14 



The Florists' Review 



JONB 10, 1921 



fer to put their cuttings in regular cut- 

 ting benches or in flats of sauil. Some 

 coal ashes at the bottom of tlie flats 

 and three inches of rather coarse sand 

 will suit them. It is advisable to leave 

 succulent cuttings on the benches a few 

 liours or even over night Ix'fore plac- 

 ing them in sand. They are then less 

 liable to damp off. 



A light house should be given to 

 geraniums; it cannot be too light and 

 dry and airy. A night temperature of 

 45 degrees will bring them along fast 

 enough. 



After the holiday trade there is room 

 to spread outj and then the geraniums 

 should be shifted into 3-inch pots. It is 

 not much of a shift, but it makes a 

 great difference to the plants. A1)out 

 February 1 they have made good roots 

 in the new pots and then is time to 

 stand them over, taking off all the tops 

 that will make a cutting and, when any 

 are not long enough, just i)inching out 

 the center. The cuttings from the tops 

 of these .'Mnch ])]ants will root most 

 easily a1 this time of year. 



Pot Culture. 



All early Kaster is always a ))lessing 

 to a man who grows bedding plants, for 

 just before Kaster he is fearfully 

 crowded; he has to exercise all his wits 

 to keep things from spoiling, and one of 

 the ])rincipal crops that need attention 

 is the geraiiiiinis. Then they are shifted 

 into the 4-inch pots, from which they 

 are bedded out. The February-struck 

 plants get a o-inch pot as soon after the 

 others as possible and niake good bed- 

 ding plants that sell to late customers, 

 and if you get a few cents apiece less 

 than you do for your fine 4-inch plants 

 they pay well. 



One grower who is always successful 

 in getting his ger.aniunis into full bloom 

 from May 15 to June 1 believes this is 

 largely because he uses a rather heavy 

 loam. The only fertilizer is about a 

 fifth of sifted hotbed manure, in which 

 there can lie little ammonia, but it 

 keeps the soil open. He pots firmly, as 

 firmly as he can, ramming the soil down 

 with the fingers; this, he believes, is an 

 inij)()rtant jioint in getting the plants 

 to flower. 



The treatment described above will 

 do for all the geraniums of the zonal, 

 rose-leaf, variegated and bronze sec- 

 tions. The tricolor and more slow-grow- 

 ing varieties of the variegated and 

 smaller scented kinds it is better to put 

 in the sand and give them 5 degrees 

 more heat during winter and a richer 

 and lighter compost. 



Mme. Salleroi Distinct. 



Mine. Salleroi is so distinct in its 

 habit that it would be waste of room 

 to propagate it in the same way as the 

 strong-growing zonals. Before frost, 

 lift as many plants from the ground as 

 your needs demand, pot them in 4-inch 

 or 5-inch pots just as they are lifted, 

 and store them away in some light, cool 

 house. In January cut them up; every 

 shoot is a cutting, which roots most 

 easily in the sand. To alleviate the 

 crowded state of all greenhouses before 

 the bedding out begins, one can put the 

 variegated, zonal, bronze, sweet- 

 scented and Salleroi types into mild 

 hotbeds. Put into the beds by the mid- 

 dle of April, they make fine plants by 

 bedding time. In these varieties it is 

 leaf growth that is wanted, and they 

 are greatly benefited by the action of 

 the ammonia on their leaves. 



Ivy-Leaved Type. 



The ivy-leaved sections, used so large- 

 ly in baskets, vases and veranda boxes, 

 are treated in an entirely different way. 

 They are left outdoors as long as safe 

 from frost. A few dozen old plants will 

 give an immense number of cuttings. 

 Always put them in the sand, which by 

 that time of year is probably a little 

 warm with fire heat. 



Keep them in 2-inch pots till New 

 Year's, then shift into 3-inch. The de- 

 mand for these plants is so great for 

 veranda boxes that it is well to shift 

 many of them again into 4-inch. Their 

 <lrooping habit makes them awkward to 

 grow on a bench when of any size, so it 

 is best to put them on 10-inch shelves, 

 a row hanging over on each side. 



