THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



allow it is a great ornament to our 

 flower gardens. 



Heliotrope is popularly supposed to be 

 easily injured by tobacco smoke. If a 

 strong dose is first given it does injure 

 it, but after a few fumigations it does 

 not notice it more than a geranium. Why 

 should it not get inured to it? I have 

 noticed frequently that it does, although 

 it does not need any smoke. 



A rust is its worst enemy, which will 

 not attack it unless it gets root-bound 

 and stunted. The heliotrope grows finely 

 in a temperature of 50 degrees, but will 

 not endure the slightest frost. There are 

 constantly new varieties being sent out. 

 A few good ones are: 



Le C id; semi-dwarf, robust, large pan 

 icles, mauve, with clear white eye. 



Le Poitevine; great size, mauve, violet 

 and azure; very free and continuous in 

 bloom. 



The Giant; enormous panicle of bloom, 

 color a rosy violet, white eye. 



Cameleon; bright blue, large panicles 

 and florets. 



Albert Delaux; pretty variegated foli 

 age, purple flowers. 



White Lady; the best of the white or 

 light varieties. 



HIBISCUS. 



The species we see in the greenhouses 

 is H. Eosa-Sinensis and its varieties. It 

 is hardly a florist s plant, yet its bright, 

 shining leaves and showy, brilliant flow 

 ers make it desirable for the private con 

 servatory. 



Hibiscus plants thrive in any good, 

 coarse loam, with some well rotted ma 

 nure added. They soon make large plants 

 and need a liberal size pot, and plenty 

 of water and syringing when growing. 

 Their brilliant flowers come on the young 

 growths. In winter they will do in a 

 temperature of 50 degrees, and keep on 

 the dry side. When starting them into 

 more growth in April shorten back the 

 shoots; the young growths will be all the 

 stronger. The flowers are of various 

 colors and are both single and double. 



The young growths root readily in 

 April in some warm sand, but should not 

 be exposed to the sun or too much air. 



H. Syriacus is one of our finest hardy 

 shrubs, known as althaea, or rose of 

 Sharon. It makes a compact, much 

 branched shrub, thickly studded with its 

 showy flowers in August and September 

 and growing five to eight feet high. We 

 have within a few years imported many 

 of the fine French varieties with flowers 

 as perfect and pretty as a gardenia, or 

 small camellia, but did not find them 

 quite hardy, although they may be a lit 

 tle farther s~outh. 



HOLLYHOCK. 



This stately plant is seen in the large 

 grounds of the millionaire and in the 

 small piece of garden that the farmer 

 or his wife devote to &quot;posies.&quot; It is 

 handsome anywhere, and it is particular 

 ly suitable for a border whose back 

 ground is a hedge or belt of trees. There 

 appears to be an increased call for them 

 of late. Some years ago the hollyhock 

 disease discouraged many would-be grow 



ers of this old favorite, but little is now 

 heard of the disease, and we have seen 

 no trouble from it in several years. 



Hollyhocks are of very easy culture and 

 few plants will pay for the labor with 

 an equal amount of flowers and fine ef 

 fect. If they required the same care 

 and labor that a dahlia does, there would 

 be less excuse for not growing them, but 

 they do not. When once planted out, 

 they will take care of themselves, only 

 requiring one stout stake to support their 

 main stem and tying as they grow. 



The best strain if allowed to remain 

 without transplanting for four or five 

 years will deteriorate in quality and re 

 vert back to the single-flowered form. 

 Little regard is now paid to named va 

 rieties, because the best strains give you 

 all the desirable colors and the finest 

 flowers; in fact, plants less than one year 

 old give the finest flowers. Plants that 

 have flowered and are carried over win 

 ter are hardy in our ordinary winters, 

 but should be protected by some litter 

 placed around the plant and a few ever 

 green boughs over them. 



Where the winters are not so severe, 

 seed is sown in May or June out of doors 

 and the young plants transplanted into 

 beds, where they remain all winter in 

 the open ground, and are planted out and 

 sold the following spring. This is all 

 right for the man with a catalogue trade, 

 but is not the way to produce the finest 

 plants and flowers. 



