58 



The Florists^ Review 



Apbil 6. 1922 



plniits. Only t)ioso tlmt aro too thick 

 arc tr;nisi)l;iiit(Ml, Iciiviiitj eiimijjh in th« 

 Koi'd bed to iiial^o a Rood, uniform stand. 

 Tlioy not only prow as well as the 

 transplanted plants, but one has saved 

 a j,'rcat deal of work. 



If liollyhocks arc wanted for s(>cd, or 

 if for any reason it is desirable to kee]i 

 tliern on the plaee, tlicsi' seiMlliiifrH f.aii 

 bo transjdanted early in October to 

 tlieir permanent quarters in the field, 

 altliouf^b this transjilanting should be 

 delayed a month if the weather is dry 

 and there is no means of overhead irri- 

 ;^ation. If the plants are- intended for 

 s((rin{{ sales, they .should he treated the 

 same as paiisi(\s, those that are too 

 thick bcinj,^ t ransiilanted to other quar- 

 ters. Delphiniums, foxgloves, Canter- 

 bury bells, f,ry|)so])hiI;i and, in fact, 

 most of the otlier jx'rennials aro best 

 either left in the seed Ijcd or treated 

 the s.ame as hollyhocks. I find it best 

 not to set these plants in the liidd until 

 March. 



I'ractically nil iicrcmiials liandled in 

 this way aii<l j^'ivcn an abundance of 

 moisture and a dose of inanurr water 

 once or twice will make good, salable- 

 sized jilants ready for sprinor sales and 

 \\ill all bloom the follewinjj; year. If 

 set in the fiehl and cultivated one sum- 

 mer, they will make as lar<je <;rowth 

 as rt\n be obtained in two full years in 

 the north, ;ni(l there is no r(>ason why 

 they should not lie sold as lieavv, 2-vear- 

 old ]ilants. c 



Carrying Over. 



It is always a<lvisable to cany a few 

 Jilants from every batcdi of seedlines 

 on tlirough the summer. There are sev 

 oral reasons for this. First, everv 

 yrowor ought to know what the jilants 

 be sells will do for his customers; see 

 ond, these jilants will give him .-t chance 

 to select his own seed for future jd.ant- 

 ing, and ficsh liome-grown seed is al- 

 ways much better than the seed that is 

 bought Iroiii someone else and shijiped 

 in; tliinl, this gives ojiiiortunity to se- 

 lect inijiroved seed jilants and will 

 secure plants acclinuited to the loralitv. 

 -Ml of these features are important. 



This makes it neee.ssary to see some- 

 thing about tlie culture of poreuTuals 

 outside of the seed bed. \Vc have a long, 

 hot summer in most states of the south; 

 more than that, in many jiarts we aro 

 almost sure to have a drought. Many 

 pcojile have f.ailed with jierennials be- 

 cause they made no juovision for these 

 conditions and did not j)lant varieties 

 that wer(> iicelimatod. Soil for j)eren- 

 nials should bo well, limed. Next a 

 sullicient amount of manure, straw, lit- 

 ter, leaves, green cover crop or some- 

 thing of the sort must be worked into 

 the soil to juovide an abundance of 

 humus. I'riictically all of our jicjen-' 

 nials grow in leaf-mold in their native 

 haunts, and they must have humus in 

 abundance in order to thrive in our 

 fields. This matter cannot be ovcrem-' 

 jihasized, liecause success or failure de- 

 jiends mor(> on it than on anything (dse. 

 The soil should be loose, rich and full 

 of humus to at least the dejith of one 

 foot. Humus holds moistun^ better than 

 any other element in thi; soil; 100 

 jiounds of humus will hold 200 jiounds 

 (if moisture, while 100 jiounds of sand 

 will scarcely hohl fifty jioumls of mois- 

 ture. Our Jierennials mostly come from 

 the moist woods ami must have mois- 

 ture .at their roots during the hot, dry 

 season. If irrigation is jiossible, it 

 should be useij, overhead irrigation be- 

 ing more desirable than surface irriga- 

 tion. I'erennials may be transjilanted 

 to the liidd either in the fall or in 

 early" sjiring, but if t iaiis|ilan1ing is 

 done in the fall, it must be e;irly enough 

 for the roots to take loild of the soil 

 befoic it gets cold enough to freeze 

 the toji of the soil and heave the plants 



out. 



Some Varietie.s. 



