Tf^fT^^^}f^W'' ■'.; ■■'■/>■: *;<^',- ■^;r;^'; '■ 



^ -r, IM '/-I,- •»»•._ ■ 



Mat 18, 1916. 



,.■ j-v,:^' ,■ ... r , » ■,. 



The Florists^ Review 



29 



WORCESTER, MASS. 



FORT WAYNE, IND. 



Mothers' Day Business. 



Mothers' day now is one of the big 

 days of the florists ' business here. That 

 was demonstrated by the huge business 

 done by the florists May 13. The car- 

 nation supply became exhausted and 

 lilies, tulips, hyacinths, marguerites 

 and, in fact, everything that could be 

 had, was in great demand. Never be- 

 fore did the public make such an out- 

 lay for flowers. 



Three of the prominent florists com- 

 bined and ran a page Mothers' day ad- 

 vertisement in the papers. The returns 

 were wonderful. How badly the public 

 wanted carnations was shown by the 

 experience one florist had. A customer, 

 after trying everywhere to buy carna- 

 tions, saw a few wilted blooms on this 

 florist's work bench. He immediately 

 wanted to buy them. The florist ex- 

 plained that the flowers were wilted 

 and of no use, adding that he would 

 not sell them. The customer, however, 

 wanted them, and flnally suggested that 

 if the carnations were not for sale, 

 could he have them for nothing? 



The Annual May Exhibition. 



The Worcester County Horticultural 

 Society's spring exhibition. May 11, 

 was declared one of the best the society 

 has had in years. The exhibits, espe- 

 cially the potted plants, were of ex- 

 ceptionally fine quality and the table 

 decorations were particularly artistic 

 in arrangement. 



In the center of the hall was a large 

 garden of rambler roses, hydrangeas, 

 pelargoniums, rhododendrons and green- 

 ery. The centerpiece was a large 

 palm, exhibited by H. P. A. Lange. 



In front of the stage E. W. Breed 

 had a similar garden, and along the 

 sides of the hall were tables of tulips, 

 hyacinths, pansies, roses, carnations, etc. 



Mr. Lange had a unique table deco- 

 ration. In the center was a novel ar- 

 rangement of Ophelia roses and valley 

 in a high-standing shower bouquet. 

 The corsages and boutonnieres were 

 made of Ophelia roses, and hand-tinted 

 butterflies, held by cupids, were used 

 as place cards. 



Lucy M. Coulson's table had Aaron 

 Ward resell in a cut glass basket as a 

 centerpiece, with sprays of adiantum, 

 and bouquets and boutonnieres at each 

 « plate. Four candle-holders with golden 

 shades were effectively used. 



The awards were: 



Cut flowers — H. F. A. I.ange. first; A. Jenkins, 

 second. 



Round basket — H. F. A. T^ange, first: L. C. 

 Mldgley, second; Mrs. I'ercy Forbes, third: Lucy 

 M. Coulson. fourth. 



Hyacinths— E. W. Breed, first; Mrs. H. L. 

 White, second. 



TuUps— H. F. A. I.ange. first: W. D. Ross, 

 second; Mrs. W. E. Sargent, third; Mrs. H. L. 

 White, fourth. 



Pansies— E. W. Breed, first; L. C. Midgley, 

 second; L. M. Coulson, third; Mrs. K. Warren, 

 fourtli. 



Zonale geraniums — H. F. A. Lango. first; W. D. 

 Ross, second: Lucy M. Coulson. third; A. W. 

 Hixon, fourth. 



Table decoration — H. F. A. Lango. first: Lucy 

 M. Coulson, second; Mrs. L. C. .Mldgley, third; 

 Mrs. P. B. Forbes, fourth. 



Plant display— H. F. A. Lange. first: E. W. 

 Breed, second; Mrs. II. L. White, third. 



Table of wild flowers — Mrs. M. A. Maynard, 

 first. 



Various Notes. 



H. F. A. Lange cleaned up everything 

 he had for Mothers' day. He had a 

 good window display for the occasion. 



Harry Kandall was another florist 

 whose Mothers' day business was im- 

 mense. He advertised the day and re- 

 ceived good returns. H. L. 



The Market. 



Trade last week was enormous, on 

 account of the Mothers' day demand, 

 which began two days before Sunday, 

 May 14, and continued until 5 o 'clock 

 Sunday afternoon. The general report 

 is that Mothers' day business far ex- 

 ceeded that of last year. Most of the 

 florists state that they were entirely 

 sold out of both white and colored car- 

 nations and could have used many more. 

 This was, no doubt, the result of sys- 

 tematic and effective advertising by the 

 local retail florists in the daily news- 

 papers and also the mailing of folders. 

