606 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



MARCH 10. 1S93. 



Where they prove of easy culture, and 

 extremely floriferous. They come 

 witfein the category of what are 

 iknown as hard wooded plants, but are 

 .not ditficult subjects to handle like 

 Sheaths. In their native land they are 

 Lshj-ailis and trees, ranging in height 

 °-om six feet up to sixty, according to 

 kind. 



Some of those that are naturally 

 dwarf are so amenable to cultivation 

 that t+iey can be produced in most at- 

 tractive shape in 6 or 8-inch pots, 

 tiny bushes literally aglow with blos- 

 soms. Others of more rampant 

 growth can best be recommended to 

 grow for cutting only, combining as 

 they do profiise blossoms with foliage 

 as elegant as that of the choicest fern, 

 so graceful in fact that if they never 

 flowered at all one would be tempted 

 to grow them for the beauty of their 

 leaves alone. In the matter of leaves 

 the acacia family and even the limited 

 few here selected show remarkable 

 distinctive variations. We see the 

 true acacia leafage in A. pubescens, A. 

 dealbata and others. Some, however, 

 have no leaves at all, the functions of 

 these being served by what botanists 

 call phyiiodes as in A. lineata and A. 

 flr'aiata, while several others have 

 only winged growths on stems and 

 branches and all these diverse charac- 

 teristics are represented in the few 

 kinds here enumerated. Taking first 

 of all those best adapted to grow and 

 sell as 



Pot Plants. 

 I would head my selection with Acacia 

 Drummondi, a real gem and grown by 

 the thousand in some European estab- 

 lishments. This has true compound 

 leaves of a deep green color, has a 

 natural stature of about ten feet, but 

 can he grown as a dwarf bushy plant, 

 producing ffom the axils of the leaves 

 all along the shoots drooping cylin- 

 drical spikes of lemon yellow flowers 

 as showy and lasting, as they are 

 graceful and attractive. A. armata is 

 another species that comes into the 

 London market by the thousand, neat 

 plants in 6-inch pots, jeweled all over 

 ■with golden balls. It has little oval, 

 •oblong leaves, the tiny flowers massed 

 in globular heads as round as a ball 

 •each on a little short stalk and hun- 

 •dreds of them on a plant of the size 

 .above mentioned. It has the addition- 

 -al merit of being delightfully sweet- 

 scented. 



A. lineata is another species that 

 finds much favor for pot culture in 

 private gardens on the other side, and 

 it holds its deserved popularity by rea- 

 son of its free blooming character as 

 it always flowers freely, even though 

 small, added to which it comes in 

 •about Christmas directly after the 

 <>hrysanthemums. It makes a slender, 

 graceful plant, has linear, grass-like 

 leaves and deep yellow flowers in clus- 

 tered heads on stems thrown out from 

 the axils of the leaves. A. platyptera 

 is another pretty species that has 

 great capabilities as a pot plant and 



merits a place in the most exclusive 

 selection. It differs, too, from all oth- 

 ers noted here in that the plant has no 

 leaves or anything resembling them, 

 their place being taken and their func- 

 tions served by curious winged 

 growths that are concurrent along the 

 stem and branches and varying from 

 a half inch to one inch in breadth. It 

 flowers in early winter, the flowers 

 yellow borne in a close head on a short 

 stalk. 



A. cordata, another charming spe- 

 cies, has distinctive features of its 

 own, and is as desirable as any of the 

 preceding. It takes its name from the 

 heart-shaped phyiiodes that freely 

 clothe the slender branches while it 

 flowers with wonderful profusion, 

 even young cutting plants flowering 

 freely after the first shift into 

 2'/:;-inch pots. Its flowers are pale 

 sulphur yellow, disposed in flat 

 heads. I might enumerate others that 

 can be made to flower in small pots, 

 but here are enough and these the 

 best of the genus. Another little selec- 

 tion must be made of those which 

 growing larger before they reach the 

 flowering stage are best adapted for 

 use as 



Cut Floufers. 



Of course some of our friends stand 

 aghast at the suggestion. Who wants 

 such stuff? There is a market and a 

 pretty large demand for it in other 

 countries and "history repeats itself." 

