87 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



octohki; T^, I'JO.'i. 



brilliant and gaudy with flowering plants, 



, on gel in. -nun- w Lthoul ' be re 

 lief of climbing plants on the walls and 

 ratters, or wherever they would look 

 natural. A fan or balloon-shaped frame 

 with some climbing plant and 

 stuck in the middle of a bench, I 

 much it showed off the gardener's skill, 

 «ould not bo natural or very long pleas- 

 ins; to the eye, while a vine running up a 

 pillar or drooping from a raftei 

 have a natural, pleasing and lasting 

 effect. 



Allamanda Schottii is a true climber, 

 n ith large, rich yellow flowers. Stephan 

 ..lis flor'ibunda has most fragrant, wu\> 

 white flowers. This was in great favor 

 forty years ago for bridal bouquets when 

 ii j ' v ade of the shape and smooth- 

 ie as of a very large mushroom. Both of 

 the above ir< i] endid climbers, but are 

 tropical. Bougainvillea Sanderiana is 

 supposed to be more dwarf than B. 

 glabra, but it gets there just the same. 

 Long sprays of this are most decorative. 

 Clerodendron Balfouri has very attrac 

 live flowers and is a fine vine. 



For a lower winter temperature, sa\ 

 55 degrees at night, you might grow sev- 

 eral of the Noisette roses. Gloire d' 

 Iffjon, Marechal Niel, Solfaterre and 

 N'ephetos can be used, trained up a wall 

 or pillar, and there are others. Helio- 

 trope planted out at the end of a house 

 where it will get light and plenty of root 

 room, and cut back to the main stems 

 every summer, is a cut and come again 

 tlower the entire season. Jasminum 

 grandiflorum, trained up a pillar or lat- 

 tice, is a sweet, dainty flower, often 

 asked for and seldom to be had. Swain- 



s. 111:1 galegit'olia alba, another plant for a 

 pillar, is a pretty and useful flower. We 

 used to grow and think very essential 

 some scarlet tropseolum trained up a 

 ratter. 



And last, let me say that one of the 

 mosl beautiful ]i hints, not truly a 

 climber, bul one that can be trained up 

 the light end of a house, is Acacia pubes- 

 eens, which dors well in a very cool hous" 

 in winter. Sprays of this most delicate 

 yellow tlower, with its foilage, are at 

 home in the choices! of decorations. A 

 plant some twelve or fourteen feet high 

 of this lovely acacia recalls memories 

 1 ing, stealing 

 1 several other 

 le fact is that 

 baskets have 

 of twenty-five 

 rs, many pretty 

 autiful, as all 



peaches, flying kites, u 



virtuous early trait-. 'I 

 since our bouquet- am 

 ceased to be collection: 

 different species of flow- 

 things, of themselves t 

 flowers are, have commercially gone out 

 of date. William Scott. 



DAHLIAS FOR EASTER. 



In sending an exhibit of dahlias to 

 the October meeting of the Pittsburg 

 Hardeners' and Florists' Club, L. K. 

 Peacock forwarded a letter which was 

 read when the blooms were under exami- 

 nation. It was, in part, as follows: 



We do not try to grow those immense 

 cabbage-head varieties and we do not try 

 to grow large flowers primarily. First, 

 we want bright colors; secondly, good 

 form; then they must have lasting qual- 

 ities, so as to keep well after being 

 cut; and last, but not least, they must 

 have long, yet strong stems. Every 

 flower should be supported on its own 



Yellow Cactus Dahlia John H. Roach. 



stem, and should make a fine appearance 

 in that form. A flower that will not 

 hold up its head on its own stem is, from 

 my standpoint, not suitable or worthy 

 of general cultivation. 



Now thai the dahlia seems destined to 

 fulfill the prophecy we mado seven years 

 ago at the first dahlia exhibition in St. 

 George's hall, Philadelphia, namely, that 

 the dahlia would be the paramount flower 

 dining September and October, we be- 

 lieve that every florist should take ad- 

 vantage of the great demand and handle 

 dahlias, and that every grower should 

 grow only the best and exhibit them in an 

 easy, graceful, natural form. 



I remember very well when we first 

 brought out Dahlia Nympha?a. It was 

 surprising the difficulty we had in getting 

 the florists to take hold of it, but as soon 

 as the people once saw the rlower its 

 success was assured. But while the pub- 

 lie was getting interested in dahlias they 

 did not stop with dahlias during fall 

 but demanded them during the winter, 

 and for several years past we have 

 grown dahlias under glass for a few par- 

 ticular customers, until now the demand 

 for dahlias at Easter has become so large 

 -that we are advocating every florist to 

 plant dahlias as a crop to follow chrysan- 

 themums. 



It all depends on the variety and the 

 date of Easter when they should be 

 planted. With those conditions in view 

 I should say that they should be planted 

 any whore from December 15 to January 

 20. Varieties like Storm King can be 

 planted from January 5 to 20 and give 

 an Easter crop that is early or late. A. 

 D. Livoni. pink, should be planted about 

 ten days earlier, while Twentieth Cen- 

 tury should be planted about two weeks 

 earlier. 



We have been growing dahlias under 

 glass more or less for the past thirteen 

 rears, and we have never failed to pro- 

 duce much finer flowers during the spring 

 of the year under glass than it was 

 possible to raise out of doors in the 

 open ground. When we grew our first 

 dahlias under glass we had only the 

 older varieties. Among them were Pene- 

 lope and Crimson Ball. These flowered 

 in 6-inch pots were superb. I never in 

 my life saw roses in pots in the spring 

 so' beautiful. The flowers were half again 

 as large as those grown outdoors. Color- 

 ing was much brighter in every respect 

 in the case of Crimson Ball, while in 

 Penelope the lavender shade was much 

 softer. 



Last winter William Falconer had very 

 little faith in dahlias under glass; in 

 fact, he so expressed himself to one of 

 our representatives; but, however, he de- 

 termined to give them a trial, and I will 

 herewith ask Mr. Falconer to give you 

 the rest. 



"Being continually on the lookout for 

 novelties for our Easter exhibitions at 

 Phipps Conservatories," said Mr. Fal- 

 coner, "I got on to the dahlias, but I 

 had very little faith in them. We got 

 a considerable number of Storm King, 

 white, and A. D. Livoni. pink, potted 

 them in ordinary rose soil and started 

 them in 55 to 60 degrees temperature, 

 afterwards humoring them as their 

 strength and stockiness would indicate. 

 By Easter both varieties were in beau- 

 tiful bloom; in fact, they were striking- 

 ly attractive, more especially the pink 

 one. We had the plants in good bloom 

 for about a month. We were short on 

 Japan dwarf cherries last Master, as our 

 order from Japan never arrived, so the 



