890 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



MAY 5, 189S. 



useful fnr bedding, as they give a pro- 

 fusion of flowers all summer. Goni- 

 phrena globosa is valuable for its 

 heads of brilliant and enduring tints. 

 Flilox Drunimondii. if sown in April, 

 will bloom till fall, but if sown earlier 

 it will lose its vitality in the latter 

 part of Angust and must be replaced 

 by something else. Verbenas have; 

 lieen used in park bedding to good ad- 

 vantage in years past, but for the last 

 few years in the latter part of August 

 they became mildewed, which injured 

 the effect of the garden. 



Cannas are used to a great extent 

 here and produce a brilliant effect 

 with both flowers and foliage. I have 

 forty varieties, but the most promi- 

 nent at present are: Egandale, Chi- 

 cago, P''lorence Vaughan, Stella Kanst, 

 Madame Crozy, Souvenir d'Anton 

 C'rozy and Queen Charlotte. All of 

 these are, as you all know, great ac- 

 quisitions to the flower garden, be- 

 cause of their great blooming effect. 

 Carpet bedding is still retained to 

 some extent to please the general pub- 

 lic, but we draw a little away from it 

 each year. 



A great many annuals that 1 used to 

 grow for bedding in the Old World are 

 not of much use in this climate, as 

 their duration is short when hot 

 weather sets in, and we must try to 

 keep our beds in presentable cotidition 

 all summer, without too much labor. 

 There is no doubt in my mind that 

 our flower garden and bedding will re- 

 ceive some of our most beautiful per- 

 ennials in time, but we go a little 

 slow, because if we go too fast we 

 may be condemned by the public as it 

 has become accustomed to the present 

 system or fashion. 



Now, gentlemen, I think I have said 

 enough about bedding in our park, as 

 the subject has been pretty thoroughly 

 written up in the Florists' Review. 



In the discussion that followed Mr. 

 Stromback was asked as to his experi- 

 ence with crotons for bedding. He re- 

 plied that they had not. proved satis- 

 factory with him. They could not be 

 planted out till the middle of June, 

 and those he had tried did not color 

 well outside. 



He was also asked how he got such 

 superb growth on the plants in the 

 numerous large rustic stands that are 

 a feature of the park. He replied that 

 he filled the stands with good potting 

 soil and then added a ."i-inch pot full 

 of bone meal to each. He had for- 

 merly used horn shavings, and with 

 them he secured a quicker effect, but 

 the bone meal was more lasting and 

 carried the plants well through the 

 season. Asked if he used any drain- 

 age, he replied no. That the difli- 

 culty was to supply sufliicient moisture. 

 He spoke of the plants used in filling 

 the stands and mentioned especially 

 Calceolaria annua as a plant that he 

 used with excellent effect and had not 

 noticed so used elsewhere. 



Another question was as to feeding 

 hardy water lilies. He answered that 

 where new soil was not given he placed 



over the surface a layer of bone meal 

 about an inch thick, and this was dug 

 into the soil. They are very sirong 

 feeders. 



Mr, Stollery spoke of difficulty with 

 the Bruant type of geraniums, the 

 plants growing vigorously but failing 

 to bloom. Mr. Palinsky had noted the 

 same trouble. No one was able to of- 

 fer an explanation or a remedy. Mr. 

 Stromback ha.s had trouble from the 

 devastations of a white worm that en- 

 ters the stem of the geraniums when 

 bedded out and eats out the heart of 

 the stem, eventually killing the plant, 

 but knew of no sure remedy. 



Mr. Stromback has his pansies and 

 daisies already bedded, and the next 

 lieds to be planted will be of Portia 

 carnations. He finds Portia a good 

 bedder. the color being bright, flowers 

 freely produced, and habit such as to 

 require no slaking. He propagates in 

 November and the plants will be 

 bedded out from :'i-inch pots. He does 

 not care for the Margaret type of car- 

 nation for bedding. The flowers are 

 not good enough; they have no frag- 

 rance and the growth is too rank. In 

 the case of carnations, they should 

 never be planteil twice in the same 

 soil, or results will be unsatisfactory. 



