12 



The Florists^ Review 



rBBBUARY 22, 1917. 



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SEASONABLE m 

 xt SUGGESTIONS 



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Callas. 



Almost every country florist grows 

 callas. They can be depended upon to 

 bloom satisfactorily for at least six 

 months and for church decoration, fu- 

 neral work and other purposes they are 

 extremely useful. 



By far the most profitable way to 

 grow callas is in pots; they need never 

 exceed 8-inch or 9-inch. It is a common 

 mistake to grow callas on wide beds or 

 benches, with the pots quite close to- 

 gether. Such plants never flower freely. 

 If you want to see them at their best, 

 use single rows of them close to the 

 glass on narrow benches or shelves along 

 the' sides of a house where a night tem- 

 perature of 55 degrees is maintained in 

 winter. I'eed the plants frequently. 

 Fine bojie is good; it is surprising the 

 way the roots will devour it. Bone is 

 superior to liquid manure, which, when 

 used to excess, causes flowers and foliage 

 to become soft. The flowers, under such 

 treatment, frequently become brown be- 

 fore becoming matured. Give them an 

 abundance of water and, if you want 

 plenty of flowers of the purest color, 

 grow the Godfrey variety. 



AntirrUnuins. 



The earliest planting of that most 

 useful of annuals, for it is as an annual 

 that we now usually treat the antirrhi- 

 num, will now be sending up a veritable 

 thicket of stout shoots from near the 

 base. ' A number of the weakest of these 

 should be rubbed off, unless you are look- 

 ing for quantity rather than quality. 



When you cut the spikes, do not leave 

 a foot of the stems and allow these to 

 break away and remain; cut them down 

 to within three or four inches of the soil 

 and they will start much more strongly. 



Fungous diseases seem to be more 

 prevalent under glass than ever before 

 and it may be necessary to drop the 

 culture of this beautiful flower under 

 glass for a time. Winter is, of course, 

 a time when we get much sunless and 

 cold weather and at such times, if the 

 beds or benches chance to be wet and the 

 plants are not quite dry, fungous 

 troubles will develop fast. I have found- 

 that it pays to let the soil dry out well 

 between waterings, to water only on 

 sunny days, to avoid using liquid manure 

 until early March and to watch most 

 carefully for any signs of leaf or stem 

 disease. Snapdragons are a valuable 

 crop, but it needs more care each season 

 to have them clean, thrifty and florifer- 

 ous. We must use more seedlings and 

 less cuttings to help offset in some de- 

 gree these antirrhinum troubles. 



At this time a top-dressing of old, well 

 decayed manure will be found beneficial 

 to the early planted stock. 



Gardenias. 



Cuttings of gardenias, if not already 

 in the cutting bench, should go in with- 

 out delay. A brisk bottom heat is needed 

 and a top heat of 60 to 65 degrees. Much 

 better results can be had ^ if a glass 

 frame or case is used, damping the cut- 



tings over several times daily, tilting up 

 the sash so as to admit a little air dur- 

 ing the day and closing about the mid- 

 dle of the afternoon, so as to bottle up a 

 good, brisk heat. With proper care every 

 cutting should root. After potting it 

 will be necessary to keep the little plants 

 well shaded, also close and warm, until 

 they are established, wheo . somewhat 

 more air can be given them. These gar- 

 denias will be of suitable size for bench- 

 ing in late May or early June. 



Hotbeds. 



Every greenhouse becomes terribly 

 overcrowded in late winter, especially 

 where bedding plants are grown in quan- 

 tity, and hotbeds are a wonderful boon 

 in such cases. The first week in March 

 is a good time to make up one of these 

 in the northern states. Some warm horse 

 manure mixed with leaves, well, mois- 

 tened and tramped firmly, will give a 



steady and lasting heat, and frames o' 

 this character with tight sides, wel 

 glazed sashes and mats and board shut 

 ters for cold nights will accommodate 

 a lot of bedding plants, carnations anc 

 other stock and grow them far bette; 

 than any greenhouse. The beddin^ 

 stock, if plunged, will need less water 

 ing and make a better growth than ii 

 the pots are exposed. If you neve- 

 tried hotbeds, do so and you will fine; 

 they are a wondeful help. 



