t258 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



May 5, 1904. 



eacli variety. They have had splendid 

 success all through the season. Chrvsuii- 

 themums are <rro\vn in quantity for tlio 

 fall trade and in recent years the rooted 

 cutting and plant business has been de- 

 veloped to large proportions, several hun- 

 dred thousand being sold each season. 



The growing end of the institution is 

 in the hands of Henry Wictor and tlie 

 city salesroom is managed by N. J. VVie- 



tor. Wlien the firm first began selling, 

 I in September 24, 1894, it was at 41 

 \\;i basil avenue, as the Rogers Park 

 Floral Co.. handling the tut, also, of 

 .Vdani Zender and Jolui Muiio. Presently 

 this arrangement was dissolved and the 

 salesroom roniovcd to .51 Wabash, where 

 -Mr. Wietor twice daily cleans up .<ii'- 

 prising quantities of stock with amazing 

 celeritv. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Hanging Baskets and Veranda Boxes. 



Hanging baskets, either of rustic wood- 

 work, earthenware or wire-work lined 

 with green moss, the latter the Best of 

 the three, have very much dropped in fa- 

 vor the past few years. It is a very 

 artificial style of ornamental gardening 

 and we are gradually getting away from 

 tlie artificial and unnatural in our hor- 

 ticultural embellishments, not only in 

 the garden, but likewise in the decoration 

 of the home or a church. The days of 

 the basket stuffed with damp moss and 

 twenty varieties of short-stemmed flowers 

 passed away with the Johnstown flood 

 and the same basket with roses wired 

 onto dry sticks is in the last stages of 

 decline. 



The Brilliant Flower Bed. 



In the garden, let it be llie "little 

 front yard" or the splendid grounds of 

 a multi-millionaire, there is nothing very 

 artificial in a bed of one variety of plant 

 of brilliant coloring. The eyes, or the 

 vast majority of human eyes, love color 

 and, besides that, do not our northern 

 fields and wood* give us masses of bright 

 color at difTereiit seasons of the year? 

 Acres of trillium in May. to be followed 

 by fields of daisies and buttercups and 

 later long banks of jiurple asters and 

 goldenrod. and. alas, too often we see a 

 field that should be green with the grow- 

 in? barley or wheat a glorious expanse of 

 yellow mustard. 



Beds of beautiful plants and flowers 

 will always Ix- planted and admired and 

 a well ordered flower garden of a few 

 acres, with enough grass between the beds 

 to relieve the bright coloring, is as near 

 paradise as some of us are ever likely 

 to enjoy. Particularly appealing to your 

 sense of the beautiful, however latent, 

 tire these flower gardens at dewey morn 

 and near sunset. 



Passing of the Monstrosities. 



Another style of using several plants 

 that lend themselves to such purpose ir- 

 little seen. Xow I allude to sun dials, 

 the faces of famous men, pet dogs, ele- 

 phants, etc. They may excite a little 

 curiosity at first sight, the same as a 

 look at Barmuu"s tattooed man vised to 

 do. but you would not want to look upon 

 the poor man more than once a year and 

 a dog done in echeveria would give you 

 the rabies had you to pass him every 

 morning. I don't want to class hangin" 

 baskets with these monstrosities and 

 there may be old-fashioned houses, with 

 wide verandas, where thev may not be 

 out of place. As I intend to say some- 



tliing about veranda boxes, very largely 

 the same plants are suitable for both. 



The Best Basket. 



As remarked above, the wire basket 

 lined with green moss taken off fallen 

 tiees is much the best basket. The plants 

 root into the moss and the moss retains 

 moisture. Then, again, the color of the 

 moss harmonizes with the drooping 

 plants. The so-called vines, the droopin 

 plants, are the chief attraction and 

 beauty of a- hanging basket. The upright 

 plants may become shabby and flowerless 

 and it will be little noticed, but if the 

 vines are dried ii]) and sparse, tlien the 

 whole affair is hideous. Like the soil 

 for the veranda boxes and vases, it should 

 be of the richest quality, about a third 

 manure and in addition to that one quart 

 of bone.' meal to a bushel of soil. Before 

 the season is half over, if the plants 

 have grown as they should, the small 

 c|iiaiitity of soil will be one mass of roots. 



Plants to Use. 



Geraniums of various colors. Begonia 

 \'ernon, with some foliage plants, will 

 do for the center of the basket and then 

 come the drooping plants tliat are ex- 

 pected to hang down a. foot or two, com- 

 ]detely hiding the basket. There is quite 

 a variety suitable for the purpose. It is 

 not necessary to have every one of these 

 of rampant growth, such as tlie seneeio, 

 or German ivy. but every other one should 

 l)e. or you will have a lop-sided effect. 