He will soon plant a few beds of 

 ten-week stocks. Referring further to 

 the culture of these, when the seed is 

 sown he keeps the flats in a tempera- 

 ture of till degrees, but when the little 

 seedlings are pricked out he plac?T 

 them in a temperature of riO degrees, 

 and are kept in this temperature as 

 nearly as possible till planting - out 

 time. They must be sparingly wa- 

 tered, for if overwatered they will be 

 affected with club root. Cheap seed 

 of this plant is a very poor investment, 

 as the percentage of single-flowered 

 plants will be large. Even with the 

 best seed there will be from 2.") to Hi) 

 per cent, of single flowers, and the 

 poorest grades will be nearly all single 

 and worthless. The singles can , bo 

 sorted out from the doubles and 

 1 brown away as soon as the tlower 

 buds begin to show. Pluck a bud and 

 place it between the teeth. If, when 

 5 on close your teeth. It is like biting 

 into soft bread, the flower is a double 

 one, but if it is as though the bud con- 

 tained some gritty sand, the flower is 

 single. What makes the gritty sensa- 

 tion is the embryo stamens, which 

 are absent in the double flowers. Mr. 

 Stromback finds this test absolutely 

 reliable, and throws out at once all 

 plants whose buds are gritty when 

 crushed by the teeth. The seed can be 

 had true to color and he generally 

 plants his beds in rows of red, white 

 and blue-flowered plants. The plants 

 begin blooming the latter part of May 

 and continue in bloom till the begin- 

 ning of July. He then plants the 

 beds with celosias among coleuses. the 

 whole bordered with Cineraria mari- 

 tima candidissima. 



Verbenas are planted soon after the 

 stocks. He doesn't use many now, as 

 he has much trouble from mildew. He 

 uses seedlings only, as plants from 



cuttings are sure to be rusty. He 

 uses several beds of single-flowered 

 petunias and they make a good show 

 all summer. He puts out the general 

 run of bedding plants about May 20. 

 Cannas are bedded about June 1. 



He has tried Cannas Italia. Austria 

 and Burbank. but considers them val- 

 ueless for bedding here. The flowers 

 are beautiful when first seen in the 

 morning, but on a bright, sunny day 

 are all bleached out by 2 p. m. He 

 considers Austria the best of the three 

 and will retain a few plants of it for 

 variety, but will not attempt to use it 

 in bedding. 



A GEORGIA NURSERY. 



Favored with glorious weather. I 

 paid a visit to the famous Fruitland 

 Nurseries of Mr. P. J. Berckmans, Au- 

 gusta, Ga.. who, by the way, has re- 

 cently incorporated the business, as- 

 sociating with himself as president his 

 three sons, who have been connected 

 with the business for several years. 



Approaching the main entrance, one 

 passes through an avenue of magnifi- 

 cent specimens of Magnolias glori- 

 osa, ferruginia and varieties, forming 

 a drive one-fifth of a mile in length, 

 at the end of wniich is seen the resi- 

 dence of the proprietors, guarded by a 

 splendid Cedrus Deodara standing 

 alone and erect upon the lawn. On 

 either side are noble examples of Ilex 

 opaca, some oil feet high, and Liboced- 

 rus decurrens. Arriving at the office, 

 attached to and connected with the 

 residence by telephone, which is the 

 means of communication with the 

 principal points on the four hundred 

 acres of nursery grounds. I alighted, 

 and. placing my Arabian steed in 

 charge of a sable attendant, was not 

 long in finding the genial senior mem- 

 ber of the firm, who had just returned 

 from a tour of Florida and was chock 

 full of Irish stories and plant lore. 



Deliberation and thorough system 

 being the order of the day in this es- 

 tablishment. I will endeavor to follow 

 suit in penning these notes, commenc- 

 ing at the houses, which I observed 

 had all been recently raised to give 

 more head room, and with undoubted 

 benefit to the plants contained therein. 

 It is almost incredible the extraordi- 

 nary growth of many plants in one 

 season, almost as if by magic. For in- 

 stance. I saw a plant of Bougainvillea 

 Sanderiana planted in a bed in the 

 house which one year's growth had 

 carried through a ventilator and out 

 onto the root, where it had spread and 

 flowered profusely. Referring to the 

 vigor of this plant. Mr. Berckmans 

 said he had noted a specimen at Palm 

 Beach. Fla.. only eight months old. 

 which was three feet through and bore 

 at least a thousand blossoms. 



Every species of palm that will 

 thrive in the south is grown, Indian 

 azaleas and camellias in large num- 

 bers, some dozen varieties of the 

 orange all grafted upon the Limonium 

 trifoliatum, which, in addition to be- 

 ing an excellent stock to graft the 

 orange upon, makes a splendid hedge 



