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JULY 20, 1916. 



The Florists' Review 



13 



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SEASONABLE Jir 

 3g SUGGESTIONS 



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Lupinus Folyphyllus. 



Lupinus polyphyllus, the hardy lu- 

 pine, is a well known and popular border 

 plant, coming in blue, white and pink 

 colors, L. polyphyllus Moerheimi, with 

 soft pink flowers, somewhat more 

 ■dwarf in habit than the type, is the 

 most recent addition to the list of hardy 

 lupines. All come easily from seed. 

 They are splendid for cutting and are 

 equally good for mass effects or to use 

 as individual plants in borders. The 

 lupines are often severely attacked by 

 aphis about the time the flowers start 

 to open, and a spraying of soap or nico- 

 tine should be given them on the first 

 appearance of this pest. 



Pyxetliruins. 



While the flowering season of the 

 ever-useful Pyrethrum roseum usually 

 is over by mid-June, if the plants are 

 <5ut back close to the ground they will 

 throw a second crop of flowers later 

 in the summer, in the same way as 

 the hardy larkspurs. Both the singles 

 and doubles are good for cutting. Only 

 a small proportion of the latter come 

 true from seed and once a batch of 

 good doubles are secured they should 

 be propagated by division of the roots 

 in late summer. 



Do not overlook that valuable pyre- 

 thrum, sometimes called a chrysanthe- 

 mum, named P. uliginosum, a tall-grow- 

 ing variety with branched spikes of 

 pure white flowers not unlike the well 

 known field daisy. Chrysanthemum 

 maximum, in appearance. This variety 

 flowers in late summer and is splendid 

 for cutting. It requires dividing every 

 second year to have it in the best con- 

 dition. Seed of P. roseum sown now 

 will give good plants before fall. 



Pentstemons. 



When pentstemons are mentioned, 

 the average grower at once thinks of 

 P. hybridus, so much used for bedding 

 purposes in Europe and similarly used 

 on our northern Atlantic and Pacific 

 seaboards. While P. hybridus is a per- 

 ennial, it is somewhat tender and for 

 that reason propagation by means of 

 seeds or cuttings is annually resorted 

 to. P. hybridus, as it is grown at Bar 

 Harbor, Me., and other New England 

 points, also in British Columbia and 

 Washington, is magnificent, and the 

 wonder is that it is not more grown. 

 By the way, have any growers tried its 

 possibilities for forcing purposes? 

 There seems to be no good reason why 

 it would not succeed as well as the 

 antirrhinum and some other plants now 

 quite popular. Cuttings taken in late 

 summer should prove suitable for 

 benching, or seeds started in January 

 should produce a nice early summer 

 crop. 



There are some splendid hardy pent- 

 etemons which make good border 

 plants. A few of the best are P. digi- 

 talis, with pure white flowers, the 

 throat dotted with violet; P. pubescens, 

 lavender; P. lajvigatus, rosy lilac; P. 



eaeruleus, rich dark blue, a fine varie- 

 ty; P. diffusus, violet blue, and last, 

 the splendid P. barbatus Torreyi, with 

 tall, graceful spikes of rich scarlet 

 flowers produced right through the 

 summer. All these pentstemons are of 

 easy culture, can be raised from seed 

 and make excellent border plants. 



Poppies. 



Probably the brilliant oriental poppy, 

 Papaver orientale, is the best known 

 hardy poppy for the perennial garden. 

 The huge, rich, orange-scarlet flowers 

 are effective in early summST, coming 

 in season with the early pyrethrums, 

 peonies, German irises, polemoniums, 

 Hemerocallis flava, etc. There are a 

 number of colors of the oriental poppy. 

 Parkmanni is the deepest of the scar- 

 lets. Mrs. Perry is salmon rose and 

 Beauty of Livermore is blood-red, but 



if a mixed packet of seed is sown the , 

 probabilities are that quite a number 

 of shades will appear. This poppy is 

 propagated easily from seed and divi- 

 sions. Planting from divided plants 

 should be done in August and Septem- 

 ber for the best results. 



