If^.i,ji >.i;p '."■i.uyi ■ (.'« fyw\-'ic*\V'r ■'t>'™' '>;■ . 



PlBBUABT 10, 1921 



The Florists^ Review 



27 



9J^'\*J"^J:'^v:^*Jy^*Jv^vi'\<^^<l^J^'^v;:?JV.^^^^^ 



GBOWINO PUSSY WILLOWS. 



Please give me some information 

 about growing pussy willows. I have 

 some springy land which can be worked 

 in dry weather. Will that do to plant 

 them int How far apart should they 

 be planted? Please give general cul- 

 tural directions? C, A, S. — Va. 



The land you speak of will suit the 

 willows well. Plant them ten feet 

 apart each way. This may seem wide 

 at first, but the plants grow rapidly. 

 Cut the plants down to near the ground 

 at first, in order to induce a good num- 

 ber of breaks from near the bottom. 

 The plants, or some portion of them, 

 should be well cut back every few years 

 to induce young, vigorous growth to 

 start from near the ground. C. W. 



PRIMULAS AFFECTED. 



Under separate cover I am sending 

 a Primula obconica plant, which is af- 

 fected in some way. I had two batches 

 in the same house. One is badly af- 

 fected, while the other has just a few 

 leaves affected on each plant. Please 

 inform me what is the trouble. 



The soil mixture is two parts of clay 

 sod soil, one part of black soil, one part 

 of manure and one part of sand. The 

 temperature is kept between 50 and 60 

 degrees. Other plants, such as gera- 

 niums and cinerarias, are growing all 

 right. F. E. H.— O. 



So much depends on the cultural care 

 given plants that it is hard to advise. 

 Possibly the plants may have had over- 

 rich soil. An addition of too much 

 manure in either animal or chemical 

 form would account for your trouble. 

 Then again, too much water in a house 

 which is kept cooler than the plants 

 like, might be the cause, or even an 

 overdose of liquid manure. The soil 

 being heavy and of a retentive nature, 

 it would be more likely to cause trouble 

 with primulas, which like a lighter soil. 

 If you could secure and use one-fourth 

 leaf-mold it would improve your soil 

 much for primulas by materially light- 

 ening it. C. W. 



PLANTS WERE FROZEN. 



I am sending you samples of clarkia, 

 nemesia, antirrhinum and cyclamen, 

 which appear to have some kind of 

 disease. I placed them under the micro- 

 scope, but failed to discern anv visible 

 sign of germs. All of the above-men- 

 tioned were grown in the same house. 

 We have sprayed with nicotine solution, 

 but that fails to check it. M. F. — 111. 



The cyclamen foliage showed signs of 

 cyclamen mite. This is hard to control 

 and almost impossible to exterminate. A 

 nicotine spray is the best remedy, but 

 is at best only a partial one. Throwing 

 away affected stock is the best course 

 to adopt. Keep young stock in another 

 house and frequently fumigate; also 

 spray with nicotine. The nemesias, 

 clarkias and antirrhinums, although 

 carefully packed, were frozen on re- 



ceipt and I could not tell what might 

 have been troubling them. The foliage, 

 as far as I could see, did not appear 

 diseased, and if the trouble was of in- 

 sect origin, I would suggest a weak dose 

 of hydrocyanic acid gas, giving a 30- 

 minute exposure on a cool evening, 

 when probability of damage will be 

 practically nil. C. W. 



CARNATION BRANCH ROT. 



I should like to find out, if possible, 

 what the disease is that attacks my 

 carnation plants, as well as the cure 

 for it. I have mailed you a sample 

 which happens to be a good-sized one, 

 but all plants are not affected the same 

 way. A few have only one shoot dry- 

 ing up. On others just the leaves turn 

 yellow and dry up. L. S. — N. Y. 



Your plants are affected with what is 

 generally known as carnation branch 

 rot. There is practically nothing that 

 can be done to check it, except to pull 

 up the affected plants and burn them. 

 Sometimes a branch can be cut away 

 and the rest of the plant saved, pro- 

 viding the diseased part is far enough 

 away from the main stem to allow cut- 

 ting below the diseased section. As 

 with the ordinary stem rot, by the time 

 you detect the trouble the mischief is 

 done and no amount of dosing will save 

 the affected portions of the plant. Our 

 practice is to pull up the plant and 

 burn it. A. F. J. B. 



