October 9, 1919. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



FltOWERINQ FOB MARKET. 



Shipments Here Now. 



Shipments of Dutch bulbs are now 

 heavy and florists will shortly be re- 

 ceiving their orders. The supply is 

 not large this year, according to reports, 

 and those who have good stock next 

 winter will command good prices for 

 them. Bulbous flowers are highly pop- 

 ular and the absence of other flowering 

 plants will make the call for them great- 

 er this year. 



Bulbs can be grown in flats, pans and 

 pots, and certain narcissi and all the 

 hyacinths can be grown in water. Usu- 

 ally flats are used to grow bulbs for 

 cutting, and pots and pans are the re- 

 ceptacles to sell them in as flowering 

 plants. Tulips are most valuable in pots 

 and pans, while narcissi have a much 

 greater sale for cutting. Hjyacinths 

 have a somewhat limited sale as cut 

 flowers, but sell tolerably well in pots 

 and pans. 



Tulips. 



Among the early tulips La Reine re- 

 mains the most popular of all. If ex- 

 posed to light it comes a beautiful pink 

 color in winter, but it may also be had 

 pure white by keeping it in darkness. 

 White Hawk is an excellent sort, always 

 pure white in color and early. For a 

 late white White Swan is good. In 

 yellows Yellow Prince forces well. Mon 

 Tresor and Chryaolora are good in pans. 

 Thomas Moore, a sweet-scented orange, 

 meets with a good sale. Keizerskroon, 

 red and yellow, makes a fine pan, but 

 it has a limited sale as a cut flower. 

 Rose Luisante, deep rose, is a good sel- 

 ler; so is Flamingo. Cottage Maid is 

 a good rose-pink. The finest in this 

 shade of color for pans is Pink Beauty, 

 of a glowing rose-pink color. 



There is a limited call for scarlets. 

 Of this shade Vermilion Brilliant and 

 Belle Alliance are both good forcers. 

 Coming to early double tulips, Murillo 

 is the best of all, being splendid for 

 cuttings and unbeatable in pans. Brim- 

 stone Beauty, also called Safrano, pale 

 yellow, shaded apricot, and Couronne 

 d'Or, or Crown of Gold, deep golden 

 yellow, are other fine varieties. 



Darwin tulips should not be over- 

 looked. You cannot flower these as early 

 as the kinds already named, but the 

 Darwin section gives large flowers on 

 wonderful stems and affords a fine range 

 of colors. They are splendid in flats 

 and fine in 8-inch to 10-inch pans. To 

 those who have not yet tried Darwins I 

 would suggest that they plant Pride of 

 Haarlem, William Copeland, Glow, 

 Gretchen, Clara Butt and Massachusetts, 

 as a trial. 



NardssL 



The most popular narcissi for forcing 

 are Trumpet major, also called Single 

 Von Sion; Golden Spur, Double Von 

 Sion and Victoria. The last-named is 



best of all for pan culture. The double 

 narcissi are less popular than they were, 

 and this is not surprising. Double Von 

 Sion has nothing in the way of beauty 

 to recommend it. It is a good shipper 

 and will stand rough handling, which 

 are desirable qualities in all commercial 

 flowers, but it has little beauty when 

 compared with the singles. The quar- 

 tette named are the leaders of their 

 kind, but there are several others which 

 the country florists should grow. Among 

 these are Silver Spur, which resembles 

 Empress, but flowers as early as Golden 

 Spur; poeticus ornatus, Campernelle 

 rugulosus. Emperor, Sir Watkin and Mrs. 

 Langtry. There are short trumpet vari- 

 eties in this latter list, but all make 

 good market and retail varieties. 



Hyacinths. 



For cutting, the miniature or baby 

 Dutch hyacinths are the best. La 

 Grandesse, pure white; Gertrude, pink; 

 Queen of the Blues, light blue, and King 

 of the Blues, dark blue, are good varie- 

 ties. Larger-sized bulbs of these varie- 

 ties can be grown in pots or pans. Ad- 

 ditional good sorts are: L 'Innocence, 

 white; gigantea, rose; Grand Maitre, 

 sky "blue. Do not entirely cover the 

 hyacinth bulbs with soil; leave the nose 

 of the bulb just peeping above the 

 surface. 



PIiANTINO BULBS OUTDOORS. 