 A. pubescens, which suggested these 

 notes, comes into this category. It is 

 a small tree, growing six to twelve feet 

 in height, but if accommodated with a 

 large pot or a small tub, it can be 

 flowered with the greatest freedom; 

 can be cut in long, graceful sprays of 

 fern and flower, united, as it were, and 

 this cutting serves to give it what It 

 would otherwise need, a good annual 

 pruning. 



Possibly the most beautiful of all is 

 the silver wattle tree of Australia, A. 

 dealbata. It would be hard to find an- 

 other tree such a perfect embodiment 

 of grace and beauty. Its compound 

 leaves consist of ten to twenty pairs 

 of pinnae, are of a silver-gray color, 

 while from the axil of each leaf comes 

 a long branched raceme bearing from 

 fifteen to thirty round heads of rich 

 yellow flowers. This acacia has been 

 largely planted at Cannes and else- 

 where along the shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean for its beauty, and so success- 

 ful has it been that quite an enterprise 

 has sprung up and its flower laden 

 branches are cut and marketed in all 

 the principal cities of Europe. Some- 

 thing similar should be possible in 

 some of the southern states below the 

 region of severe frosts. In its native 

 home the silver wattle grows as high 

 as 150 feet, but it is so amenable to 

 treatment that I have had it flower 

 profusely each year just trained to a 

 pillar in a conservatory, the plant be- 

 ing pruned hard back each year after 

 flowering. 



A. Riceana is another lovely species 



quite different from the two preceding 

 it in that it has no true leaves. It 

 has been aptly likened to a weeping 

 willow, having that loose, pendant 

 character of growth, its slender shoots 

 clothed with long, narrow phyiiodes 

 disposed in clusters, while from their 

 axils depend the flower racemes bear- 

 ing round balls of yellow blossoms 

 like strings of beads. A. pulchella, 

 though last, is not least, as it makes 

 a beautiful plant in a 12-inch pot, 

 has true fern-like foliage and bright 

 yellow flowers borne most profusely. 

 It may be thought there are too many 

 kinds for the commercial florist to 

 grow, yet all are beautiful, and Nature 

 was lavish in her original distribution 

 of them, since she gave Australia in 

 the neighborhood of 300 distinct spe- 

 cies, from which vast number the se- 

 lection here given is chosen, these hav- 

 ing been in cultivation for a period 

 varying from twenty years to a cen- 

 tury or more. A few remarks as to 

 their 



Cultural Requirements 



will possibly anticipate a request. 

 Though acacias belong to the family 

 of hard wooded plants they happily do 

 not present such difliculties as have to 

 be surmounted in dealing with most 

 of their kindred, in short, they are easy 

 to handle, of vigorous growth, and if 

 by any chance they get a slight neglect 

 the consequences are not disastrous. 

 They can be raised from seed or 

 struck from cuttings, this last being 

 the usual practice. 



Immediately after flowering, if the 

 plants are pruned in, they soon break 

 again, and when the shoots are about 

 three inches long they may be made 

 into cuttings. Although not absolute- 

 ly necessary, it will be safer to the in- 

 experienced, especially, to take off the 

 cuttings with a heel of the old wood. 

 They will not bear the exciting condi- 

 tions of bottom heat, so should be 

 inserted in pots or pans, these stood 

 on a cool bottom in a temperature of 

 about 55 degrees and covered with a 

 bell glass to check evaporation. They 

 will root in about six weeks, and when 

 well rooted should be potted off into 

 2V2-inch pots, using open loamy soil, 

 shading slightly till established, but 

 gradually inuring them to full sun and 

 using the syringe freely when condi- 

 tions suggest its advisability. Pinch 

 them as they grow, shift into 4-inch 

 and later into 6-inch pots, as they 

 need it, and give abundant supplies of 

 water at their roots at all times. 

 Towards the end of summer syringe 

 less and give all air possible to solid- 

 ify and ripen the wood. 



The strongest plants may be 

 flowered and disposed of the following 

 spring, but those a little weak might 

 be wintered in a temperature of about 

 45 degrees and shifted on into 8-inch 

 pots the following spring. Those that 

 it Is desired to flower will quickly re- 

 spond to the stimulus of a little extra 

 heat, but if they are placed in a house 

 kept at 50 degrees by night that will 



