

18 



The Florists' Review^ 



Sbptember 7, 1910.'; 



Beauties, Sweetheart and Maryland 

 roses. 



H. E. Wilson is to be highly com- 

 mended for his exhibit, which consists 

 of hanging baskets, palms, ferns, foli- 

 age plants, boxwoods, bay trees, vases 

 of flowers and baskets of chrysanthe- 

 mums. 



Charles W. Curtis exhibited a fine col- 

 lection of twenty varieties of gladioli, 

 and these were in first-class condition. 

 His asters, too, were especially fine. 



James Vick's Sons are well represent- 

 ed with a wonderful cT)llection of an- 

 nuals >aiid perennials. Their gladioli 

 are splendid and include many of the 

 Yiew varieties. There are large vases 

 of dahlias, salpiglossis, hardy phloxes, 

 cosmos, delphiniums, zinnias, hydran- 

 geas, coreopsis, veronicas. Golden G-lows, 

 rudbeckias, helianthus, butterfly plants, 

 calendulas, potted petunias, Boston 

 ferns. The exhibit is in charge of 

 H. L. Glenn. 



The Awards. 



The winners of premiums in the pro- 

 fessional classes are as follows: 



Palms,' six or more varieties — George T. 

 Boucher, first. 



Single specimen palm — George T. Boucher, 

 first. 



Ferns and lycopodlums — George T. Boucher, 

 flrat. 



Variegated foliage plants — George T. Boucher, 

 first. 



Asters, In pots, not less than ten varieties — 

 Creorge T. Boucher, first. 



Basket filled with plants— H. E. Wilson, first. 



Porch box filled with plants— U. E. Wilson, 

 first. 



Roses, eny red variety, twelve blooms — 

 (Jeorge T. Boucher, first. 



Boses, any yellow variety, twelve blooms — 



F. Purcell, first; George T. Boucher, second. 

 KlUarney, twelve blooms — George T. Boucher, 



first. 



White KlUamey, twelve blooms — George T. 

 Boucher, first; F. Purcell, second. 



Any other variety, twelve blooms — F. Pur- 

 cell, first. 



Gladioli, six spikes of white— C. W. Curtis, 

 first; G. T. Boucher, second. 



Gladioli, six spikes of yellow— C. W. Curtis, 

 first; G. T. Boucher, second. 



Gladioli, six spikes of pink — C. W. Curtis, first; 



G. T. Boucher, second. 



Gladioli, six spikes of crimson — C. W. Curtis, 

 first; G. T. Boucher, second. 



Gladioli, six spikes of blue — G. T. Boucher, 

 first; O. W. Curtis, second. 



Aaters, twenty-ftve white — C. W. Curtis, first; 

 G. T. Boucher, second. 



Asters, twenty- five pink — C. W. Curtis, first; 

 G. T. Boucher, second. 



Asters, twenty-five purple — C. W. Curtis, first; 

 G. T. Boucher, second. 



Asters, twenty-five lavender — C. W. Curtis, 

 first; G. T. Boucher, second. 



Asters, twenty-flve crimson — G. T. Boucher, 

 first; C. W. Curtis, second. 



Bouquet of fifty roses — H. E. Wilson, first; 

 G. T. Boucher, second. 



Bouquet of fifty carnations — H. B. Wilson, 

 first. 



Bride's bouquet— H. E. Wilson, first; G. T. 

 Boucher, second. 



Corsage bouquet — G. T. Boucher, first; H. E. 

 Wilson, second. 



Basket of cut flowers — H. E. Wilson, first; 

 C. W. Curtis, second. 



Vase of fifty flowers — G. T. Boucher, first; 

 H. E. Wilson, second. 



Robert Bard, of Syracuse, served as 



judge of all the exhibits in the flower 



show section of the exposition. 



xl. tJ. £L. 



SEASONABLE NOTES. 



Calanthes. 



The flower spikes are now showing at 

 the bases of the new calanthe bulbs, 

 which, however, have not yet nearly at- 

 tained their full size. If the pots are 

 well filled with active roots, as they 

 ought to be, applications of liquid cow 

 manure once in four or five days should 

 be continued until the leaves begin to 

 mature — that is, to lose their green color. 

 Calanthes are gross feeders, and really 

 fine bulbs and spikes cannot be had 

 without the use of liquid food. Calan- 

 thes should have a warm, moist house 

 right through their growing season. On 

 all but the hottest nights, a slight 

 warmth in the heating pipes, to take 

 away the clammy-like feeling, will be 

 found helpful. A successful calanthe 

 grower attributed much of his success 

 to the fact that his plants, had the bene- 

 fit of a little fire heat every night, and 

 on cool, damp days right through the 

 growing season, just sufficient fire being 

 used to warm the hot water pipes. 



