J28 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



border plants. But there is now a 

 double form known as Golden Glow, 

 which is undoubtedly one of our finest 

 hardy summer flowers. It is of a rich 

 yellow. It is much superior to the 

 dwarf double helianthus. Propagated 

 by seed or division. 



To describe the many desirable hardy 

 herbaceous plants would require a large 

 catalogue, and I have mentioned but a 

 few of those kinds which every florist 

 should grow. 



HARDY SHRUBS. 



Some years ago I was asked to reply 

 at one of our annual conventions to the 

 query, &quot;Is it advisable for the florist 

 to be in a position to supply to his cus 

 tomers hardy shrubs and trees?&quot; The 

 question was not probably just that, but 

 the sense was that. My answer was 

 brief, and certainly not with the knowl 

 edge of the business I have today, or 

 to be more modest, w^ieh experience has 

 compelled me to absorb. Division of 

 labor is most truly the order of the day, 

 as much in our trade as in others, but&quot; 

 circumstances alter cases. 



It would be absurd to think of Mr. 

 Galvin, Mr. Wienhoeber, or Mr. Thorley 

 talking about the best hedge to plant, 

 or a specialist like Charles D. Ball, or 

 John Burton, or Dailledouze Bros, going 

 out to plant a group of shrubs. Their 

 specialty is all they can do, or all they 

 need do. But in smaller cities, among 

 the men who grow and retail and plant, 

 flower gardens, there is a growing de 

 mand from their customers that they 

 supply them with hardy roses, hardy 

 vines, hedge plants and shrubs, and if 

 with shrubs why not with ornamental 

 trees ? 



Perhaps there is no local nurseryman, 

 and if there is he is too busy a man in 

 his shipping season to bother about re 

 tail orders. So who is there to supply 

 the local trade? The tree peddler is 

 fast losing ground, his wonderful pic 

 tures and himself are now discredited, 

 and the local florist is called, for he is 

 responsible. A tree peddler who has 

 hung out in the same neighborhood for 

 ten years past, once told me that &quot;he 

 did not reckon to make a second sale to 

 the same person.&quot; Fancy that, and we 

 expect to make sales to the same people 

 as long as they and we live. We will 

 make our sales of shrubs or vines satis 

 factory. If failure occurs the first time 

 we try again. 



In our growing suburbs and on our 

 residence streets there is an increasing 

 and continuous demand for handsome 

 shrubs and ornamental trees, and if you 

 have the knowledge what to buy and 

 how and when to plant you are throwing 

 away a great chance if you neglect this 

 substantial part of the horticultural pro 

 fession. If you can t show your men 

 how to prune and plant a shrub, get a 

 foreman who can, but it is an enormous 

 advantage if your early education em 

 braced the spade as well as the pen. 



We used to deplore the absence in 

 our northern clime of what are known 

 as the broad-leaved evergreens, such as 

 the sweet bay, arbutus, aucuba and lau- 



restinus that form the shrubberies of 

 temperate Europe, but we believe now 

 that our vegetation in this line is just 

 right as it is, and with our snowed up 

 winter the true evergreen would look 

 too sombre. How beautiful and 

 inspiring in the warm days of spring, 

 after the hibernating days of winter, to 

 see willows blossom, and later the gay 



Helianthus Orgyalis. 



scarlet flowers of Pyrus Japonica and 

 the yellow wreathing of forsythia. And 

 then the many tinted leaves of the hardy 

 shrubs. It is an awakening, an annual 

 treat and pleasure to the senses that 

 the monotonous sombre evergreen cannot 

 give. So everything is right as it is. 

 And Japan has to be thanked for con 



tributing a whole host of our best hardy 

 shrubs. 



Shrubs, so-called, are always more 

 safely transplanted than trees, for two- 

 reasons. They are seldom in the nursery 

 more than two or three years, and even 

 the neglect of transplanting, of which 

 our American nurserymen are woefully 

 guilty, should they be left five or six- 

 years in one spot, does not prevent them 

 from making a mass of roots, most of 

 which can be lifted. So the percentage 

 of loss in transplanting shrubs with any 

 ordinary care is very low. 



The time of transplanting varies a 

 week or so with the season. With a 

 dry season and early frosts you can 

 plant from middle of October till late 

 in November. If you start early in the 

 fall and the leaves have not fallen off 

 the shrubs, pull or rather rub them 

 off. If they come off easily no harm 

 is done. In spring the transition from 

 winter to summer or hot weather is 

 sometimes very short and affords the 

 planter but a very brief time. Had we 

 a month of cool, moist weather be 

 tween frost and the bursting of the 

 buds into leaf, I should4say that April 

 anr] even May wSs the best time of all 

 to move shrubs. 



If the buds iiare breaking and the 

 leaves showing, then the shrubs must 

 be severely cut back. Even if you 

 plant them in the most favorable time 

 and in the best condition, it is neces 

 sary to shorten back the shoots. The 

 larger and taller the shrub, the more 

 in proportion should it be cut back. 

 Don t think, and don t let your cus 

 tomer think, there is going to be any 

 eventual loss of growth or size on ac 

 count of this cutting back. The roots 

 are disturbed, the fine fibrous roots that 

 are the feeders and nourishers of the 

 plant are gone or inactive, the short 

 ened supply of sap goes to the extremi 

 ties of the shoots and a feeble break or 

 growth occurs at the end of the shoots, 

 the lower buds perish, and then you 

 have bare stems. Insist on it that 

 transplanted shrubs and trees must be 

 pruned more or less according to the 

 loss of roots. 



A word here about future pruning. 

 No shrubbery is planted for all time. 

 Perhaps where they do well a mixed 

 belt of shrubs never looks better than 

 from six to ten years after they are 

 planted. Then they crowd each other. 

 Some grow tall and lose their beauty, 

 so a shrubbery is never finished; it is 

 a continual thinning out and replen 

 ishing. 



In pruning distinguish the differ 

 ence between those that set their 

 flower buds in the fall and those that 

 flower on the growths of the current 

 year. The lilac is a good type of the 

 former, and if you prune severely in 

 winter and spring you cut away the 

 flower buds. You will readily distin 

 guish the difference in these shrubs, 

 and if they are to be pruned, a good 

 time is just after they have done 

 flowering, when they have time to 

 make more growth and set more 

 flower buds. The latter type is well 

 represented by our hardy roses and the 