.\lt hough not usually thought of when 

 we sjie.'ik of jierennial plants, llyacin- 

 thus c.andicans, tigridia and similar 

 sumnier-tlowcring bulbs may he grown 

 from seeil if treated like ordinary 

 perennials, the only difTereiU'O being 

 that the more tender ones in.'iy require 

 jirotei'tion in a coldfr.ime. when the 

 tops ha\i' died down l.-ite in the fiiil. 



Many of the. seedlings from seed sown 

 in August will l)loom late th(? next 

 summer and practically all of them will 

 make blooming-size bulbs. 



In many parts of the south, especial- 

 ly in the districts south of the Tennes- 

 see line, perennial seed may be sown 

 late in September without any protec- 

 tion of any sort, though the seed bed 

 should be j)repared as specified above. 

 Even seeds sown in the open in .Janu- 

 ary and February are almost sure all to 

 grow and, if properly cared for, will 

 bloom the first year. 



Such Jilants as double pyrethrum, 

 Jierennial phlox, good oriental pop- 

 jiies, deljihiniums, etc., are best in- 

 creased either by divisions or cuttings. 

 Those that are increased by divisions 

 aro best divided when they aro dor- 

 mant, in late summer or early fall, be- 

 fore the. fall growth starts. 



The plant is dug and the soil pretty 

 well shaken from it. It will bo seen 

 that there are a number of individual 

 buds or branches growing out from a 

 (common crown. The crown is split up, 

 so as to allow at least one of these buds 

 and a piece of root to each division. 

 This wo/k should bo done in the shade, 

 so that the roots will not be injured by 

 drying out. The divisions are best 

 jil.anted in the nursery row at once, or 

 else jiacked in moss or some similar 

 substance for fall sales. 



Old Jilants of phlox arc removed to 

 a hotbed or greenhouse early in the 

 -jiring, and as soon as growth starts and' 

 the young shoots are three or four 

 inches high they are removed as cut- 

 tings. These roots should he taken 

 with a short knife, the cutting beinfj 

 m.ade just ludow the surface of the soil. 

 They ate rooted in sand, the same as 

 any other cuttings, and are as easy to 

 root as chrysanthemums or geraniums. 

 As soon as they aro well rooted, they 

 should ho set in the open field and will 

 make strong field-grown jdants by f.all. 

 M<ist of these rooted cuttings, especial- 

 ly those from the first hatch, will jiro- 

 duco a good head of bloom the first 

 year. It does not generally pay to 

 grow perennial phlox from seed, al- 

 though this is the only method of se- 

 curing new varieties and often proves 

 I'rotitable. 



The demand for perennials is great 

 and seems to be increasing steadily. If 

 one jiroducos strictly first-class stock, 

 tiiere seems to be little doubt of his be- 

 ing able to di.spo.se of it profitablv for 

 some time to come.- Flovd Bralliar. 



This Field of Piilox Presents a Profitable Aspect for Its Grower. 



YES, BUSINESS IS GOOD. 



If one needs evidence that the flo- 

 rists' busin.'ss is good, it is to be had 

 in the letters which come in such num- 

 bers to the .-idvcrtising department of 

 The Heview. Like this: 



W.. aro com[il."tcl.v sold out.— The Hillvipw 

 <.r.'i.nlii,iisp Co., I.a CrosH,., Wis., .^tiril 1, 1<»L'-' 



rioiiHH Rtop <Mir ail, »H we nrp sfilil out; hart 

 iwic-,. i,s iiiiiiiy „ni..rs as «■>■ ciild fill.— Doswell 

 H'Tal C.I., Jort Wa.viic, April .3, 19i;i;. 



■''Ii'iiili you viT.v much fur rosiilts oht.iiiipd; 

 I s,,M l,.t(,ir,. plants ill twont.v cinht states.— 

 M. 1'.. Sourdry, (iirard, Kan , .\pril 1, I'.IL'J. 



I'Icasp (lit out our nd, as we are sw.amppfl. 

 l.ilk alH,iit hcatinK a path to .vonr door -The 

 luvipw has it oiitclasspd llavent limp t.. half 

 tiKiKk .v.. II for the results, hnt lost assnrod voii 

 "III hoar from us acaiii wlipii wp havp a Hurpius. 



1 \\. Uci'd, lipll Floral Co., Tpiniile. Tex., 

 April 1, l!»L':;. 



If you he.ar a man comjilain of the 

 cost of advertising, you can be pretty 

 cert;iin he sjiends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



