May 12, 1004. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



1309 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Frost andjSpring.Work. 



Somi' yciiis. but not in evoiy (.lie. «e 

 get a irost that linrts late in JLay. Twii 

 year.s ago, abinit May IT, it inaJe oiu' 

 young carnations look like bleached 

 sea-kale and yet they soon eauglit up 

 with those which escaped the frost. 

 While in western New York and Penn- 

 sylvania it would be folly to put out in 

 liie ground before the end of May any 

 plants that are much injured by tlie 

 slightest frost, such as eoleus, helio- 

 tropes and dahlias, yet there are several 

 important plants that it is of the great,- 

 est advantage to get out and growing 

 before you are rushed to death \\ith your 

 customers" liower beds. It don't matter 

 how much help you have, if you can't 

 get these out by the 20th of the nio''nth 

 you will have no more chance to do it 

 till June 15, for all hands and the cook 

 will be busy planting and tilling orders 

 for your patrons. There are a lot of 

 free-growing bedding plants that there 

 need be no w-orry over, because a very 

 tew plants put out by the Fourth of 

 .July will give you all the cuttings you 

 want in the fall, such as salvias, agera- 

 tuiu, etc. 



The Geraniums for Stock. 



What I consider two very important 

 plants are the zonale geranium and the 

 canna. Not only should they go out and 

 be rooting (a little injury to their tops 

 won't hurt if frost does come) but if you 

 don't select good strong plants, particu- 

 larly of the geraniums, you will have 

 only the rank and shabby plants to give 

 you the cuttings in the fall. Get them 

 out, and lots of them. They need not 

 be the largest plants, or most in flower, 

 but they should be healthy and vigorous 

 if you expect healthv cuttings in the 

 fall'. 



Don't plant them in your own grounds 

 as closely as you would in a ilower bed. 

 The more air and light around the 

 plants the .stouter and better the cut- 

 tings in September. And while you are 

 at it put out the roseleaf and other 

 scented geraniums, also a good assort- 

 ment of the ivy-leaved as well as the 

 variegated varieties. You can't increase 

 geraniums a liundred fold, as you can 

 many plants, and you must have good 

 stock. 



People who sell on the market may 

 «aiit a great variety, while those whose 

 business is filling flower beds and vases 

 can get along with but a very limited 

 number of sorts. We are always sold 

 out of S. A. Xutt, Le Soleil. deep scarlet. 

 Alphonse Eicard, bright scarlet, and, above 

 all, the beautiful semi-double pink Mrs. 

 Frances Perkins. Jean A'iand is a beau- 

 tiful geranium for Decoration day, but 

 we have not found it a good bedder. 

 There is nothing new about the above 

 few, but they are standards. 



The Best Cannas. 



There is no likelihood of there being 

 any decline in the popularity of 'the canna 

 and there is nothing as good or as cheap 



as lia\ing your own slock. If you are 

 short, buy no«- and don't wait till the 

 wholesale firms have only poor stuff left. 

 Don't forget Black Beauty if you want 

 rich, purple bronze foliage. In scarlet 

 flowered Tarrytown is grand and so are 

 The Express and President McKinley. 

 Souvenir de Antoine Ci'ozy and Queen 

 Charlotte are both fine in the scarlet 

 and yellow section. Buttercup is a pure 

 yellow, without speck of any other shade 

 or color. lh\-art' Florence Vaughan is 

 good in its class, yellow mottled with 

 red. President Cleveland is a very dis- 

 tinct orange scarlet, and there are manj' 

 others, as well as some fine novelties. 

 Xow, with these' important plants for 

 your own stock don't be afraid of some 

 chilly nights. You will save dollars and 

 lots of worry by 1 

 of these next fall. 



Gloxinias. 



If you are growing gloxinias, and 

 they are a most beautiful flower as well 

 as an excellent house plant, they will 

 now be ready to put into their last shift 

 a 5 or G-inch pot. Use a third of leaf 

 mold and put some drainage in the pots. 

 These plants are often ruined by 

 a rust on their leaves. They by 

 no means want to be carelessly 

 watered and yet if the soil is allowed 

 to become dry the flowers quickly wilt 

 and tliafs the end of them. They don't 

 want dense shade, neither do they like 

 too bright a sun. It pays to raise each 

 ])laiit on an inverted 5-ineh pot. An 

 adjustable shade, like' cheesecloth, to be 

 used on bright days would be the ideal 

 treatment. 