Sow in flats or in the coldframe in 

 early August. If you have no other ac 

 commodation, you can transplant four or 

 five inches apart in the frames, and in 

 the three or four months of severest win 

 ter weather protect with glass, and trans 

 plant to their permanent position as soon 

 as the ground is dry in the spring. Still 

 better, transplant from the seedbeds into 

 flats or 2-inch pots, and in October 

 shift into 4-inch pots, keeping them 

 plunged in the coldframe till very cold 

 weather, and then winter them in a very 

 cool house. A violet temperature, or less, 

 will do. Don t defer planting till you 

 put out your tropical bedding plants, but 

 get them into the border as soon as you 

 can work the ground. The latter method 

 is the one I have seen followed with the 

 grandest results. 



Hollyhocks like a heavy soil, dug deep 

 ly and with plenty of animal manure 

 worked in. If the spring is dry, they 

 should receive a soaking twice a week. 

 As fine hollyhocks as I have ever seen 

 were planted in a stiff clay, into which 

 was dug a lot of cow manure. They want 

 a good stout stake to keep the wind from 

 l)lowing them over, and sometimes when 

 the side shoots are loaded with flowers 

 they will want supporting to the main 

 stem. 



Chater s strain was for years the best 

 obtainable, and is, I think, still offered 

 by some of the leading seedsmen. 



When the plants are small, as a preven 

 tive of fungous diseases, they can be 

 dipped into a pail of the ammoniacal so 

 lution. 



The best strains now embrace colors 

 from the darkest maroon (almost black) 

 through beautiful shades of red and pink, 

 yellow and pale straw, to pure white. 

 Three feet apart is close enough to plant 



them, and if strong plants, more room is 

 better. 



In attempting to grow these stately 

 plants two seasons ago and wintering 

 them in a cool greenhouse the dreaded 

 fungus made its appearance. A copper 

 solution was applied at once and at time 

 of planting the following April every 

 plant was immersed in it, but to no avail. 

 They were a total failure. Yet down the 

 village street 100 yards were healthy r 

 vigorous hollyhocks growing in a narrow 

 strip by some farmer s home. We have 

 experienced the greatest success with 

 hollyhocks by sowing in September and 

 wintering in a cool house, but where you 

 don t have those advantages you can sow 

 in April and during summer shift them 

 on, or several times transplant, and by 

 September you should have a strong plant 

 which can be planted out in its perma 

 nent place in the garden. 



HDTBEDS. 



These primitive greenhouses may never 

 be seen at many establishments, and 

 where only cut flowers are grown there 

 is no occasion for them, but to the florist 

 who grows an assortment of bedding; 

 plants they are of the greatest assist 

 ance. As is well known, there are a num 

 ber of our soft-wooded plants that grow 

 much faster and thriftier in a hotbed 

 than in the best greenhouse that you can 

 possibly give them. 



The vegetable grower starts prepara 

 tions for his hotbeds in February, but the 

 florist does not need to, and in our lati 

 tude the hotbed is of most use from early 

 April on to the end of May, and occa 

 sionally during summejr, where plants 

 like cyclamen want a little bottom heat. 



The frames are usually eighteen, inches 

 at back and twelve inches in front, and 

 for convenience made to flit three or four 

 sashes six feet long and thirty-six inches 

 wide. When hotbeds are used on a large 

 scale and where drainage is good the 

 earth is excavated to a depth of eighteen 

 inches to two feet, and either boarded 

 or bricked up to a foot above the sur 

 face. There is an advantage in this be 

 cause the late frost does not cool the 

 fermenting material. Wherever you have 

 them, let them be all together, for the 

 larger the mass of manure the slower it 

 will cool. 



The first requisite is some good, fresh 

 straw manure, and sometimes that alone 

 is used. If you have some dry leave? 

 of the previous fall you can mix in ft 

 third of those, and if you are on good 

 terms with the local brewer the spent 

 hops of the brewery are a splendid m;i 

 terial for the purpose. Hops heat vio 

 lently, and should not be used alone, or 

 the heat will be too violent for a time- 

 and will too quickly subside. I would 

 call one-half stable manure, one-fourth 

 leaves and one-fourth fresh hops a fine 

 mixture. 



You cannot get all your material ir 

 one day, but when you have collected 

 enough to begin operations the whole 

 mass, whatever it is, should be tin- nod 

 over once into a big pile and thoroughly 

 shaken out, mixing the long with the 

 short. When the pile begins to sho^ 

 signs of heating, then form your hotbed*. 



