16 



The Florists^ Review 



Mabch 1, 1917. 



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 Mt SUGGESTIONS 



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Trailing Plants. 



Seeds of such plants as thunbergias, 

 Maurandia Barclaiana, Lobelia speciosa, 

 Linaria Cymbalaria and Lophospermum 

 scandens should now be sown in a warm 

 house. Sow them thinly and pot off 

 before the seedlings become crowded. 

 The lobelias take a longer season than 

 the others, but there still is time to se- 

 cure plants of a suitable size. Senccio 

 scandens, or German ivy, is another 

 plant which should be propagated now, 

 while that easily grown jjlant, Trades- 

 cantia zebrina multicolor, as well as the 

 ordinary green form, grows so rapidly 

 that it will be of ample size if cuttings 

 are put in a month from now. This 

 common plant is quite suitable for use 

 in window and porch boxes and it will 

 grow and thrive where other plants 

 would fail. Do not overlook the droop- 

 ing forms of coleus and abutilons, 

 which are well adapted for trailing 

 purposes. 



Variegated Vincas. 



Variegated vincas, to be at all serv- 

 iceable, should be thick and heavy and 

 have long, trailing shoots. The proper 

 place for them is along the sides of 

 carnation benches, where the shoots can 

 hang down. Water and feed them well 

 for the next three months and you 

 will have splendid plants. Propagation 

 from either divisions or cuttings is easy. 

 Remember that if you sell all your siz- 

 able stock you will need a good batch 

 to follow them for another season, and 

 these smaller plants should have a sea 

 son in the field to give them size and 

 vigor. Vincas like a rich soil and an 

 abundant water supply. .\t this sea- 

 son they bloom freely in a sunny house. 

 It is too bad they do not flower through 

 the summer also. The blue flowers and 

 variegated foliage make n charming 

 combination. 



English Ivies. 



Englitili ivies make splendid basket, 

 vase and piazza box plants. They are 

 good for fovering walls in some of the 

 colder states where the morning sun 

 will not hit them, and in more balmy 

 states have manifold uses. There is 

 always a big call for them and it pays 

 to work up a good stock of them each 

 season. Cuttings do not take long to 

 root in a warm ju-opagating bench and 

 now is a good time to start a good 

 batcli. These small [dants will not be 

 salable this season, but if potted and 

 the pots plunged overhead in any good 

 garden soil, the plants will make a good 

 ' growth in a season. They will do 

 specially well plunged in a partly 

 shaded position, although that is not 

 necessary. If an occasional soaking can 

 be given during flry weather, it will 

 cause an accelerated growtli. 



Dahlias and Cannas. 



It is somewhat early to start either 

 cannas or dahlias, but it will be a good 

 plan to look over the stock of roots. 



Some of these may be showing decay 

 and should be cut away. "Where this 

 shows among the cannas, scatter some 

 dry sand about the cuts. If you want 

 a few early cannas in pots, start one 

 or two of each variety. Keep thesa 

 potted along and have them in good 

 bloom before spring sales start. By hav- 

 ing a blooming plant of each sort, it is 

 easier for customers to pick out what 

 they want. 



Propagating Bedding Plants. 



Keep the cutting bench well filled with 

 cuttings of coleus, acalyphas, alternan- 

 theras, ageratums, petunias, lobelias and 

 other laedding plants. All cuttings root 

 much more quickly and satisfactorily 

 now, while steady fire heat is used and 

 the sand in the benches is constantly 

 warm. Do not allow them to become too 

 dry and be sure to keep sun and air 

 currents from the cuttings; thus treateil, 

 few should fail to root. 



FERN FBONDS WITHERED. 



1 am enclosing a few fronds of a 

 fern which I am growing. At present 

 it is growing in the bench for devel- 

 opment. This bench of ferns was in 

 fine shape about ten days ago. On 

 going to the greenhouses this morning, 

 however, I find that the ferns look bad 

 in certain places, though not through- 

 out the entire bench. This is some- 

 thing that we cannot account for. I 

 shall be thankful for any information 

 as to the cause of the ferns acting in 

 this way. I should also be pleased to 

 know the name of this fern. 



E. G.— 111. 



The fern of which some fronds were 

 enclosed is Nephrolepis eordifolia, a 

 pretty and compact-growing species 

 when propagated from spores, and of 

 rapid growth during the summer 

 months. The fronds were quite dry 

 and were dropping some of their pinnae 

 when examined; so it is not easy to say 

 what caused the injury to the foliage, 

 l)ut as the damage is stated to be in 

 patches, it would seem probable that it 

 was due to an escape of gas from the 

 furnace. Had the trouble with the foli- 

 age been general throughout the bench, 

 it would more likely have been due to 

 the ferns going to rest for a time, as 

 this species is semi-deciduous. 



W. H. T. 



CARNATIONS HURT BY SPRAY? 



I would like to know what is wrong 

 with my carnation plants, samples of 

 which I am sending you under separate 

 cover. I have about .^00 plants in this 

 condition. One night the temperature 

 in the house dropju'd to 4.*? degrees; I 

 now am maintaining a night tem])erature 

 of 48 to .^11 degrees. As the remainder 

 of the plants in this house are doing 

 well, I am at a loss to find the cause 

 of the trouble. 



.1. F. M.— 111. 



Your jilants are not diseased. They 

 appear to have been scahled in some 

 manner, perhaps by some kind of spray 

 ing material. That drop in temperature 

 could hardlv be responsible for the 

 trouble. A. F. .1. B. 



A BEGINNING IN CARNATIONS. 



Will rooted cuttings of carnations, 

 2Vj-'mch pot plants or field-grown clumps 

 ^ive best returns in a greenhouse which 

 T am jdanning to build here, in northern 

 (ieorgia? When should I jdant themt 

 How often should I pinch them back 

 .•ind when should I cease pinching? 



R. D. M.— Ga. 



While I have no personal knowledge 

 (pf the climatic and other conditions in 

 Georgia during the summer, I presume 

 that in order to grow carnation plants 

 in a greenhouse in that state the green- 

 house would need to be well shaded and 

 jiroviiled with ample means for ventila- 



tion, and that careful attention to wa- 

 tering would be needed. It would seem 

 better, therefore, to use field-grown 

 jdants and plant them in the beds in 

 September. 



If conditions are favorable for so 

 doing, the cheapest way of securing 

 plants is to obtain rooted cuttings, 

 either by growing or purchasing them. 

 If they have been properly hardened in 

 the cutting bench, and a Skinner sys- 

 tem or some other method of watering 

 them is available in case of dry weather, 

 they may be set at once in the field, but 

 ordinarily a much better stand may be 

 secured if they are placed either in pots 

 or flats for three or four weeks befor«' 

 they are planted in the field. This will 

 make it possible to harden them prop- 

 erly and, as they will develop a strong 

 root system, the results will generally 

 repay the extra labor. 



If the small plants, either in the flats 

 or fi(dd, show a tendency to develop a 

 single stem, they should be cut or 

 pinched back to one inch from the 

 ground at first, but later the stems may 

 be left a little longer. Ordinarily this 

 need not be kept up for more than two 

 months after the plants are set in the 

 field, but flower stalks should not be al- 

 lowed to develop until within two or 

 three weeks of the time they are to be 

 l>laeed in the house, unless the plants 

 liave become strong and stocky. 



For complete directions for the grow- 

 ing of carnations in the field, as well as 

 in the greenhouse, you might consult 

 Taft's "Greenhouse Management," 

 which will be sent postpaid by The Re- 

 view for $1.50. ' T. 