PANSIES UNDER GLASS. 



I have plenty of fine pansy plants in 

 coldframes outside. Do you think it 

 would pay me to pot several hundred of 

 them and put them in the greenhouse 

 so as to get them in flower by Easter f 

 Would they pay at wholesale prices t 

 When should they be potted? 



G. B. M.— Pa. 



The pansies should be planted at 

 once. It would be preferable to plant in 

 a bench rather than pots, if you have 

 a spare bench for them. They enjoy 

 rich soil and will make much better 

 growth and throw finer and longer- 

 stemmed flowers if planted out. If 

 wanted. for Easter sales, you can lift 

 plants in flower a few days before 

 being wanted and either pot singly or, 

 better still, fill small baskets with them. 

 .Keep the pansies cool. A temperature 

 not over 45 degrees at night will give 

 the best results. C. W 



PLANTING PHLOX. 



I wish to obtain 50,000 seedlings of 

 phlox, transplanted and ready for 

 spring sales. When should I plant them, 

 what kinds are most popular, and how 

 much seed will I require! 



H. J. P.— Ind. 



By phloxes I am not certain whether 

 you mean the annual variety. Phlox 

 Drummondii, or the perennial type. 

 Phlox paniculata. If the former, you 

 will need four ounces of seed and this 

 can be started under glass about the 



end of February for sales in May or 

 early June. The perennial type of 

 phlox is not grown much from seed, 

 cuttings being a far better method of 

 propagation. They are usually planted 

 in separate colors and you cannot se- 

 cure them in this way from seed. If, 

 however, you can sell mixed colors, you 

 will need about five ounces of seed to 

 get 50,000 seedlings. If started in 

 January the seedlings will not be 

 strong enough to sell before fall. I 

 would advise buying plants of a few 

 good kinds, such as Elizabeth Camp- 

 bell, P. G. Von Lassburg, Europa, Le 

 Mahdi, Pantheon, E. F. Struthers and 

 Coquelicot, and growing for a season, 

 taking cuttings early in spring. Also, 

 do not overlook Phlox Mrs. Lingard, 

 of the suffruticosa section, the finest of 

 all phloxes. You will make no mistake 

 in stocking up heavily on this variety. 

 C. W. 



DIRECTIONS FOR DELPHINIUTVL 



What time should I plant delphinium 

 seed so as to have transplanted seed- 

 lings for spring sales? How much seed 

 would it take to produce 50,000 seed- 

 lings? H. J. P.— Ind. 



In regard to delphinium, or larkspur, 

 you will need from seven to eight 

 ounces of seed. Sow under glass in Jan- 

 uary, transplant the plants into flats 

 and line out in nursery rows early in 

 May. These plants will bloom the first 

 season and make strong plants for sell- 

 ing next fall or the following spring. 

 You cannot start seed of the hardy lark- 

 spurs now and have plants of proper 

 size for spring sales, but, if desired, you 

 can secure seed of annual larkspur, and 

 this is obtainable either mixed or in 

 separate colors. Start this in February, 

 or even as late as the end of March, and 

 you will have plants all right for May 

 sales. C, W. 



GLADIOLI WITH SWEET PEAS. 



Would gladioli planted in ground 

 beds bloom by the middle of May? If 

 so when should I plant them? Would 

 the temperature that suits sweet peas 

 agree with them? G. H. E. — Va. 



Gladioli can be grown to advantage 

 between late-blooming sweet peas and 

 is a profitable and useful crop any time 

 during May or Juno. They should be 

 planted in January. G. .T. B. 



BEGONIAS TOO WET. 



We are sending you under separate 

 cover some begonia leaves. The leaves 

 dry around the edge and drop off. 



Please tell us the trouble and suggest 

 a remedv. J. B. L. — Okla. 



Your trouble is probably due to a sur- 

 plus of water at too low a temperature. 

 These fibrous-rooted begonias suffer far 

 more from too much water than from 

 dryness. It is also a bad plan to dampen 

 the leaves. Bad drainage and too much 

 water are likely causes of loss of 

 foliage. * C. W. 



