516 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



it is just the thing. Those who handle or retail hardy stock should 

 have just a few plants on hand, for when at their best they always 

 attract attention and somebody will want a half a dozen or so. 

 They are easily grown from seed. 



SAL VIA AZUREA (HARDY SAL VIA) 



This Salvia grows about four feet in height, and has slender 

 stems full of beautiful little light-blue flowers in September. A 

 half dozen or so plants in a group, if given a little support, make a 

 fine showing; and you can also use them for cut flowers. The light 

 blue color of the flowers is quite unusual among the other peren- 

 nials and hardy stock in bloom at that time, most of which have 

 yellow blossoms or those of orange or brownish shades 



This Salvia is easily grown from seed, which you should sow 

 in January in a 50-deg. house. If care is taken of the young plants, 

 you should have no trouble in getting bushy little specimens by 

 early May. But the plants differ greatly in habit from the Scarlet 

 Sage. A later introduction, considered an improvement on S. 

 azurea is S. Pitcheri with deeper colored and larger flowers and more 

 of them on the plants. 



SCARLET SAGE (BEDDING VARIETIES) 



Salvia America heads the list of desirable florist's varieties. 

 It is of dwarf habit, good form and starts to flower early in the sea- 

 son, which, with many of the older sorts, is not the case. There has 

 been a dropping off in the demand for Salvias mostly on account of 

 their bright red color, but every florist can dispose of large numbers 

 during the Spring months. He should have good-sized plants with 

 good-sized flower spikes in 4-in. pots by the middle of May and 

 another lot in smaller pots for later use. 



February first is not too early to start with the first batch of 

 seed. Sow it in flats and give bottom heat. The seedlings can be 

 planted in flats allowing an inch and a half or so of space between 

 them. When they have made their third leaf, pot them into 2^s 

 and let them come along in a 50-deg. house. They may not make 

 as fast growth in this temperature, but they will grow into better 

 stock. Keep them shifted into good soil and they will have dark- 

 green foliage and good-sized flowers later on. 



Another way, the best with the variety America, is to lift a 

 few of the best-shaped plants in September, pot them up, cut them 

 back a little and place them in a 55-deg. house. By January these 

 plants, if cut back a little more, will begin to break and soon be 

 full of cuttings which root easily in sand with bottom heat. In this 

 way you are sure to obtain a good strain, which is not always the 

 case when you grow on from seed, no matter how fine the plants 

 you gathered the seed from. 