Easter Flowers. 



The spiraeas make rapid growth now 

 and will need frequent spacing apart, an 

 abundance of water and occasional 

 doses of liquid manure. You cannot 

 afford to crowd these plants. Elevato 

 some of them on pots and place saucers 

 below them. Never mind if a little 

 water stands in the saucers. Spiraeas 

 are among the few flowering plants 

 which do not mind water in the saucers. 

 What would make foliage turn yellow 

 on most plants, even marguerites, hy- 

 drangeas, roses or schizanthus, will have 

 absolutely no effect on spiraeas. If you 

 are growing any of the beautiful pinl^ 

 varieties like Peach Blossom or Queen 

 Alexandra, give them shade from direct 

 sun as the flowers open, to prevent fad- 

 ing out. 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS 

 FOR SOUTHERN FLORISTS 



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BULBS IN THE SOUTH. 



Many growers make the mistake of 

 thinking that, because it is so much 

 milder in the south, bulbs can be brought 

 into bloom much sooner here than in 

 colder climates. This is undoubtedly 

 true of bulbs that have been planted 

 outdoors, but when it comes to forcing 

 them into flower in the greenhouse the 

 warmer climate is a detriment. This 

 applies particularly to what are known 

 as Dutch bulbs. To try to force Golden 

 Spur narcissi, tulips and hyacinths into 

 bloom before the end of January or be- 

 ginning of February is only inviting 

 loss, because either the flowers will not 

 develop at all or so imperfectly as to be 

 unsalable. Due van Thol tulip is the 

 only exception to this rule that I can 

 recall. This tulip can be brought into 

 heat at the holidays and successfully 

 forced, while January 15 is as early as 

 Golden Spur can be started in forcing 

 quarters. February 1 is as soon as 

 Dutch hyacinths ought to be brought in, 

 except, perhaps, the variety L 'Inno- 

 cence, which can be forced at least two 

 weeks earlier. 



While this rule holds good for Dutch 

 bulbs, there are other classes of bulbs 

 where the reverse is true, notably in 

 French-grown bulbs, such as Paper 

 Whites and Roman hyacinths, and prob- 

 ably all classes of liliums, especially 

 giganteum. To have early gladioli it is 

 only necessary to allow the bulbs to re- 

 main in the ground all winter. Treated 

 thus, they bloom much sooner than those 

 that have been lifted and replanted at 

 the earliest chance in the spring. Most 

 of the blooms shipped to northern mar- 

 kets in early summer are from bulbs left 



undisturbed. The same holds good in 

 regard to tuberoses and the old single 

 type is the only one worth growing for 

 cut flowers in the south. The variety 

 Pearl is entirely worthless for this down 

 here. L. 



SWEET PEAS OUTDOORS. 



The winter over the entire south has 

 been one of exceptional severity and in 

 many sections the sweet pea crop has 

 been completely frozen out. These will 

 ordinarily withstand a temperature of 

 15 degrees above zero, even if continued 

 for a night or two, but this winter tlie 

 temperature dropped to zero or nearly 

 so in many localities, remaining there 

 nearly a week, and froze the plants clerr 

 down to the roots. What happened ' ' 

 commercial growers happened in private 

 gardens, so that sweet pea flowers ouglit 

 this summer to meet a readier sale. 



There is time to replant successful! ' 

 if done without delay. The one thing to 

 avoid in growing sweet peas is over- 

 crowding. Let the rows be at least foi '^ 

 feet apart, and the plants one foot apa t 

 in the row. A hedge of sweet peas ""? 

 they are usually grown looks grand f > r 

 a short time, but the flowers are shor'- 

 stemmed and soon deteriorate so as n 't 

 to be worth picking. Planted as recon - 

 mended, the flowers will be longer- 

 stemmed and more numerous, because 

 the flowering season will be greatly pr<i- 

 longed. A heavy mulch of cow manure 

 spread over the ground after picking 

 has started will aid in keeping tie 

 ground cool and liberal waterings with 

 the hose or sprinkler system will gi^'^ 

 the plants the necessary feeding. L. 