Soil Preparation. 



In preparing bulb beds avoid using 

 any fresh stable or cow manure. It will 

 cause trouble every time. Let all ma- 

 nure be well decomposed and mixed 

 thoroughly with the soil. Break up all 

 hard lumps and get the soil in as mel- 

 low and well pulverized a condition as 

 possible. This preparation pays in the 

 long run. Bulbs in such a rooting medi- 

 um always come more evenly and stead- 

 ily than those in soil prepared in a 

 haphazard way. Labor is scarce and I 

 think customers would be willing to 

 accept the most simple and at the same 

 time the most pleasing arrangements, 

 which means that beds of one color and 

 variety, or clumps of one shade, should 

 be planted, unless, perchance, a mixed 

 bed of tulips is preferred, and such 

 mixtures are really satisfactory. 



Tulips for Beddlni^. 



Tulips are the finest bulbs for bed- 

 ding. Among the early whites, Joost 

 Van Vondel, White Swan and White 

 Perfection are all fine. The first named 

 is the best of all. White Swan blooms 

 just ahead of the cottage and Darwin 

 varieties. Chrysolora and Mon Tresor 

 are splendid golden yellows. Prince of 

 Austria is a good bedder. It is orange- 

 red and sweetly scented. Keizerskroon 

 but for its name would be more popular. 

 It is the best of the red and yellow 

 varieties and is always reliable. Cot- 

 tage Maid does nicely for the pink beds. 



but Pink Beauty, while higher priced, is 

 far ahead of all other pinks. In fact, 

 it is in many respects the finest bedding 

 tulip we have. Vermilion Brilliant is 

 well described by its name. Sir Thomas 

 Lipton is a superb, deep scarlet tulip. 

 The foregoing are single varieties. None 

 of the doubles are of much value for 

 bedding. 



Late Tulips. 



Do not overlook the value of the late 

 tulips for bedding. They grow taller 

 than the early ones and are much more 

 lasting. Beds of mixed varieties look 

 well, but solid beds and clumps of one 

 color are more satisfying. Clumps dot- 

 ted in herbaceous borders are effective. 

 They will flower far better the second 

 and third season than the first. Try any 

 of these Darwins: Clara Butt, Mme. Kre- 

 lage, Gretchen, Rev. H. Ewbank, Farn- 

 combe Sanders, Glow, King Harold and 

 Pride of Haarlem'. Many of these Dar- 

 wins have come in for Alemorial day in 

 former years and in this connection 

 plantings of these May-flowering tulips 

 will be found to be a good investment: 

 Bouton d'Or, vitellina rctroflexa, Ges- 

 neriana major, Gesneriana lutea, Pico- 

 tee, Golden Crown and Inglescombe 

 Pink. 



Hyacinths and Narcissi. 



Hyacinths and narcissi are of minor 

 value for bedding as compared with 

 tulips. Hyacinths have the advantage 

 of flowering earlier, but their lasting 

 qualities are not so good and they have 

 a most unpleasant odor as they fade. 

 The singles are much better than the 

 doubles for bedding and one color to a 

 bed is the best arrangement. If in 

 early spring blue forget-me-nots or 

 pansies are planted below white hya- 

 cinths, white pansies below blue hya- 

 cinths and yellow pansies below pink 

 or red hyacinths, the effect is enhanced 

 and when the hyacinth spikes are gone, 

 there is a good ground cover to bloom 

 until more tender plants are ready to 

 take its place. 



If, instead of planting narcissi in 

 beds, they are arranged in clumps or 

 long, narrow bands along herbaceous 

 borders, they look much more attrac- 

 tive. Do not depend on the large trum- 

 pet sorts only, for the medium and 

 short trumpet sorts are more graceful 

 and in nearly all oases more winter- 

 hardy and persistent. The most re- 

 liable of the large trumpet sorts are 

 Victoria, Princeps, Emperor and Glory 

 of Leiden. 



Don't Cover Till Frost. 



Do not cover over bulb beds until the 

 ground is frozen hard. We want to 

 keep the frost in the soil and not to 

 exclude it. A thick covering of leaves 

 or other mulch given while the ground 

 is soft means that growths will continue 

 to push and when fiipring comes many 

 breakages will occur in removing the 

 mulch. Another point to consider is 



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