THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



125 



to fit and it will be a pleasure to put 

 it together. If you think you can t 

 afford to let the whole job, erection and 

 all, to a specialist, there is no excuse if 

 you don t send your plans to a horti 

 cultural builder, who will save you lots 

 of worry and money. 



GREVILLEA ROBUSTA. 



There are many species of these small 

 trees or shrubs, some of them very 

 ornamental, but G. robusta is the easiest 

 to grow and most useful to the florist. 

 It is often called the Australian silk 

 oak. We use it in vases and veranda 

 boxes, and plants a foot to two feet 

 high make very useful plants for winter 

 decoration. It withstands a good deal 

 of rough treatment and does very well 

 in winter in a cool greenhouse, subject 

 to no insects and thriving in any soil. 



It is always raised from seed, which 

 should be sown in flats in March or 

 April, and shifted along as required. 

 Keep them indoors on the benches if 

 you can afford the room, give them lit 

 tle or no shade and they will make use 

 ful plants the following spring. It is 

 best to sow seeds every spring, as the 

 plants when over three feet high lose 

 their value as decorative plants, or 

 rather there are other plants occupying 

 no more room that are better for the 

 purpose. Avoid getting them into large 

 pots; a 5-inch pot will do very well for 

 a plant two to three feet high, and that 

 is a great advantage when you are using 

 decorative plants. 



GYPSOPHILA PANICULATA. 



There are many species of gypsophila, 

 but paniculata is certainly the most 

 valuable for the florist. It is a peren 

 nial herb, with much divided flower 

 stalk, about two feet high in finely 

 divided panicles. It adds greatly to 

 the beauty and variety of a rockwork 

 or hardy garden, yet it is as a flower to 

 lighten np and give grace to a summer 

 bouquet that its chief value to the florist 

 is found. A few sprays of G. panicu 

 lata in a bouquet of asters has the same 

 effect that our sweet stevia has in De 

 cember among a bunch of the formal 

 chrysanthemums. Only last summer we 

 were impressed with the exquisite beauty 

 of this lowly plant, with its mist-like 

 flowers, when associated with flowers of 

 more solid and formal design. Every 

 florist should have a good patch of it 

 on his place, for it will appeal to all 

 his customers of refined taste and help 

 out with what otherwise would be a 

 stiff and commonplace-looking bouquet. 

 Any ordinary well drained spot in the 

 garden will grow it. It is raised from 

 seed or divisions. 



HARDY CLIMBERS. 



There is no feature of ornamental 

 gardening that adds more to the beauty 

 of our modest but picturesque homes 

 than the hardy climbers trained on the 

 porches and verandas of our houses. All 

 florists who do a general business are 

 constantly asked to supply them, and can 

 afford to keep a few of each desirable 



Lycium, the Matrimony Vine, in Flower and Showing the Long Pendent Sprays. 



kind. I would not advise the ordinary 

 florist to go into the propagation of 

 these plants, as it is more the business 

 of the nurseryman, but a few yards of 

 ground will make room for the heeling in 

 of a good many plants, and they are 

 there when called for. 



This list could be considerably ex 

 tended, but will be found to contain 

 the most desirable, inexpensive and easy 

 to procure. These hardy climbers are 

 planted at the foot of a veranda post 

 close to the foundation walls, where the 



ground is often nothing but clay and 

 rubbish from building material. This 

 is not a fair show for these permanent 

 vines. Although most all of them can 

 take care of themselves when once estab 

 lished they should be given a good start 

 by excavating a large hole and returning 

 at least a bushel of rich soil. Frequent 

 ly, also, they may be on the side of 

 the house where little or no rain can 

 reach them and the first summer of 

 planting they should be faithfully 

 watered and mulched. 



