THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



189 



beauty. All the species that are de 

 sirable for the commercial florist can be 

 said to be of easy culture. 



PERILLA NANKINENSIS. 



This strong-growing foliage plant is 

 useful for subtropical flower garden 

 ing. It has dark bronze leaves 

 and will grow fast in a lower tempera 

 ture than the coleus, which makes it 

 useful in cooler summers than ours. 



It is raised easily from seed sown in 

 March and grown on in 3-inch pots till 

 bedding out time. Like our free grow 

 ing coleus it should be pinched to make 

 it spread. 



PETUNIA. 



These are very popular plants. In 

 flower gardening they are one of the 

 leading flowers. It appears that the 

 garden varieties are raised from the 

 species P. nyctaginiflora and P. viola - 

 cea, a white and a violet species, but 

 in the varieties now raised by selec 

 tion and culture we have a great variety 

 of color, both double and single flowers. 



In large beds where there is much 

 flower gardening to do and not a great 

 facility for raising the plants, or where 

 expense has to be studied, the petunia 

 is one of our most serviceable plants, 

 and for a flower bed the single is more 

 effective than the double. We also find 

 great use for them in veranda boxes 

 and vases. We have seen the double 

 white used as a cut flower, but that 

 day is past. 



Any fine double varieties that you 

 wish to perpetuate must be raised from 

 cuttings, and the plants seen in early 

 spring in 4-inch pots are from cuttings, 

 but for bedding it pays much better 

 to raise them from seed. Obtain the 

 best strain you possibly can. I have 

 received seeds from a firm that were 

 splendid, hardly two flowers identical in 

 a thousand plants, and the next year 

 from the same source they were nearly 

 all that washed out purple that nobody 

 wants. 



Buy seed that is sold for double al 

 ways. You will only get about forty 

 per cent double flowers, and that will 

 leave you plenty of single. There are 

 some distinct strains that come true 

 in form and color. A New York 

 firm advertises a strain called Adonis, 

 valuable for bedding, medium size flow 

 ers of a carmine color. The California 

 strain of doubles is magnificent. The 

 Dwarf Inimitable is also a fine single 

 strain, of a cherry red color, with white 

 throat. There are also many fine double 

 varieties that are named, but the great 

 majority of us depend on a good strain 

 of seed, as they make a better bedding 

 plant than those grown from cuttings, 

 and every desirable color can be ob 

 tained. 



For most places a variety of color 

 in the same bed is preferred when filled 

 with petunias, and they should always 

 be given a bed to themselves, as they 

 would give no other plants a fair show. 



When choice double varieties are kept 

 over you should select the young, fresh 

 growths and propagate in sand before 



Herbaceous Phloxes. 



a hard frost has touched them. When 

 rooted they should be grown on a light 

 bench in a temperature of 50 degrees. 

 If not allowed to get stunted these 

 plants will give you more cuttings, 

 which root very easily in winter when 

 there is heat in the propagating bench. 

 By pinching once and potting into a 

 4-inch you can have nice plants in flower 

 in early May. They reed a small stake 

 to support them. Many such plants are 

 sold in our markets. 



Seedlings are the cheapest ard most 

 satisfactory. The seed of the petunia 

 is very small. Sown in early March on 

 a well watered, fine surface, no cover 

 ing of soil is needed. Just press the 

 .surface lightly with the bottom of a 

 clean pot. We usually cover the seed- 

 pan or flat with a piece of damp cheese 

 cloth till the seed begins to germinate, 

 but it should be removed directly you 

 see the seed starting. For a few days 

 be careful not to let the minute seed 

 lings get parched. Neither must you 

 let them draw up with too much shade 

 and heat. 



As soon as the small seed leaves are 

 developed they should be near the 

 light, and 45 to 50 degrees at night will 

 do very well. When large enough to 

 handle we put six or seven around the 

 edge of a 3-inch pot and two or three 

 in the center. I like this better than 



putting them in flats. About the end 

 of April we give each plant a 2%-inch 

 pot and place on any light bench. There 

 should be a full exposure to the sun 

 and abundance of ventilation. They are 

 often put into hotbeds, but I don t 

 approve of that, as they make too rank 

 a growth. In a cool, light house they 

 grow fast enough and make strong, stout 

 plants in fine condition for bedding 

 out. 



Aphis troubles petunias, so they 

 should be fumigated with the many 

 other plants that need it. 



A good sifted loam with a third of 

 old hotbed manure is what they like, 

 and if you wish them to jump along 

 quickly in May add a 6-inch pot of 

 bone meal to every barrow-load of soil. 

 Although the parents of our petunias 

 are from southern Brazil and the Ar 

 gentine, it must be the high elevations, 

 for they want a high temperature at no 

 time and grow and flower weeks after 

 many of our bedding plants are killed. 



PHLOX DRUMMONDIL 



This is one of the very best of our 

 summer annuals. There are now mag 

 nificent strains of distinct colors, and 

 w here large masses of brilliant color 

 are desired there are few plants equal 

 to this dwarf phlox. In very dry sum- 



