56 



The FloristsV Review 



January 22, 1920. 



I 



Pacific Coast Department 



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Port Townsend, Wash. — F. Schlager, 

 Jr., is building a greenhouse 30x180 in 

 which to grow tomatoes. 



Santa Cruz, Oal. — Percy H. Pettit, 

 who for the last year has been in charge 

 of the annual and perennial seed depart- 

 ment of Brown's Bulb & Berry Eanch, 

 Capitola, is starting in the bulb busi- 

 ness himself. 



LOS ANGELES, CAIr, 



The Market. 



Cold nights and hot'days have short- 

 ened up everything except the hardiest 

 stock. Last week carnations came with- 

 ered from the locations where the frost 

 had hit them; one grower reported 10 

 degrees of frost. Daisies and other 

 flowers were deformed by the same 

 cause and it was difficult to obtain good 

 shipping stock. Roses shortened up con- 

 siderably and, except in white, there 

 were not enough to go around. Beauties 

 were scarce. Because of the shortage 

 of field carnations, growers put up the 

 price of greenhouse flowers until they 

 were almost as high as at Christmas. 



In bulbous stock, a few early daffo- 

 dils and freesias arrived, but it will bo 

 at least another week before they are 

 plentiful. Poinsettias came in, but 

 there has been little demand for them 

 since New Year's day. Pussy willow 

 and sprays of various flowering shrubs 

 and trees gave a spring-like appearance 

 to the retail stores. 



Business with the retailers was good 

 last week. Several large decorations 

 and a large amount of funeral work 

 were reported. Shipping business, on 

 the other hand, fell off considerably, as 

 is frequently the case after high holiday 

 prices. 



Various Notes. 



Fred Sperry, manager of the L. A. 

 Floral Co., says that not a single com- 

 plaint has been received on either the 

 quality or the price of the many ship- 

 ments of poinsettias sent out in the last 

 two years, some going as far as Ohio. 



E. C. Amling is busy with estimates 

 for his new greenhouses at Sawtelle, 

 also rose plants. One kind of rose only 

 will be planted in each house excepting 

 one, which will be half White Killarncy 

 and half Mrs. Aaron Ward. 



Roy F. Wilcox & Co. have in prospect 

 a new range of glass, covering about an 

 acre, and a considerable addition to the 

 lath houses. Mr. Wilcox last week was 

 a little under the weather with a cold, 

 but latest reports indicated nothing 

 serious. 



While the cut of roses from the range 

 of W. Armacost & Co. has not been so 

 large during the last two weeks as be- 

 fore, it is all cleaned up daily, the fine 

 stock selling itself. 



Purdie & Co. last week had excellent 

 window displays of orchids and violets. 



W. Rapp and W. Felgate, otherwise 

 known as the heavenly twins, have 

 changed places, Mr. Rapp now being 

 president of the Pasadena Horticultural 

 Association. Mr. Felgate held the office 

 for two years and was again nominated, 

 but he did not care to stand for the 

 third term. 



Since the completion of the altera- 

 tions, the Athletic Club Florist has one 

 of the most attractive stores in the west. 



H. R. Richards. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



The Market. 



High prices and scarcity of stock 

 characterized the local market last 

 week. There was an undersupply of 

 almost every variety of cut flower, with 

 prices on roses and carnations practical- 

 ly double those of the week previous. 

 In fact, wholesalers were getting as 

 much for flowers, in what is usually 

 the dull season, as they received duriftg 

 the Christmas rush. 



While a great part of the business 

 of local retailers during the last two 

 weeks was funeral work, the shippers 

 were still doing as large a volume of 

 business as their stocks permitted. Vio- 

 lets were in good shape; although the 

 recent cold weather made them scarce 

 in some localities, they were daily going 

 out of San Francisco in large quantities 

 to various parts of the country. A fine 

 crop of freesias was in the market and 

 shippers reported a strong demand for 

 blooms of good quality. Outdoor daffo- 

 dils were just beginning to come in and 

 were selling for a little less than the 

 greenhouse blooms, for which growers 

 were getting $1 per dozen. Other spring 

 flowers, as snowdrops, narcissi and a 

 few jonquils, were seen in florists' win- 

 dows. With the scarcity of orchids, 

 these blooms, even though comparative- 

 ly high, were in great demand for table 

 decoration work and retailers said they 

 had been able to dispose of all they 

 could secure. 



There was little outdoor stock. Calen- 

 dulas were still holding the fort, with 

 the help of some gaillardias, both dou- 

 ble and single varieties. 



Carnations were in good shape; that 

 is, the general stock; a few especially 

 fine specimens of the newer varieties 

 were seen in one of the retail establish- 

 ments last week, but for the most part 



the stock was only normal. The price 

 went up last week on all carnations, due 

 to the demand, and wholesalers were 

 asking Christmas prices for the good 

 blooms. 



The rose crop, too, was short, but the 

 cut of the first part of last week was in 

 good condition and easily brought the 

 higher price. Shippers stated that they 

 were able to dispose of all blooms in 

 shipping condition and were totaling 

 up a large amount of rose business this 

 season. A few Cecile Brunners were 

 in the market. These corresponded with 

 the rest of the rose stock in both quality 

 and price. 



Various Notes. 



Mrs. R. E. Darbee, of 1036 Hyde street 

 and Colma, reports a continuation of 

 the excellent shipping business enjoyed 

 around the holidays. She was busy last 

 week with a fine new crop of violets, 

 also freesias, of which she has a good 

 supply, and huckleberry greens and 

 woodwardia. Mrs. Darbee states that 

 the condition of the violet market has 

 improved to some extent and that she 

 is able to fill orders in much better 

 shape than two or three weeks ago. She 

 expects a good cut of spring flowers 

 other than freesias soon, including some 

 daffodils, Chinese lilies, etc. The retail 

 store, on Hyde street, was busy with 

 funeral work last week and cleaned up 

 each day on cut stock of all kinds. 



One morning last week a group of 

 well known florists of the west were 

 gathered at the establishment of J. A. 

 Axell, where they renewed acquaint- 

 ance with one another and exchanged 

 experiences of last season. They were 

 Sam Lundy, of Denver; C. Lengenf elder, 

 also well known in Denver as a grower, 

 and Mark H. Ebel, who conducts a suc- 

 cessful retail store in Sacramento, Cal. 



Another visitor of note in San Fran- 

 cisco last week was Walter Armacost, 

 of Los Angeles. Mr. Armacost spent 

 several days in this vicinity, visiting 

 the various wholesale and retail estab- 

 lishments in San Francisco and a num- 

 ber of the nurseries in the outlying 



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i Service that Advertises | 

 I GEORGE J. HALL & CO. I 



WHOLESALE 

 FLORISTS 



I 



I 423 East 5th St. 



Los Ang^eles, Cal. | 



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= WE NEVER FAIL 



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