190 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



mers they go out of flower, so they 

 should be within reach of the hose; 

 and the dead flower heads should be 

 picked off. 



For culture see Aster. In making a 

 flower bed put the plants five or six 

 inches apart as soon as frosts are gone. 



PHLOX-Herbaceous. 



These have been included under 

 herbaceous plants, but they are worthy 

 of special mention, for they are among 

 the best of our hardy border plants. 

 These fine varieties are obtained from 

 several species: P. suffruticosa, P. 

 maculata and P. paniculata. They are 

 not of great value as cut flowers, but 

 you will never make a mistake in rec 

 ommending them wherever a hardy 

 border flower is wanted. New varieties 

 are of course raised from seed. 



The young shoots root freely in May, 

 or as soon as you can get them after 

 the plants start to grow, and can be 

 grown in pots and planted out in Sep 

 tember. They also divide with the 

 greatest ease, either before they start 

 to grow in spring, or in October and 

 November. No plant is hardier. There 



the hardy clove pink is a favorite with 

 all. Her Majesty is a splendid white, 

 and Abbottsford is an equally fine 

 pink. 



With our continuous blooming carna 

 tion they would not be of value to force, 

 but are most useful to pick in the sum 

 mer months. They can be propagated 

 from cuttings, as you do carnations, 

 and either kept in the flats in which 

 they were rooted or potted off into 

 2-inch pots, but they must, when rooted, 

 be kept in a very cool house or cold- 

 frame during winter. Carnations root 

 readily in sand in October, and so will 

 the young growths of these pinks. 

 Planted out in early spring they soon 

 make bushy clumps. Our garden pinks 

 are supposed to be the offspring of 

 Dianthus plumarius. 



POINSETTIAS. 



The showy Poinsettia pulcherrima is 

 now botanically classed with the euphor 

 bias, but is still far better known to 

 the trade as poinsettia. It is a native 

 of Mexico and that infers that at no 

 time should it be subjected to a low 



A Bench of Poinsettias. 



are so many fine varieties that there is 

 no excuse for growing poor ones. 



PINKS. 



We are often asked for the hardy 

 garden pinks and are often unable to 

 supply them. There is now a great 

 variety of almost all shades of color, 

 and their flowers are as large as our 

 carnations were twenty years ago. They 

 may not be all quite hardy, but our 

 carnation is almost hardy, and these 

 pinks with their spreading, free flower 

 ing habit, deserve more attention and 

 more care than they get. 



There are dozens of named varieties, 

 but without going into them, we can 

 grow a good assortment of colors and 



temperature. Since its introduction it 

 has been a favorite in all collections of 

 hothouse plants, its brilliant scarlet 

 bracts making it unequaled as a decora 

 tive plant in the very darkest days of 

 winter. Of late years it has grown 

 greatly in popular favor with our flower- 

 buying patrons and as the lily is now 

 known as the Easter flower, the poin 

 settia may be and is known as the 

 Christmas flower. 



They are often used for decorations 

 when cut with two or three feet of stem, 

 but are more satisfactory in every way 

 when it is possible to use them in pots. 

 When cut the bracts of the poinsettias, 

 as well as the foliage, will often wilt 

 badly and when used for decorating this 

 is very disappointing. This can be pre 



vented to a great extent by putting the 

 stems as soon as they are cut into very 

 hot water. If the ends of the stems 

 are immediately immersed in almost 

 boiling water and before there has been 

 any wilting the flowers and foliage will 

 stand up in good condition. Some 

 growers, to carry out this method faith 

 fully, will carry a pail of hot water 

 around the house with them to receive 

 the stems the moment they are severed 

 from the plants. 



Although their fine leaves soon drop 

 in a dry room, the showy bracts remain 

 on the plants for several weeks, always 

 giving the purchaser good value, and as 

 it is one of those plants which we never 

 get returned &quot;to keep for another sea 

 son&quot; it is satisfactory and profitable 

 to grow, more so than the majority of 

 plants we handle. 



Old plants that have rested from 

 January to April or May should be 

 shaken out clean of any old soil, potted 

 into 4-inch, 5-inch or 6-inch pots as their 

 size may require, the shoot or shoots 

 shortened back only to the sound wood. 

 Place in a warm, light house and 

 syringe daily. In four or five weeks 

 there will be a crop of cuttings. In 

 taking off the cuttings leave one young 

 eye at the old stem so that another 

 break will give you another lot of cut 

 tings. As most of your cuttings will 

 go into the sand after you have dis 

 continued firing, there will be no bot 

 tom heat; so the cuttings want shade 

 and the sand must have a thorough 

 soaking twice a day in warm weather. 

 In about three weeks the cuttings will 

 be rooted. Lift carefully from the sand 

 and pot into 2^ -inch or 3-inch pots. 

 For the first few days, or till the young 

 plants begin to make roots in the soil, 

 keep shaded and moist by frequent 

 syringing. When once they have got 

 hold of the soil they want the fullest 

 light, and in warm months the greatest 

 possible amount of fresh air. 



The old plants that you are propa 

 gating from can after June 1 be plunged 

 outside, and cuttings taken from out 

 side growth make better plants than 

 those grown inside. You can propagate 

 at intervals till the middle of August, 

 the last cutting struck making fine 

 dwarf plants. We seldom make use of 

 the old plants, but shifted on in Septem 

 ber and given plenty of heat and light 

 they will give you a number of medium 

 size flowers. Or if you have a spare 

 bench or bed with six inches of soil, 

 plant out the old stumps. The vigorous 

 growth they will make will surprise you. 

 They will when planted out thrive and 

 flower in a much lower temperature than 

 the plants in pots, but to have in bloom 

 at Christmas they must have 60 to 65 

 degrees at night. It is well known by 

 all growers of these plants that they 

 will endure 10 degrees lower tempera 

 ture when planted out where the roots 

 have abundance of room. 



j..ie main object in the cultivation of 

 the poinsettia is to obtain a stocky, 

 sturdy plant, retaining all its fine foli 

 age, as dwarf as possible, but crowned 

 with a fine head of what the public calls 

 the bloom. Two shifts are enough; 



