April 16, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



871 



MISCELUNEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



After Easter. 



The passing of Easter will bring about 

 a revolution and evolution in our houses 

 where plants as well as cut flowers are 

 grown. It gives us the much needed 

 room for many things that have been 

 waiting for pots and space. 



First there are the "left overs" to be 

 attended to and you are sure to have a 

 few of these, for many of our plants are 

 cut for the flowers. Crimson Rambler 

 roses that were not well enough flow- 

 ered to sell can always be sold to cus- 

 tomers who want them to plant out by 

 tlicir verandas. But <lon't put out until 

 tlie month of May, as a slight frost 

 would injure their foliage, and- for that 

 your customer would blame you. not the 

 Irost. Keep them cool until planting 

 out time. 



Cut back the lilacs a few inches short- 

 er tlian where the flowers started from 

 and plant them out in your grounds. 

 N'ou may sell them in a year or two as 

 llowering shrubs; or when well set with 

 buds they could be lifted and put on a 

 bench and forced for cut flowers. 



The lily bulbs we don't bother with, 

 llie dump pile is the most desirable 

 ])lace for them. Our climate won't do 

 for them, although a little farther south 

 tliey may do well and give you another 

 year a fine lot of ' flowers in .Tuly. 

 I remember a few j'ears ago vviigon 

 loads of longiflorum blossoms used 

 to come from our neighboring city 

 of Rochester in the month of 

 •July, but they have a better soil, al- 

 though a trifle farther north. 



We so murder all our tulips, hya- 

 cinths and narcissus when cutting them 

 lliat to preserve the bulbs with any idea 

 of planting them out next fall is waste 

 of time. To be .successful the second 

 year even with our beds of tulips they 

 >liould be either left in the ground or 

 not lifted until the foliage begins to dry 

 u\>. You can buy these bulbs for outside 

 planting at so little cost that there is 

 no money in saving your old forced 

 liulbs, so we dump them in an exposed 

 place and very soon there is a swarm 

 of little girls and old women [xiking and 

 scratching away. They soon rid youi 

 pile of tlie useless bulbs and leave tlie 

 soil in such shape that you sell it next 

 week for .$3 per yard for top dressing 

 lawns. 



Uns(dd azaleas deserve the best of at- 

 tention. If they have Ijeen abused in 

 the store and dried out. cut them se- 

 verely back, even if you leave no leaves 

 to be seen, and put them into a temper- 

 ature of 55 to 60 degrees and spray 

 them daily. They will soon break out 

 «ith any amount of young growths and 

 )uake better plants thai* you can im- 

 liort. They want nothing done to soil 

 or to root at present. If you have any 

 tliat have not Ix'en abused, but have sim- 

 Jily made a fine growth with but few 

 flowers, leave tlicse just as they are, ex- 

 cept perliaps to pinch back an extra 

 strong growth, and put them in the same 

 house. They will lose that compact, 

 rounded, old fashioned lx)uquet shape, 

 and none the worse for that. Our friends. 



the Belgians, send us rather too many 

 of these dense, formal shaped azaleas, 

 and many a customer would like a little 

 looser, more natural shaped plant, 



Rliododendrons, like the azaleas, are 

 ready to make their growth at flowerins- 

 time or immediately after. Don't think 

 of keeping them with a view to force 

 again. You can do ten times better by 

 importing well budded plants in the fall. 

 If you live in the Allegheny Mountains. 

 New England, or North Carolina, you 

 can plant them out, but alas, we may 

 as well plant manuscript sermons for 

 all the growth they will make with us, 

 so we kindly (?) present them to some 

 customer whom we have a grudge 

 against. 



Calla lilies have been asked for to 

 some extent this spring. If you have 

 them on a bench there is two months vet 



but "Suflicient unto the day is the evil 

 thereof," and more of this later. 



Tliere is always a lot of poor spirseas 

 lying around with the flowers and foli- 

 age cut off. If you have a moist, peaty 

 jjlace on your farm you might plant 

 tliem out. Their flowers may be worth a 

 trifle in other Junes to come. With us 

 they give no flowers worth bothering 

 with, and as for forcing again, don't 

 think of it. 



If you had any cyclamen left over, 

 big or little, don't think of saving them 

 for another season. Some very large 

 plants are occasionally seen that are 

 two years old, but there is little or no 

 demand for them. Tlie seed you saved 

 in October will, if well managed, make 

 plants that will sell for $2 or $3, and 

 that's what the people want. 



Small genistas will grow into larger 

 ones, and a few large plants of this 

 showy, yellow flower are desirable. Af- 

 ter the flowers have dropped trim back 

 the plant and start in growing again. 

 This plant grows more in the spring 

 and fall and even in winter than it does 

 in the heat of summer, and a very good 

 time to give them a larger pot is when 

 you bring them in in the fall. Never 

 plant them out in the summer time; 

 only plunce them out of doors, and 



Easter Plant Arrangements by C. A. Samuelson, Chicago. 



to cut from them. If in pots don't lay 

 tliem under a wet, cold bench or any, 

 bench; give them the daylight. You 

 can crowd them up without doing I hem 

 harm, but keep them growing. 



Acacia (mimosa) parodoxa should be 

 cut back to within 4 or 5 inches of last 

 season's growth and put into the same 

 liouse as the azaleas. This is a vigorous 

 looting plant and the ])ots soon get 

 lilled. Soon after they start with young 

 growth they should be shifted. The soil 

 should be a good yellow loam and they 

 should l>e firmly potted. Both these and 

 the azaleas go out of doors later on, 



many good plants are under glass all 

 the time. 



Too many large hydrangeas on your 

 place become white e'ephants, and your 

 trade must be good if you can dispose 

 of many. Most all the Easter hydran- 

 geas are but one year old from the cut- 

 ting. If there are any left on your 

 hands, or a store keeper asks you to 

 take them out of his way, you can cut 

 them down to within fi inches of the 

 pot. Keep cool until end of May; then 

 give them a shift and plunge them out 

 of doors for the summer, and they should 

 make large plants another spring. But 



