U2 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



the geraniums jump. But if you fill 

 flower beds year after year for a good 

 customer, don t use the bone flour ; there 

 is no need of it and plants thus stimu 

 lated will not do so well when bedded 

 out as those grown without this fertilizer. 



The treatment described above will do 

 for all the geraniums of the zonal, rose 

 leaf, variegated and bronze sections. The 

 tricolor and more slow-growing varieties 

 of the variegated and smaller scented 

 kinds we prefer to put in the sand and 

 give them 5 degrees more heat during 

 winter and a richer and lighter compost. 



Speaking of composts, we used to have 

 occasion to buy some geraniums to fill 

 late orders, and the compost they were 

 in looked like black rappee snuff, a light 

 sand and at least half old rotten manure ; 

 loosely potted, loose at the neck, almost 

 needing a stake; this is the very reverse 

 of what is right. There would surely 

 be plenty of leaves on such plants, but 

 a poor flower, and such stuff makes poor 

 bedding plants. 



Mme. Salleroi is so distinct in its habit 

 that it would be waste of room to propa 

 gate it in the way we do the strong 

 growing zonals. We lift before frost 

 as many plants from the ground as our 

 needs demand and pot in 4-inch or 5-inch 



by the action of the ammonia on their 

 leaves. 



The ivy-leaved section used so largely 

 in our baskets, vases and veranda-boxes 

 we treat entirely different. We leave 

 them out of doors as long as safe from 

 frost, and even if you should feel that 

 a frost is coming it is no great job to 

 cover them or to pull the plants up and 

 take them into the shed to be made ready 

 for the cutting bed next day. A few 

 dozen old plants will give you an im 

 mense lot of cuttings, and always put 

 them in the sand, which by this time of 

 year is probably a little warm with fire 

 heat. 



We keep them in 2-inch pots till New 

 Year s, then shift into a 3-inch; and the 

 demand for these beautiful plants is so 

 great for our veranda-boxes that we have 

 to shift many of them again into a 

 4-inch. Their drooping habit makes 

 them awkward to grow on a bench when 

 of any size, so we have to put them on 

 10-inch shelves, a row hanging over on 

 each side. 



The ivy-leaved section are beautiful 

 plants and when their roots are con 

 fined they continue to flower a long 

 time, but when planted out in good soil 

 they grow so freely that blooming ceases. 



Large, Compact Trusses of Bloom Well Above the Foliage. 



pots just as they are lifted, and store 

 away in some light, cool house. In Jan 

 uary we cut them up and every shoot 

 is a cutting which roots most easily in 

 the sand. In the crowded state of our 

 houses before the bedding out begins we 

 put the variegated zonal, bronze, sweet 

 scented and Salleroi sections into a mild 

 hotbed. Put into the beds by middle of 

 April they make fine plants by bedding 

 time. n these varieties it is leaf growth 

 you want, and they are greatly benefited 



In winter you are seldom asked for 

 geranium flowers, or not enough to war 

 rant your devoting any bench room to 

 them, but you are frequently called upon 

 for a geranium plant in flower, and it 

 is just as well to have some. Should 

 you not sell them they will make a fine 

 lot of cuttings in February. 



Select a few hundred healthy young 

 plants in May of the free blooming 

 varieties and put them aside as sold. 

 &quot; the rush is over shift into 5-inch 



and grow along in a light house, with 

 the pots plunged in some material to 

 keep them from continually drying out; 

 here is where the portable shading would 

 come in so good. A coldframe would 

 do as well with the glass tilted up back 

 and front, and then you can shade from 

 10 o clock till 4 o clock. 



Keep the buds always picked off these 

 geraniums during summer, and in August, 

 if they are worth it, shift again, into 

 a 6-inch pot. If you allow the buds 

 to come up after middle of September 

 you will have some very cheerful, bright 

 plants that are very attractive. These 

 plants if wanted to flower freely should 

 have a night temperature of 55 degrees, 

 and the lightest bench you have. 



There is a lesson to be observed about 

 these common geraniums. If we give 

 them more than 45 degrees at night 

 and 55 to 60 degrees at day with our 

 imperfect light and want of ventilation, 

 for we can only give air to a limited 

 extent, the plants will run up to leggy, 

 useless plants, but out of doors in a 

 night temperature of 70 degrees, and 

 during the day perhaps to 90 degrees, 

 they do not run up, they grow into 

 sturdy, stout plants. So the nearer we 

 can come to perfect light and air with 

 those plants (roses, carnations, etc.) 

 that we ask to flower in the winter in 

 stead of resting, the greater success we 

 shall have. 



There are scarcely any insects that 

 trouble geraniums, and it is a great 

 thing in their favor. Tobacco smoke 

 does not hurt any of them, and only 

 the scented-leaved section is ever 

 troubled with aphis. Too dose proximity 

 to hot-water pipes will sometimes pro 

 duce red spider, but that should not 

 occur. It is a great treat to me to 

 water a batch of geraniums that are 

 on the dry side, and they should be al 

 lowed to get so. Then they seem to 

 relish the soaking they get. 



It would be useless to publish a list 

 of varieties, as sorts wear out and new 

 ones are constantly taking their places. 

 Neither am I acquainted with a long list 

 of varieties. It is very unwise to grow 

 a great variety. A dozen of the best 

 semi-doubles, half a dozen single, half 

 a dozen of the ivy-leaved section, and 

 a few of the standard variegated and 

 bronze, will fill the bill for the man 

 who has flower beds to fill. Last year 

 the demand for geraniums was larger 

 than ever, and although we had double 

 the quantity of S. A. Nutt over any 

 other, we were sold out of it long be 

 fore the rest, showing that you want a 

 large quantity of the very few leading 

 varieties, and proportionately smaller 

 quantities of the rest. We find at pres 

 ent that the following sorts suit our 

 business best: 



Semi-double Zonal Varieties. 



S. A. Nutt, crimson. 

 Alphonse Bicard, orange scarlet. 

 J. J. Harrison, fine scarlet. 

 W. P. Simmons, orange scarlet. 

 Beaute Poitevine, clear Salmon. 

 Frances Perkins, clear pure pink; the 

 best pink we know; grand habit. 