 Not only carnations sold well, but roses 

 also, both white and colored. Prices 

 were good. Carnations were $6 to $8 

 per hundred. There was an especially 

 good sale of blooming plants, which 

 were, delivered Saturday and Sunday, 

 while the cut flower orders were mostly 

 counter trade. 



The florists are now turning their at- 

 tention to Memorial day business, and 

 the growers are busy getting the bed- 

 ding stock ready. Business in the bed- 

 ding plant line has been somewhat slow, 

 as the weather has been uncertain and 

 several frosts in exposed places oc- 

 curred last week, making the public 

 wary of buying too soon. However, 

 the temperature has risen considerably 

 within the last few days. Outdoor bulb- 

 ous stock is in full bloom and shrubs 

 are flourishing. Stock is rather scarce 

 since the big clean-up for Mothers' 

 day. Roses are more plentiful than 

 carnations, of which there are only a 

 few on the market. *' Lilies and snap- 

 dragons are plentiful. There is a good 

 supply of small flowers in variety. 



Wedding orders are plentiful and com- 

 mencement exercises are beginning. 



Various Notes. 



The Pandell Flower Shop donated the 

 gross proceeds of its counter sales of 

 Friday and Saturday last week to the 

 new open-air school projected by the 

 Anti-tuberculosis League. Considerable 

 publicity was .received in the daily 

 papers. 



Miss Margaret Vesey is spending sev- 

 eral days in Burlington, la., where she 

 went as an Indiana council member to 

 attend the convention of King's Daugh- 

 ters. W. J. & M. S. Vesey report a 

 booming business for Mothers' day, 

 with the supply, although large, not 

 nearly equal to the demand in either 

 white or colored carnations. Saturday 

 they refused wholesale orders for thou- 

 sands of carnations. 



Over 2,000 applications have been 

 made in the contest for beautiful back 

 yards, for which a prize of $50 has 

 been offered by Mrs. Josephine Nesbitt, 

 who is conducting a civic beautification 

 campaign. 



Mrs. Richard Blossom, of the Flick 

 Floral Co., will be hostess for the May 

 meeting of the Equal Franchise League, 

 May 19, at which Judge Wilson, of 

 Louisville, Ky., will speak on "The 

 Juvenile Court." The Flick Floral Co. 

 reports a record business for Mothers' 

 day. This firm had plenty of white 

 carnations to meet the demand, but 

 was short on red and other colors. The 

 sale of roses and blooming plants was 

 large. Considerable advertising for 

 Mothers' day was done. This firm also 

 had a large business in bouquets for 

 the graduation exercises of the nurses 

 of the Hope hospital. May 9. 



R. P. 



Savannah, Ga. — A. C. Oelschig & 

 Sons recently rounded out their thirty- 

 fifth year in the business. A. Carl, 

 Carl H, and Albert C. Oelschig are the 

 joint owners. » 



Montgomery, Ala. — Roseniont Gardens 

 distributed a neatly printed Mothers' 

 day folder embodying a price list of 

 plants as well as cut flowers, and did 

 a record business. The couplet coined 

 by The Review, "For Mothers at home, 

 flowers bright; In Mother's memory, 

 flowers white," served to turn the de- 

 mand into general channels. 



Alvin, Tex. — Conditions have been 

 more than usually favorable this season 

 and, unless for some freak of the 

 weather, the shipments of cape jasmine 

 buds for Memorial day will be the 

 largest that ever have left this center. 

 There are more people growing the 

 stock, and more shippers than ever be- 

 fore. Orders on file are fully up to the 

 best previous records and the indica- 

 tions are that no unusual quantity of 

 stock will be sent to commission houses. 



Tucson, Ariz. — Charles E. Morton has 

 closed his store until next fall and 

 with Mrs. Morton will spend the sum- 

 mer in San Francisco. 



Corinth, Miss.— The Corinth Floral 

 Co., recently established here, is mak- 

 ing extensive improvements. The con- 

 cern since its organization has built 

 large greenhouses and cold storage 

 buildings, but the rapid increase in 

 business has compelled the expenditure 

 of additional sums for the expansion of 

 the range. 



Portsmouth, Va.— W. T. Cotton last 

 week was acquitted by a jury in Hust- 

 ings court of the charge of violating 

 the Sunday labor law. He had been 

 fined $5 and costs in the police court 

 for having sold flowers Sundays. In 

 the lower court the magistrate decided 

 that flowers do not come under the head 

 of necessities and, for that reason, the 

 sale of flowers Sundays should be pro- 

 hibited. The florist appealed from this 

 decision and acquittal followed in the 

 higher court. 



