J80 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



work at the side of the path in a palm 

 house where it received plenty of 

 moisture but no superfluous water at 

 the roots. 



They are easily propagated in sand 

 or sandy soil in a bottom heat of 75 

 degrees, either by the leaf, as you do 

 Begonia Rex, or with an inch or so of 

 the stem attached. Early spring is 

 the best time to propagate. 



The flowers of all are inconspicuous; 

 it is the ornamental leaves that make 

 the plant valuable. P. pubifolia is 

 well adapted for a hanging basket. P. 

 maculosa makes a fine subject for a 

 pan, and the beautiful species illus- 

 trated herewith makes a compact plant 

 of great beauty. All the species that 

 are desirable for the commercial florist 

 can be said to be of easy culture. 



PERILLA NANKINENSIS. 



This strong growing foliage plant is 

 useful for sub-tropical flower garden- 

 ing. It has very dark bronzy 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 vari- 

 ety 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. Ob- 

 tain the best strain you possibly can. 

 I have received seeds from a firm that 

 were splendid, hardly two flowers iden- 

 tical 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 40 per 

 cent, double flowers, and that will 

 leave you plenty of single. There are 

 some distinct strains that come true 

 in form and color. Peter Henderson 

 Co. advertise a strain called "Adonis," 

 valuable for bedding, medium sized 



flowers of a carmine color. The Cali- 

 fornia strain of doubles is magnifi- 

 cent. 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 obtained. 



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 ars 

 kept over you should select the young, 

 fresh growths and propagate in sand 

 before 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 cut- 

 tings, 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 need a 

 small stake to support them. Many 

 such plants are sold in our markets. 



Seedlings are the cheapest and most 

 satisfactory. The seed of the petunia 

 is very small. Sow in early March on 

 a well watered fine surface, and no cov- 

 ering 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 1 better than 

 putting them in flats. About 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 bed- 

 ding 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 eleva- 

 tions, for they want a high tempera- 

 ture at no time and grow and flower 



weeks after many of our bedding 

 plants are killed. 



PHLOX DRUMMONDII. 



This is one of the very best of our 

 summer annuals. There are now mag- 

 nificent strains of distinct colors, and 

 where large masses of brilliant color 

 are desired there are few plants equal 

 to this dwarf phlox. In very dry sum- 

 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 a cut flower, but 

 you will never make a mistake in rec- 

 ommending them wherever a hardy 

 border flower is wanted. New varie- 

 ties 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 

 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 vari- 

 ety pf almost all shades of color, and 

 their flowers are as large as our carna- 

 tions 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 

 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 car- 

 nation they would not be of value to 

 force, but are most useful to pick in 

 the summer 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 Oc- 

 tober, 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. 