The plants of the ivy-leaved section 

 are beautiful and when their roots are 

 confined they continue to flower a long 

 time, but when planted out in good soil 



Beaute Poitevine and Helen Michell in a Pennsylvania House. 



they grow so freely that blooming 

 ceases. 



Tor Winter Blooming. 



In winter you are seldom asked for 

 geranium flowersj or not enough to war- 

 rant your devoting any bench room to 

 them, but you are frequently called 

 upon for a geranium plant in flower, 

 and it is just as well to have some. 

 Should you not sell them, they will 

 make a fine lot of cuttings in February. 



Select in May a few hundred healthy 

 young plants of the free-blooming va- 

 rieties and put them aside as sold. 

 When the rush is over shift them into 

 5-inch and grow along in a light house, 

 with the pots plunged in some ma- 

 terial to keep them from continually 

 drying out; here is where the portable 

 shading would be especially serviceable. 

 A coldframe would do as well, with the 

 glass tilted up back and front, and then 

 you could shade from 10 o'clock till 4 

 'clock. 



Keep the buds always picked off 

 these geraniums during the summer, 

 and in August, if they are worth it, 

 shift again, into a 6-ineh pot. If you 

 allow the buds to come up after the 

 middle of September, you will have 

 some cheerful, bright plants, that will 

 be most attractive. These plants, if 

 wanted to flower freely, should have a 

 night temperature of 55 degrees and the 

 lightest bench you have. 



Insect Pests. 



There are scarcely any insects that 

 trouble geraniums, and this is a great 

 point in their favor. Smoke from to- 

 bacco stems will drop the petals from 

 single varieties. Therefore it is best to 

 use one of the nicotine papers. They 

 never get any aphis on them, but, of 

 course, other plants near them may be 

 less cleanly. Too close proximity to hot 

 water pipes will sometimes produce red 

 spider, but that should not occur. 



Varieties to Orow. 



It is unwise to grow a great many 

 varieties. A dozen of the best semi- 

 doubles, half a dozen singles, half a 

 dozen of the ivy-leaved section, and 

 a few of the standard variegated and 

 bronze, will fill the bill for the man who 

 has flower beds to fill. S. A. Nutt re- 

 mains the most popular geranium for 

 bedding and anyone is safe in growing 

 as large a stock of it as of all other 

 bedders combined. At present the fol- 

 lowing varieties seem the most popular 

 commercially: 



SEMI-DOUHLE ZONAL VARIETIES. 



-Mplionse Ricard, orunge scarlet. 



Itcinite Poitevine, clear salmon. 



UaKuta, bright, pure pink; a snpcrli lioddiT. 



Kriinces Perkins, clear, pure pink; grand 

 lialiit, 



(Jcneral Grant, an old reliable sort, color 

 liriglit vermilion scarlet. 



Helen Michell. splendid cliar scarlet. 



.Tean Oherle, lovely peach pink. 



.lean Viaud, bright rosy pink, a splendid one 

 fur pot culture for Memorial da.v. 



.T. .1. Harrison, fine scarlet. 



.lolin Doyle, a fine bright scarlet. 



La Favorite, pure white. 



Mine. Jaulin, center pink with border of white- 

 a ^trikinir and first class bedder. 



Mrs. Ijiwrence, soft satiny salmon, tinted 

 "liite. 



s. A. Nutt. crimson; still the leader among 

 bedding zonals. 



SINGLE ZONAI.^. 



Dr.vden. white and rosy pink; a splendid bed- 

 der. 



Eugene Sue. russet orange. 



General Grant, bright scarlet, one of the best 

 for large beds. 



Granville, fine rose-pink. 



.Tacquerie, a magnificent crimson scarlet- 

 equally good for pots or bedding. 



L'Aube, lovely snow-white. 



Mrs. B. G. Hill, salmon; a grand truss 



Paul Crampel. large trusses, brilliant scarlet- 

 the finest single scarlet bedder. 



