Apkil 14, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



1097 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



GuaranteeingJHardy Stock. 



^fany florists have to dabble a little in 

 herbaceous plants, sknibs and ornamental 

 trees, and it is not a bad business, either, 

 for there is a liberal margin between the 

 price at wjiieh you can buy them from a 

 reputable nursei-ymau and what you are 

 justified in charging your customer. I 

 believe it is a good plan, in the case of 

 herbaceous plants and deciduous shrubs, 

 to sell them with a guarantee that thov 

 will live providing you plant them. You 

 will get a better price, your customer will 

 know that you will bo anxious to do your 

 best and you need not lose one per cent. 

 With the nursery sizes of deciduous trees 

 of the ordinary kinds, such as elms, jjop- 

 lars, lindens, chestnuts, maples, etc., you 

 can do the same. 



But there arc a few fine trees you 

 cannot guarantee to live and grow, nota- 

 bly the salisburia (maidenhair tree) and 

 the tulip tree. Not that there is any 

 difficulty in getting these trees to grow, 

 but there is a difficulty in getting them 

 in the right condition to transplant. If 

 a nurseryman transplanted a young sali';- 

 buria when it was three or four feet high, 

 root pi-uned it and you bought it the 

 following year, yes, or even in two or 

 three years, when it was eight or nine 

 feet high, you could plant it on your pa- 

 tron 's lawn with all the confidence that 

 you shift a geranium from a 3-inch to a 

 4-inch pot. But if the nurseryman planted 

 his nursery row of salisburias when they 

 were six inches high and never moved 

 them till they were eight feet high, then 

 it would need great care in digging and a 

 like amount of' care in transplanting and 

 nursing to keep it alive in its new posi- 

 tion, simply because in digging it you 

 could get but few, if any, working roots. 



The same can be said about the so- 

 called evergreens. You can 't afford to 

 guarantee their living; you can only do 

 your best, just for the same reason, that 

 too many nurserymen leave their Norway 

 spruces or Austrian pines growing too 

 many years without a move. Things are, 

 however, improving in this line. Trans- 

 planting is labor, the greatest expense 

 item of the nurseryman, yet many are 

 transplanting, and they have to charso 

 for their trees and evergreens more than 

 the careless firm. So when buying those 

 things which your customer wants for 

 a permanent adornment to his home, the 

 first cost should not be considered. 

 Don't put yourself in the place of the 

 tree peddler who never desires to see a 

 customer the second time on this earth. 



Herbaceous Plants. 



As soon as the ground csm be dug is 

 the time to plant or divide and traiis- 

 plant all of them. As their name implies 

 they are hibernating during winter and 

 before the warm days of spring start 

 them into growth the less will they feel 

 the loss of roots when moving. As all or 

 nearly all the herbaceous plants are per- 

 ennials and necessarily remain in one spot 

 for several, perhaps many, years, it fol- 

 lows that whether for your own cultiva- 



tion or for your custmuer's hardy gar 

 den the ground should be dug deep and 

 well enriched. 



I must admit that there are few of 

 the well-known herbaceous plants that are 

 profitable for our cut flower trade. But 

 there are a few and of these the peony 

 stands, of course, first. Short as its sea- 

 son is, it is gorgeous for a few weeks. 

 The wonderful varieties of Delphinium 

 forniosum are fine, even if it is only to 

 decorate your store windows in midsum- 

 mer. Pyrethrum roseuni is a great fa- 

 vorite with cut flower buyers and, both 

 in form and variety of color, there are 

 now some wonderful varieties. The 

 snuiller-flowered. single lielianthuses are 

 useful, and so is the little, low-growjn"; 

 white Achillea The Pearl. Coreopsis 

 lanceolata is a florists' flower and so is 

 the fall-flowering Anemone japonica and 

 the variety Wliirlwind. Fine plant as 

 the hardy herbaceous phlox is for a bor- 

 der, we never found any use for it when 

 cut; it drops too quickl.y. I think it 

 would pay us all to have a good plantinar 

 of Tritoma Pfitzeri. Remember this is a 

 great improvement over the old T. uvaria. 

 The former flowers continuously till frost 

 cuts it off. 



The above few are onl.y a fraction of 

 the many plants of this class that you 



year 's growth when transplanting. If 

 you don 't the sap, which is not over- 

 plentiful after transplanting, will seek 

 the ends of the growths, eyes lower down 

 will not break and you will always have 

 a scrawny, naJted bush. Don 't think you 

 lose anything by pruning hard when 

 planting; before fall you will have a 

 bigger and an infinitely better shaped 

 j)lant than if you had not pnined it. 

 ( )iie of the gi'eat mistakes you see con- 

 stantly made by people planting a privet 

 hedge, is that they will plant good young 

 stufl', perhaps thirty inches high and then 

 cut them back to fifteen or eighteen 

 inches. Cut them back to six inches and 

 you will have laid the foundation for a 

 hedge worthy of the name. 



Hybrid perpetual roses can be classed 

 as flowering' shrubs for the purpose I am 

 writing about and many thousands of 

 these will be planted tliis spring, only to 

 bo disappointing. Like the privet hedge, 

 they should be cut back to .within a few 

 inches of the ground. Then you will get 

 a strong, vigorous growth and even some 

 flowers this siunmer. If pruned back 

 next spring, allowing three or four eyes 

 on the previous summer's growth, you 

 will get fine roses and lots of them. Too 

 many planters just dig a hole for the 

 roots of their shrubs or roses and fill in 

 with the dry soil, trusting to a i^ain 

 ' ' soon ' ' to settle the soil around the 

 roots and start them into growth. If 

 you want success, that is not the way to 

 get it. 



I have often said there is only one 

 way to plant an oak, a rose or a gera- 

 nium, and I have seen no reason to alter 

 my opinion, particularly with a tree or 

 shrub. Remember it takes a copious rain 

 to go down four or five inches, much less 



Easter Window at J. H. Small & Sons, New York. 



may be asked to supply your custodier. 

 Those people whose refined tastes will ad- 

 mire the many interesting herbaceous 

 plants win not expect a show of bloom 

 at all times, but an interesting succes- 

 sion throughout the season. 



Hardy Flowering Shrubs. 

 These, liko the herbaceous plants, 

 should be planted just as soon as the 

 ground is dry and workable. There is 

 a good deal to say about pruning shrubs. 

 a little of which I will say later, but 

 never mind what species they are, or how- 

 ever well rooted they may be. don't fail 

 to shorten back at least a third of last 



a foot, and perhaps you will not for a 

 while get a shower. Dig the hole for the 

 roots plenty big enough, partieularlv 

 broad enough. Put in enough soil to 

 cover the roots and steady the rose, or 

 shrub, or tree in position, 'then soak it 

 with water and, when that has disap- 

 peared, fill up the excavation with the 

 soil you have dug out. That watering 

 is worth forty on the surface. 



I remember last spring receiving 500 

 H. P. roses from an eastern firm. They 

 were good plants but dug up in Holland 

 in the fall of 1902, wintered in a root 

 house and part of March and April laid 