 Some verj' common jihuits. almost weeds, 

 are very serviceable in the baskets. 

 Choiceness of' varieties will not be sought 

 so much as general effect. Seneeio, the 

 variegated glechoma, money vine, nas- 

 turtium. i\'y geraniums, lobelia, double 

 sweet alyssum, lophospermum, pilogyne. 

 linaria are all suitable and you might 

 put ■ in one or two plants of maurandia 

 and it will climb up the wire handles of 

 the basket and add much to general an- 

 liearances. The fuss and labor in wa- 

 tering the basket liasliad much to do 

 with their goins out of fashion, for 

 unless they are well watered they quickly 

 become unsightly. 



Veranda Boxes Popular. 



Tlie veranda box may be as artificial 

 an arrangement as the hanging basket, 

 yet it is infinitely more of an embellish- 

 ment to a dwelling. I •believe our citv, 

 some ten years ago. carried this style of 

 ornamental gardening to greater lengths 

 than any city in the country. In some 

 blocks on the best residence streets, where 

 no fences or hedges existed and no ob- 



servable line of any kind marked the 

 division of property, almost every ver- 

 anda would have its twelve to 100 feet 

 of veranda box filled with flowering and 

 drooping plants. It assuredly adds great- 

 1,\- to the beauty of the street. The fam- 

 ily inthe easy chairs on the veranda can- 

 not see what they have contributed to the 

 beauty of their avenue. They have 

 adorned their home for the pleasure of 

 the neighbors and when they walk about 

 they enjoy their neighbors' efforts. This 

 is just as it .should be and when we are 

 all best pleased by pleasing others the 

 world will be ready for wings. But I 

 have no doubt that, with the great majnr- 

 itv, when Mr. Closefist, on his veranda. 

 sees the passers-by admiring his home 

 and hears Mrs. Gush exclaim, "How love- 

 ly," he is convinced that his wife did 

 well on 'insisting on the .$25 outlay for 

 filling the veTanda boxes. 



Size for Boxes. 



A very good width for these boxes is 

 eight inches at 'the bottom, nine inches 

 at the top and six inches deep, all inside 

 measurements. In some places larger 

 boxes could be used, but the above is a 

 good average that 'will suit most veran- 

 das. We have, in past years, been asked 

 to have our carpenter make many hm- 

 dreds of feet of these boxes and did not 

 know anybetter than to have them made 

 of pine, which only lasted three or four 

 seasons. Make them of cypress and thev 

 will be sound for years. The rotting of 

 the boxes is often 'the cause of their dis- 

 continuance. If sound, people will go on 

 having them filled. I forgot to say, al- 

 ways have the boxes made in sections 

 not over six ' feet long. Then you can 

 take them to the greenhouse, where you 

 can do far better work in every way than 

 by carting plants and soil down the 

 street. ' 



If watered in any decent way at all. 

 the plants in the boxes always do well. 

 I can scarcely remember a case where 

 one was not ornamental. There is no 

 hard work in watering them, the hose 

 does it, if not always judiciously, for I 

 have .seen .John Thomas, the coachman 

 gardener, drive at them with thirty-five 

 pounds' pressure through the hose as if 

 the poor plants were in danger of settina 

 the house on fire. Yet if there are plenty 

 of holes in the bottom of the boxes for 

 drainage, the plants will survive. 



Aspect Affects Material. 



Before 'tilling the boxes look to the 

 aspect, whether they will get only a few 

 liours' sun in early morning, whether a 

 southern aspect or perhaps a northern: 

 perhaps some spreading elm or maple 

 may shade 'them the whole. day. If shad- 

 ed most of the time, then foliage plants 

 must be used. Tlie Begonia Rex has a 

 fine appearance in these boxes in a shady 

 place and the ' continuous blooming fuch- 

 sias, like old speciosa. does well. In the 

 back row there .should be some plants of 

 attractive foliage. Grevillea robusta is 

 one of the best and 'Dracaena indivisa is 

 always good. Dwarf, free-flowering can- 

 nas look well as a background, but they 

 devour the riches of the soil and starve 

 weaker growing pl.nnts. Caladinm escii- 

 lentura must be used sparingly, if at all. 

 for they monopolize the whole thing, yet 

 they look eool and handsome. Vines here 

 a"ain are of the 'utmost importance and 

 with care do most satisfactorily, 



T have given but a short list of plants 

 but really any flower garden plant that is 

 a 'enntinuous slimmer bloomer will do 



