JCNI 29, 1922 



The Florists^ Review 



25 



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SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS 



A PAGE OF TIMELY AID 

 AND ADVICE TO GROWERS 



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FOKEWORD. 



Each year a considerable number of 

 men and women enter the field of com- 

 mercial floriculture. While some of 

 them are experienced growers, the ma- 

 jority of such newcomers are not, and 

 it is to assist the latter that The Re- 

 view will give in fhis department each 

 week timely reminders and seasonable 

 instructions. An effort will be made to 

 treat as many as possible of the plants 

 likely to be grown by the average flo- 

 rist. 



It is, of course, impossible to give cul- 

 tural directions suitable to all sections 

 of this great country. The dates given 

 should suit growers in the approximate 

 latitude of Chicago and New York, and 

 allowance must be made by growers in 

 colder and warmer sections. 



Not only will greenhouse plants be 

 treated, but at the proper season space 

 will be devoted to the increasingly im- 

 portant hardy herbaceous perennials, 

 hardy roses, hardy climbers, trees and 

 shrubs, both deciduous and evergreen, 

 and everything which would seem to 

 come within the province of the small 

 grower. These suggestions may not in- 

 terest the experienced grower, but it is 

 hoped that they may benefit some of 

 those who are not so well versed flori- 

 culturally. 



ANTIRRHINUMS. 



There are periods each spring when 

 antirrhinums, or snapdragons, arrive 

 in somewhat unwieldy numbers in the 

 large wholesale cut flower markets, but 

 the small grower handling a moderate 

 number of plants need not worry over 

 these conditions. Snapdragons are 

 splendid for cutting, have excellent 

 keeping qualities, are most useful in 

 design work and flower for a longer pe- 

 riod than any other plants, with the pos- 

 sible exception of roses and carnations. 

 They are among our most useful Me- 

 morial day flowers, and one wonders, 

 harking back twenty-five or more years 

 in memory, how we managed so long 

 without them. Thev have their trou- 

 bles, like all other plants. Rust and leaf 

 bhght are often troublesome, but these 

 diseases are brought on by improper 

 treatment, especially by careless water- 

 ing. Personally, I have had no rust or 

 leaf diseases among my stock for years 

 and, if more growers would grow plants 

 from seed rather than from cuttings, 

 the amount of stock ruined bv plant 

 diseases would be greatly reduced. 

 Seedlings are much more vigorous than 

 rooted cuttings and can resist diseases 

 more readily. 



Now is a good time to make a sowing 

 of seeds for an early planting. A cold- 

 frame is suitable for a seed bed. Cover 

 the seed quite lightly and shade it un- 

 til the seedlings germinate. P^ither pot 

 them off singly when they are of suffi- 

 cient size, or transplant them in the 

 same frame. In August, when thev will 



be ready to plaut indoors, dig them uj) 

 carefully with a trowel, so as to retain 

 a ball of earth, spray them for a few 

 days, and you will hardly lose a plant, 

 while if you pot them off, there is dan- 

 ger of the plants becoming potbound 

 and hard, as well as being underwa- 

 tered. 



Pink shades are most in demand, 

 bright pink especially so. You can buy 

 the seeds in named varieties or under 

 separate c61ors. Only a small propor- 

 tion of rogues will come in good seed, 

 and it always pays to buy the best. 

 There is a smaller call for white, yel- 

 low, bronze and the darker shades; so 

 you will not go far amiss in planting 

 ninety per cent of pink. The interme- 

 diate type is far better than the dwarf, 

 or tall strains. 



From this sowing you can begin to 

 cut nice snapdragons indoors in early 

 October, and the same plants, properly 

 treated, will flower profitably until the 

 following June. 



HYDRANGEAS. 