And that brings us to another plant 

 that will be important in our business 

 next Christmas. 



The Cyclamen. 



W'e have had such satisfactory results 

 with cyclamen the past few years, keep- 

 ing them entirely indoors, that we are 

 not likely to try the summer hotbed 

 again. \Ve saw several most promising 

 batches of cyclamen go to the dogs last 

 fall, just about flowering time. It is, I 

 believe, a mite that ruins them; anyway 

 it's mighty in destructiveness to flower 

 and foliage of these beautiful greenhouse 

 plants. Now that the plants are in 3- 

 inch pots they snould have tobacco stems 

 between the pots and frequently renewed. 

 It will help greatly to keep down aphis 

 and it may hold off the microscopical 

 mite. If any plant pays to shade from 

 10 a. m. to 4 p. ni. on bright days, and 

 no shade other hours and dull days, it 

 is the cyclamen, and every bright morn- 

 ing a light spraying. If I were going 

 to prescribe any antidote for this mite 

 on the cyclamen. I should say that a 

 syringing once in two weeks with a solu- 

 tion of Gishurst's compound would be 

 tlic thing. 



Gladioli. 



I suppose you have put in youi' first 



planting of gladioli ; it ought to be in. 



It seems to me that the late crops of 



these sold much better than the early 



ones, but don't get so late that frost nips 

 them before they are out. Plant some 

 evpr\- two weeks till the end of June. 



Ojchet Roses. 



Have you ever grown a large planting 

 of Cochet roses? Both the pink and 

 white are grand summer roses. Yet the 

 pink is most useful because we have the 

 splendid Kaiscrin Augusta Victoria in 

 our houses in the summer time. The 

 Cochet is not hardy with us without lots 

 of protection, but it will pay for tiiat 

 and a planting made now will give you 

 lots of bloom this summer and fall and 

 next summer thousands of buds when 

 your Bridesmaids are poor little things 

 or non-existent. A bed of these roses 

 should not be out of the reach of the 

 hose or they will do little good during 

 a hot, dry spell. 



Dahlias. 



Dahlias are .sure to be in demand this 

 fall and some free-flowering varieties 

 should be planted. A supposed expert 

 told me once that in the east they did 

 not plant dahlias till after the Fourth 

 of July. It may be so. but that woulil 

 be too" late for us. I just call to mind 

 that I remember a Scotch dahlia enthu- 

 siast [iropagating from green cuttings in 

 April, planting out at the end of May 

 and on July 1 exhibiting at Hamilton. 

 Ont.. twenty-four splendid show varie- 

 ties. That was high cultivation. The 

 man who grows fifty acres, or even one 

 acre, could not afford to put the labor 

 on them. The dahlia wants a deep, rich 

 soil, plenty of water and a cool climate. 

 That is why they give such splendid 

 blooms late in the season, or as long as 

 frost keeps off. Many of the so-called 

 show varieties are gorgeous, exquisite in 

 color markings and form, yet they are 

 not what your customers will want as 

 cut flowers. The cactus, the single and 

 the pompon sections, above all the cactus 

 varieties, is what the public wants for 

 cut flowers. 



Fuchsias. 

 We used to grow fuchsias well bnce. 

 I ha\'e sold many a plant of old Elm 

 City at .$1.-^0 each. Now the majority 

 of fuchsias are sold for $1.50 per dozen 

 or less. Not getting the proper start is 

 often the cause of a scrubby lot of fuch- 

 sias. A few of the left-over, poor and 

 latest propagated plants are saved to give 

 you cuttings during winter. That is all 

 wrong. One or two of the earliest and 

 strongest plants of each variety should 

 now' be selected and marked "sohl. " 

 Plants that are a good size now will 

 ripen wood during summer and with a 

 few weeks' rest in the fall, and a trim- 

 ming back, will give you stout, vigorous 

 cuttings that will want to grow and not 

 prematurely flower. Xow is the time 1o 

 lay the foundation for next year's fuch- 

 sias. 



Clematis Paniculata. 



There is a brisk demand this year for 

 the lovely Clematis paniculata. Plant 

 all you can of it. It is so hardy, so sure 

 to be a success, so fine in every way, tliat 

 your customers will return in a year 

 or two and bless you. You can buy it 

 at a very nuwierate price and make a good 

 profit. 



About Privets. 



We are jusl learning what a terrible 

 winter we have passed through. ilan> 

 flowering shrubs nave been killed back 



