 

 which we all make, to write down at 

 once our experience with the leading 

 plants that make up the Easter trade. 

 Florists have to look a long way a'head 

 and now you are ordering stock and pre- 

 paring some crops for Easter of 1905. 

 Experiences may be different in other 

 localities; this is ours: 



Lonsiflorum Lilies. 



Lilies sold out clean. It is tiue they 

 were not all in time. The black stemmed 

 aiganteum is the finest flower, but it was 

 hard work to get it in on time, and an- 

 other -week ■would have given us many 

 more in bloom. We shall not get such 

 another February and March soon, I 

 hope, and Easter was veiy early. Nest 

 year it is very late. The floribunda 

 variety were all in. We saw few of the 

 old Bcnnuda type. 



Crimson Ramblers. 



Crimson Eambler roses, when well 

 flowered, sold fairly well, but when bare 

 at the base of plant they did not go. 

 I still believe one-year-old dormant 

 plants, cut hard back, started cool and 

 induced to make four or five moderate- 

 sized canes, properly ripened off in the 

 fall and then tied into neat, compact 

 plants are much better for our purpose 

 than those lifted from the field in No- 

 vember. Now is the time to start the 

 dormant plants in 6 or 7-inch pots. 



White Lilacs. 



The white lilacs sold very good this 

 year. They are not expensive to start 

 with and bring a good price, but be care- 

 ful where you get the stock. We had 

 some from one of our reliable home 

 firms that were excellent and a hundred 

 or two we imported, which were com- 

 plete rubbish. In this, as with other 

 plants of this class, 5 or 10 cents on 

 the first cost is no consideration if you 

 get the quality. De Marley is a splendid 

 variety to cut and bunches of it were 

 in great demand. 



Of azaleas there were plenty, in fact 

 lather too many, and a good many are 

 left over. Take care of them, for they 

 will make your best plants for another 

 year. 



Rhododendrons. 



Ehododendrons, when fine in color and 

 well flowered, sold well. It is not neces- 

 sary that you should be bothered with 

 these large plants till the middle of next 

 January unless you have a good root 

 house where you can keep them. Let the 

 importer keep them for you. There are 

 firms which have the conveniences and 

 they are better in a cool place than they 

 are in the greenhouse. 



The astilbe is very useful for cutting. 



but few sell in pots. There are so many 

 other pretty plants, and for the price 

 you get for them they need an awful 

 lot of room. 



Well flowered plants of Marie Louise 

 violets sold well. Usually about the last 

 of March they throw up a great quan- 

 tity of bloom and if lifted and potted 

 they are very attractive. They are a 

 pot or pan of violets, and that 's enough 

 to sell them. 



Best Inexpensive Plant. 



Of all the inexpensive plants that went 

 quickly the best was Primula obconica. 

 The man who grew the large quantity of 

 these for the local market did not sow 

 them till May and during the fall 

 months, or up to New Year's, they were 

 planted out on a bench in a cool house, 

 then lifted and potted into a 4 or 5-inch 

 pot. This pretty plant pays no more 

 attention to root disturbance than a 

 pansy, and not so much. 



benches but six or seven weeks. They 

 were particularly well budded, compact 

 plants this year. This plant is all blos- 

 siiiii and no foliage. With a few plant-; 

 we rubbed off some of the center buds 

 and the leaf growth started at once and 

 thoy were very much the prettiest plants. 



Bulbous Stock. 



Of bulbous stuff, the tulips in pans 

 went the best. Of all the tulips for a 

 pan, don't forget that Murillo is the 

 king, they come so even and true, and 

 there is nothing like the satiny, delicate 

 pink. Next in favor was the red and 

 yellow Toumesol, very showy, and pans 

 of Von Sion narcissus sold well. Hya- 

 cinths don't gD quite as well as the tulips, 

 rich as a pan of these are; the odor is a 

 little strong for many. 



People are about tired of the genista. 

 It is pretty but the public are on to it 

 that it is the most disappointing of all 

 plants. Care or no care, it begins to 

 droop or lose its flowers as soon as it 

 leaves the greenhouse. Don't bother 

 with large plants. A neat little plant 

 in a 5-inch pot is all you want, if any. 



Various Novelties. 



^Ve tried a few other things this year 

 and shall not bother with all of them 

 again. If you can get well budded, nice- 

 ly formed little bushes of Prunus triloba 

 it is easy to force, does not take up bench 



Alex. Montgomery, President American Rose Society. 



There were a few plants of Bougain- 

 villea Sanderiana to be seen, and they 

 sold, but you don't want a great many. 

 Strange, six or seven years ago we had a 

 lot of moderate-sized, well-flowered plants 

 of this and we had to do a good deal of 

 talking to sell any of them. 



Azalea mollis sold well and it is a 

 very profitable plant. Its first cost is 

 trifiiug and it occupies the greenhouse 



room more than a few weeks and is very 

 jiretty. It is ,lapanese-like. you know. 

 Cydonia or Pyrus japonica was a dead 

 failure; not enough bloom. We can do 

 without it and it would only sell to those 

 hunting for something that no one else 

 had. Wistaria sinensis was another fail- 

 ure vrith us and we will let someone else 

 grow it. A few years ago I saw at Wm. 

 Edgar's, at Waverley, Mass., some very 