Odontoglossains. 



Odontoglossum grande, commonly 



called the baby orchid, now is starting 

 to flower. It is one of the few odonto- 

 glossums which succeed well in our 

 American climate. The majority of the 

 family suffer severely through our hot 

 summers and have their vitality much 

 impaired. O. grande succeeds well in 

 a cool house in the summer and should 

 have quarters a little warmer than O. 

 crispum in winter. 'It does particularly 

 well in shallow pans, hung well up to 

 the light. O. pulchellum majus, some- 

 times called the lily of the valley orchid 

 on account of the resemblance of its 

 pure white spikes of sweet-scented flow- 

 ers to the lily of the valley, is another 

 variety which does not mind our sum- 

 mer heat. This variety grows well in 

 the cooler end of the cattleya house and 

 does well in pots surfaced with sphag- 

 num. 



Odontoglossum crispum, the most 

 beautiful of the family, and the orchid 

 par excellence in Europe, where it 

 grows magnificently, does not enjoy our 

 summer heat and, even when grown in 

 a lath house or north house, has a more 

 or less distressed appearance after one 

 of our periodic heat waves. Shading 

 the plants from the direct sun, giving a 

 good supply of atmospheric moisture 

 and keeping the plants themselves on the 

 dry side, helps to circumvent the heat 

 spells. Now that cooler nights are com- 



ing, the plants will steadily improve and 

 water at the roots can be applied more 

 freely. The same holds good with 

 O. Pescatorei, O. Rossii majus, O. glori- 

 osum and other odontoglossums. 



Vandas. 



The vanda family is a fairly large 

 one, but American growers usually 

 recognize but one variety; that is, V. 

 cserulea, the only one of commercial 

 value, our finest blue orchid and one of 

 the most beautiful in cultivation. The 

 natural flowering time of V. cserulea is 

 fall, but where a number of plants are 

 grown it is possible to have a succession 

 of flowers from August until January^ 

 with occasional spikes in other months. 

 This vanda must not have heavy shade; 

 if so shaded, it will be of a rich, dark 

 green color, but will flower sparsely. 

 Plants grown in a fairly strong light 

 have paler foliage, but usually flower- 

 well. A top-dressing of fresh sphagnum, 

 which can be kept growing, seems to be 

 favorable to V. cserulea. As the flower 

 spikes appear, be sure to attach to them 

 a band of cotton wool as a protection 

 from shell snails. The same protective 

 measure is necessary with odontoglos- 

 sums and oncidiums, to all of which ; 

 snails seem to be partial. 



Vanda teres is a beautiful variety,, 

 not much seen. It grows with anyone, 

 but only a few succeed in flowering it. 

 The trouble always is too much shade. 

 Give the plants plenty of light, only di- 

 verting the strongest rays of the sun 

 from them, and there will be no trou- 

 ble in flowering them. Such vandas as 

 tricolor, Amesiana, Sanderiana, Luzon- 

 ica and suavis succeed well in a warm, 

 moist house and require more shade 

 than V. cserulea and V. teres. 



Cymbidiums. 



There are a considerable number of 

 cymbidiums now in commerce and the 

 number is being steadily added to by 

 the skill of the hybridists. All are beau- 

 tiful and have wonderful lasting prop- 

 erties. The flowers of C. Lowianum, 

 one of the best known of the genus, will 

 keep fresh on the plants from three to 

 four months. Of course, I do not recom- 

 mend leaving flowers on for so long a 

 period, as it is debilitating to the plants, 

 but even when cut they excel all otner 

 orchids in keeping qualities, with the 

 possible exception of cypripediums. No 

 great skill is needed to keep cym- 

 bidiums green and of a good color, but 

 they shoiHd have a little house to them- 

 selves, or, if that is not possible, give 

 them one end of a house, such as the 

 cooler end of a cattleya house. The ma- 

 jority of cymbidiums succeed well in a 

 compost of equal parts of flbrous loam 

 and fern fiber. During the growing 

 season, all that are well rooted are bene- 

 fited by waterings of cow manure or 

 Clay's fertilizer. The following are ex- 

 tra good commercial varieties: C. 

 eburneum, C. Ijowianum, C. ebumeo- 

 Lowianum, C. insigne, also called 

 Sanderi, and C. Traceyanum. 



Oncidiums. 



Some spikes are already fully devel- 

 oped on Oncidium varicosum Rogersii, 

 the most popular florists' variety, but 

 the main ^ crop of spikes will bloom in 

 October *and November. Keep the 

 plants that are in bud or flower well 

 shaded and not too warm. This will 

 give the flowers more substance. O. 

 ornithorhynchum is starting to open its 

 spikes of rose-colored, deliciously scent- 