The Iceland poppies, P. nudicaule, 

 produce charming and graceful flowers 

 in white, orange, yellow or scarlet col- 

 ors and can be used for table decora- 

 tions in the same way as the annual 

 Shirley poppies. They are useful in the 

 front of perennial borders and are also 

 splendid in the rock garden. Once 

 planted, they will seed and naturalize 

 themselves satisfactorily. 



VINOAS FROM FIELD TO POT. 



I have some small vincas in the field. 

 How shall I treat them so as to have 

 nice plants in 4-ineh pots next May? 



A. I.— 0. 



Keep the plants well cultivated and, 

 provided they are in good soil, they 

 should make nice plants for the size of 

 pots named before September. Stand 

 them along the edge of a bench occu- 

 pied by carnations or some other bench 

 crop, so that the shoots will have a 

 chance to hang down. C. W. 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS 

 FOR SOUTHERN FLORISTS 



CAENATIONS IN THE SOUTH. 



Preparing for Benching. 



Despite the long drought immediately 

 after planting out, the carnation plants 

 in the south have made good progress 

 in the field, thanks to the frequent 

 showers during the last month. The 

 houses should be thoroughly cleaned 

 and the benches whitewashed and 

 ready for new soil. I find that the 

 cheapest method of putting the soil in 

 good shape for planting is to work in 

 the manure with the plow, and then cut 

 the compost fine with a disk harrow. 

 The soil is then ready to be hauled and 

 wheeled into the houses. It always is 

 well to have this done as long a time 

 as possible before planting, in order to 

 give the soil a complete drying out. 



The benches may be watered the day 

 before planting begins. Where the 

 same soil is used for the second and 

 third year, see that the beds are spaded 

 and left in a rough state, in order to 

 thoroughly dry the soil for a few 

 weeks. This sweetens the soil wonder- 

 fully and is a great check to stem-rot. 

 I had some beds last year in which the 

 soil was being used for the second and 

 third year. There was less stem-rot on 

 these benches than on those in which 

 fresh soil was used. The plants grew 

 equally well and the flowers were a 

 shade better. I am not advising any- 

 one to try this method wholesale, but 

 I do suggest that, where the soil is of 

 a good, heavy texture, you might try a 

 bench as an experiment and note the 

 results. 



Treatment on the Benches: 

 There is a noticeable difference be- 



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tween northern and southern field- 

 grown plants. The northern-grown 

 plants have the best of it in appear- 

 ance, but when planted in the benches 

 the hard, wiry, southern-grown plants 

 have all the best of it. They require 

 little or no shade and hardly ever show 

 any signs of wilting, especially if they 

 have been dug during a dry spell, when 

 the growth is practically at a stand- 

 still. 



It makes little difference whether or 

 not a plant is lifted with a ball, pro- 

 viding the quantity of roots is there. 

 The advice always is given to set the 

 plants shallow, but I honestly must 

 confess that I have not seen a particle 

 of difference between shallow and 

 moderately deep planting, so far as 

 preventing stem-rot is concerned. Shal- 

 low planting, I admit, has a small 

 advantage as a preventive of stem-rot, 

 but it is not nearly so important as 

 generally believed. The advocates of 

 shallow planting as a complete pre- 

 ventive of stem-rot either have none of 

 the fungus in their soil or else they 

 overlook several other equally im- 

 portant cultural points. 



The plants need a thorough soaking 

 after being planted and thereafter 

 should be watered sufficiently to keep 

 them in a nice, moist condition. A good 

 spraying two or three times a day will 

 keep them in a fresh condition until the 

 roots become active. As much air as 

 possible should be given the plants day 

 and night. A close, moist atmosphere 

 in the houses immediately after plant- 

 ing and a little too much shade make 

 ideal conditions for the spread of stem- 

 rot. Therefore these conditions should 

 be guarded against. L. 