Hydrangeas flower over a long sea- 

 son. This year we had some French va- 

 rieties well flowered in late February, 

 and it will be October before the late 

 otaksas have passed. With the prac- 

 tical passing of azaleas, the demand for 

 hydrangeas increases yearly. Left- 

 over plants should always be headed 

 back well and then planted outdoors in 

 good soil, especially where the hose can 

 reach them in times of drought. Of 

 course, they can also be pot-grown, the 

 pots being plunged to their brims in 

 frames and kept well watered and 

 sprayed. These pot plants can be forced 

 early, but planting out is the method 

 entailing the least labor and giving 

 the fiiiest plants ere fall. If you have 

 plants containing blind shoots and need 

 to increase your stock, take cuttings 

 now; they will root in two or three 

 weeks, after which they should be pot- 

 ted off. When they have made a few 

 extra leaves, pinch out the top. Set 

 these young plants out where you can 

 water them abundantly, and you will 

 have nice stock to lift about the end of 

 September. 



LATE GLADIOLI. 



If you want some late gladioli, re- 

 member there is yet time to plant tlieni. 

 Even if you have kept the corms cool, 

 they will j)rol)ably be sprouted some 

 what. Never mind; that will not hurt 

 them. Dig furrows about six inches 

 deep and drop the corms, four or five 

 inches apart, into the furrows. If the 

 soil is dry at planting time, give the fur- 

 rows a soaking of water and the corms 

 will start to grow much more quickly. 

 Be sure to cover The corms fairly dec)); 

 then the roots will go down in search 

 of moisture, and they will not suffer 

 from summer droughts. Furthermore, 

 when the corms are planted at the sug- 



gested (lei)th, there is not much likeli- 

 hood of the plants' blowing over. Gladi- 

 oli are most useful flowers for small 

 florists and a stock of the desirable va- 

 rieties can be readily increased by sav- 

 ing all of the small -bulblets at lifting 

 time and sowing them in drills as you 

 would i>eas. The following spring many 

 of these bulblets will flower, and all will 

 produce corms or bulbs of sufficient size 

 to flower a year later. 



PRIMULA MALACOIDES. 



The time to sow such primulas as 

 sinensis, obconica and kewensis is in 

 early spring, but P. nialacoides, which 

 makes the most charming pot plant of 

 the whole family, is so rapid a grower 

 that seed should not be sown before 

 the first week in July. There are now 

 several beautiful pink named forms of 

 this graceful primrose, and a double 

 form is also offered. While P. niala- 

 coides is offered for Christmas sales 

 each year, it is not seen at its best so 

 early, but fi(mi the middle of January 

 until the end of M^rch it is one of our 

 finest i)ot plants. /It needs cool treat- 

 ment always and in winter a minimum 

 of 45 degrees should not be exceeded. 

 Cover the seeds lightly and use a com- 

 I)Ost consisting mainly of leaf-mold and 

 sand, keeping the frames well shaded 

 until the seeds germinate, when they 

 should be given stronger, but not too 

 bright a light. 



STEVIAS. 



It is a ])retty safe bet that few flo- 

 rists are ever overstocked with that 

 most useful winter-flowering plant, 

 Steviu serrata. In bouquet work or in 

 designs it is equally good and, as it 

 may be had in flower from the middle of 

 November until March, if the plants are 

 grown cold, its flowering season is quite 

 a long one. It is not too late, even now, 

 to root cuttings or buy young stock. 



The general practice is to plant young 

 stock out in the field. This insures 

 large, bushy plants, but the wind 

 breaks these, and at lifting time, un- 

 less extreme care is exercised, many are 

 lost. Pot culture through the summer 

 is far the best. Plunge the pots, if nec- 

 essary, and be sure to keep them well 

 watered. .Vlso pinch the plants back 

 regularly until the end of August, at 

 which time they can be allowed to run 

 u]i. The dwarf stevia makes a neat pot 

 plant, but the tall variety is far the 

 best for cutting. One prominent stevia 

 grower handles 10,000 plants annually 

 in 9-inch and 10-inch pots and stakes 

 the entire crop. His flowers are so much 

 ahead of those from plants dug out of 

 the field that they are simply not in the 

 same class. Pots can be moved about at 

 will. Bench plants are all right, if you 

 can s])are bench room for them and give 

 them a low temperature. Stevia needs a 

 low temperature in winter. 



