68 



The Florists^ Review 



Dbcbmbub 26, 1918. 



|WKWa<#ia<<^<#^<*^{^W^UKWH<#H(^U^(^Ui>^'fe^^^ 



i 



I 



Pacific Coast D epartment 



S3:S3:X5CX!5:X3:X3JS2 



^1^^^^ 



PORTLAND, OBE. 



The Market. 



The flower shop windows were dressed 

 in their Christmas best for the holiday 

 and they certainly were gorgeous and 

 much admired by the throngs of holiday 

 shoppers. Business was excellent. 

 Christmas f e'stivities taxed the resources 

 of the florists to the utmost, but flow- 

 ers fortunately were plentiful and the 

 public unusually lavish in expenditure, 

 so everybody was happy. Prices, too, 

 were good. 



Various Notes. 



The monthly meeting of the Portland 

 Floral Society was held December 17. 

 It was well attended, despite the fact 

 that everybody was so busy with the 

 Christmas rush. After the usual routine 

 business, lunch was served and then 

 card games were played. 



Chappell's Floral Shop will move 

 January 1 to 331 Morrison street, in the 

 N. W. bank building. Additional space 

 will be secured by the use of a mezza- 

 nine floor for a workroom. The new 

 location is considered ideal, being in the 

 shopping district. The store will be 

 up-to-date in every particular, with 

 mirrors all around the walls. H. K. 



LOS ANOELES. 



The Market. 



Everyone as busy as a bee and an 

 everlasting scramble to get hold of 

 stock, describes the situation the week 

 before Christmas. There was every 

 probability of an entire clean-up of 

 everything, for the retailers were 

 camped on the trail of the growers and 

 wholesalers and orders were refused 

 daily. ^ The weather was all that could 

 be desired. Warmer nights were hoped 

 for, to increase production, which was 

 far from suflicient for shipping orders. 

 Greens were in brisk demand and there 

 never was such a call for wreaths and 

 garlands. Plants were scarce and 

 doubtless will have cleaned up closely in 

 the Christmas rush. 



Various Notes. 



As showing how well sweet peas do 

 by the seaside, Miss H. Vetter, of Her- 

 mosa Beach, is cutting from a fall 

 sowing of Zvolanek's winter-flowering 

 varieties and they are extra fine. The 

 blooms are large, of clear, decided col- 

 ors, with long, stiff stems. They should 

 be good property now. 



J. M. Grout, well known as a land- 

 scape gardener in this section, has taken 

 charge of a 1,400-acre citrus ranch near 

 San Fernando. 



At the nursery at Montebello where 

 Harry Bailey grows his asparagus seed, 

 everything looks especially promising. 

 The plumosus seed is just beginning to 

 ripen and is hanging like bunches of 

 grapes. Mr. Bailey has his rows planted 

 a long distance apart, so that sun and 

 air play freely about the plants, insur- 

 ing perfect ripening of the seed and 

 making it easy to gather it. Freesias 

 also are grown here by the million and 

 Mr. Bailey says he never had his plants 



looking so well. A good, true strain of 

 Purity is seen here, most of the bulbs 

 being shipped to eastern firms. 



C. E, Morton, of Phoenix, Ariz., was 

 a visitor last week, Mrs. Morton having 

 returned home. Their son, Henry, is 

 still in camp at San Pedro. 



Arthur Gleave, of Santa Barbara, has 

 been in town this week looking up stock 

 for the holidays. 



"Business is too good," says Tony 

 Tassano, of Taqsano Bros. This firm 

 certainly is shipping and handling quan- 

 tities of stock. 



W. Armacost & Co., the L. A. Floral 

 Co. and S. Murata have all been work- 

 ing to the limit in the effort to fill the 

 orders stacked up for Christmas. 



H. E. Richards. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



The Market. 



Not for years have flowers been so 

 scarce or prices so high. A week be- 

 fore Christmas carnations cleaned up 

 at from $2 to $2.50 per bunch, whereas 

 last year $1 was the top price Christmas 

 eve. Boses have found a ready market 

 at banner prices and the same condition 

 prevailed all along the line. Orders 

 have poured in from every direction, 

 but, owing to the shortage of flowers 

 in the Bay section, only a small propor- 

 tion of them could be filled, as there 

 has been little surplus after local re- 

 quirements were taken care of. With 

 cut flowers at a premium, it is a ques- 

 tion with retail buyers of being able 

 to get stock at any price, rather than 

 what it will cost them. There has been 

 a strong effort made to keep prices 

 standard in San Francisco, but it be- 

 gins to look as though in future it 

 would be the policy of the growers and 

 wholesalers to charge all the market 



will stand when flowers are in demand, 

 on the ground that they have to take 

 whatever is offered when there is a 

 surplus. Some of the retailers fear a 

 check on business, however, if prices 

 go too high, as they find it hard to im- 

 press upon Californians that there is 

 actually a shortage of flowers such as 

 to justify the advance in prices. Vio- 

 lets are not especially good, but there 

 is little ground for complaint about 

 other flowers as to quality. Old-timers 

 in the business claim the roses were 

 never better. A few sweet peas are 

 offered, but not enough to cut much fig- 

 ure in the daily supplies. Gardenias 

 and orchids are equal to the demand. 

 Heather is well taken. Oregon holly is 

 scarce and high, also California red 

 berries. 



It is expected plants will have cleaned 

 up closely in the holiday rush, but unless 

 the demand be found to exceed that of 

 previous years, large downtown estab- 

 lishments did not anticipate an acute 

 shortage, as they succeeded in getting as 

 large stocks as usual. Azaleas were con- 

 spicuous by their absence, but poin- 

 settias and cyclamens were much in 

 evidence. Potted heather formed a 

 prominent feature at several of the 

 stores and so did begonias. 



Various Notes. 



Shellgrain & Bitter is the name of 

 the new florists' firm which opened for 

 business at 148 Kearny street December 

 13. The partners are C. F. Shellgrain 

 and Emile P. Bitter, both of whom have 

 had long experience in the business. The 

 former was identified with the old firm 

 of Sievers & Boland, which was located 

 at 33 Post street before the great fire 

 of 1^06 and later with J. B. Boland for 

 nearly thirty years. Mr. Bitter is a 

 well known nurseryman and was also 

 with the Boland business for a good 

 many years. The members having been 



L. A. FLORAL CO. 



'Quality and Service" is our motto 



FRED SPERRY. IManacor 



Wholesale Jobbers of Flowers and Greens of all Kinds 



[Telegfram] 



Abilene, Tex., Nov 20, 1918. 

 Flowers beautiful. I^ake three shipments 

 weekly. 



Abilene Floral Co. 



"SPERRY'S FLOWERS" always means the best 



236 East Fourth Street, Los Angeles, Cal. 



LONG DISTANCE PHONE PICO 518 



Mention The RcTlew when yon writ*. 



-WHOLESALE EVERGREENS- 



Garland Roping, Hollyberry. EnsUsh Holly. Cal. Pepper Boughs. Desert Holly, Smilax, 

 Asparagus plumosus. Huckleberry, Hard and Soft Brake, Maidenhair, Mexican Ivy and 

 all other classes of evergreens and similar stock. 



For best prices, write 

 TASSANO BROS., 422 South Wall Street, Los Antfeles, CaL 



