J22 



THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



DORONICUM. Of service to the 

 florist because its bright yellow flowers 

 are among the first to open after the 

 snow is gone. Division. 



FUNKIA. The Day lily. There are 

 several species of them, all handsome 

 leaved plants. Division. 



GAILLARDIA grandiflora. Showy 

 bright flowers. Seed. 



HELIANTHUS. There are now a 

 number of these tall growing peren- 

 nial sunflowers, many of them very 

 useful to the florist. The variety known 

 as multiflorus flore plena became so 

 common that it is no longer acceptable 

 even in the cheapest bunches of 



MONARDA didyma. A native north- 

 ern plant, though not common. A fine 

 herbaceous plant. Division. 



PAEONIBS. See in their alphabeti- 

 cal order. 



PHLOX. There are several species 

 of hardy phlox, but it is the hybrids 

 and varieties of P. decussata that are 

 most desirable for the border and for 

 the florist. We have found where they 

 can be freshly cut and used they are 

 most desirable, but will not travel 

 well, dropping their florets badly. The 

 many varieties are of beautiful shades 

 and the phlox thrives in any soil. 

 Cuttings or division, and for new va- 

 rieties easily by seed. 



Helianthus Multiflora Flore Plena. 



flowers, but the single species are very 

 fine. Seed, division or cuttings. 



HEMEROCALLIiS. Several species, 

 mostly yellow and orange flowers. 

 Showy for the border, but not a flor- 

 ist's flower. Seed or division. 



HIBISCUS. Californicus and others. 

 Fine showy flowers. Seed. 



-. 



IRIS. These have such a fine spike 

 and curious but beautiful flower that 

 they are most desirable for the florist, 

 and are wanted by every amateur. 

 They do best in a rather moist soil and 

 root so freely that every third year 

 they should be lifted and divided. 

 There are now many varieties. The 

 Japanese have immense flowers, and 

 the I. germanica,. or German iris, in- 

 cludes now many* beautiful varieties. 

 Division. 



LOBELIA cardinalis. Not a florist's 

 flower, but most showy for the border. 

 Division or seed. 



PYRETHRUM roseum. This is not 

 truly herbaceous but is so hardy we 

 will include it in this chapter. The 

 improved varieties, both double and 

 single flowers, of this species are now 

 truly a florist's flower. They are seen 

 in our store windows in May and June 

 and are bought in preference to carna- 

 tions. They are sometimes difficult to 

 divide and make thrive, and cuttings 

 as described above are best to increase 

 your stock. Few border plants are so 

 well worthy of cultivation. 



RUDBECKIA. The single flowered 

 species, maxima and fulgida, are 

 showy flowers, yellow with dark disk, 

 and are sometimes useful to us as well 

 as very fine border plants. But there 

 is now a double form known as "Gold- 

 en Glow," which is undoubtedly one 

 of our finest hardy summer flowers. 

 It is of a rich yellow. It is much su- 

 perior to the dwarf double helianthus. 

 Seed or division. 



To describe the many desirable 



hardy herbaceous plants would re- 

 quire a good sized 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, "Is it advisable for the flor- 

 ist to be in a position to supply to his 

 customers hardy shrubs and trees?" 

 The question was not probably just 

 that but the sense was that. My an- 

 swer was brief, and certainly not, with 

 the knowledge of the business I have 

 today, or to be more modest, which 

 experience has compelled me to ab- 

 sorb. Division of labor is most truly 

 the order of the day, as much in our 

 trade as in others, but circumstances 

 alter cases. 



It would be absurd to think of Mr. 

 Kift or Mr. Wienhoeber, or Mr. Thor- 

 ley 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 demand from their cus- 

 tomers 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 nursery- 

 man, and if there is he is too busy a 

 man in his shipping season to bother 

 about retail orders. So who is there 

 to supply the local trade? The tree 

 peddler is fast losing ground, his won- 

 derful pictures and himself are now 

 discredited, and the local florist is 

 called, for he is responsible. A tree 

 peddler who still hangs out in the 

 same neighborhood for ten years past, 

 once told me that "he did not reckon 

 to make a second sale to the same 

 person." 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 satisfac- 

 tory. 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 it 

 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 profession. If you can't 

 show your men how to prune and 

 plant a shrub get a foreman that can. 

 but it is an enormous advantage if 

 your early education embraced 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 

 laurestinus 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 beauti- 



