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Mabch 25, 1915. 



The Florists' Review 



35 



Twenty-dghth Annual Dinner of the New York Florists' Club, Hotel Astor, Marcli 20, 1 91 5. 



other features, it was much behind 

 Boston, but the roses, both cut and in 

 groups, stove and greenhouse plants, 

 schizanthus, azaleas, rhododendrons and 

 orchids were more numerous and of 

 greater variety than in Boston. 



In carnations the two cities were 

 about equal, but Boston had finer sweet 

 peas and pansies. The retailers' booths 

 were better than a year ago. The table 

 decorations did not show anything 

 striking, and I noted that there were 

 ten tables in Boston and only half as 

 many in New York. The booths of the 

 New York Florists' Club and the Hor- 

 ticultural Society of New York and the 

 exhibits of the various greenhouse con- 

 struction firms left nothing to be de- 

 sired. The displays of the seedsmen 

 were as attractive as ever. 



Sweet Peas. 



In new plants there were few, but 

 some good novelties in cut flowers ap- 

 peared. The sweet peas originated by 

 A. C. Zvolanek led in point of interest 

 and commercial value. These are good 

 indoors and bloom four weeks ahead of 

 the ordinary Spencers outdoors. Mr. 

 Zvolanek has 163 kinds of winter-flow- 

 ering Spencers planted and had sixty- 

 eight staged in New York. From this 

 bewildering list a heavy cut must be 

 made. The following struck me as be- 

 ing the cream of the collection: Czar, 

 white, with pale blue standards; Bel- 

 gian Hero, orange, an improved orange 

 orchid; Miss Skach, rich pink, a grand 

 color, a great prize-winner here; Morn- 

 ing Star, beautiful light pink; Viva 

 France, crimson scarlet; Mrs. Charles 

 R. Zvolanek, a magnificent lavender; 

 Miss Flora Roland, best described as a 

 salmon pink suffused with apricot; 

 North Light, rich pink; Union Jack, 

 fine primrose, hardly a good name for 

 this color; Mrs. M. Spanolin, the finest 

 white, many with double standards, 

 black seeded, more hardy than the 

 white seeded White Orchid; Bohemian 



Girl, a lovely rich pink, but few stalks 

 carry three flowers, which is a draw- 

 back; Lavender NoraUnwin, fine laven- 

 der. 



W. Atlee Burpee & Co. showed a 

 small lot of their new winter Spencers. 

 These run so close to the Zvolanek va- 

 rieties that it would need a keen ob- 

 server to find any difference. The best 

 were: Fordhook Countess, Fordhook 

 Pink and White, Fordhook Zan, ^rose 

 color; Fordhook Dainty, Fordhook 

 Lavender, Fordhook Crimson and Ford- 

 hook Lavender-Pink. The superb sweet 

 peas from August Contram, Holmes- 

 burg, Pa., were far ahead of all others 

 shown in quality, and worthy of a cul- 

 tural award. 



Carnations and Boses. 



Among the new carnations, Roper's 

 Alice Coombs and Grace loomed up well. 

 Laura Weber, from Charles Weber, was 

 good. Seedling No. 505, from the Cot- 

 tage Gardens Co., in the way of Gor- 

 geous, is a mammoth* flower. Peace, 

 from Frank Dinda, was splendid. A 

 flne new salmon pink seedling came 

 from W. Haas, Iryington. Henry 

 Weston, Hempstead, showed a good 

 white variegated, named Majestic, 

 lighter than Benora. 



Among the newer cut roses, Tip- 

 perary and Hoosier Beauty, from the 

 E. G. Hill Co.; September Morn, from 

 C. H. Totty; Crimson Queen, from F. R. 

 Pierson Co.; Mrs. Francis Scott Key, 

 from Scott Bros, and others, and Ophe- 

 lia from many growers, were greatly 

 admired. George Elgar, a new pale yel- 

 low polyantha with tea blood, from the 

 South Park Floral Co., Newcastle, Ind., 

 in small pots, received a silver medal. 

 It is a charming little rose. 



The Knight & Struck Co. had many 

 beautiful hard-wooded plants, not new, 

 but not often seen. They had Indigo- 

 fera monophylla, Bauera rubioides, 

 Burnia elatior, chorizemas, acacias, 

 many ericas and other interesting sub- 



jects. Of the newer azaleas Daybreak 

 c^and Lady Roosevelt, both pale pink, 

 were the best. I was glad to see the 

 old pelargonium, Clorinda, shown by C. 

 H. Totty and others. This should make 

 a good commercial plant for Easter. 



J. A. Peterson & Sons received a 

 silver medal for their new begonia, 

 Mrs. J. A. Peterson. It was pronounced 

 a variety which would be a grand addi- 

 tion for Christmas sales. Celaia Cretica 

 was interesting. It is in the way of 

 C. Arcturus. 



William Tricker received a gold 

 medal for his everblooming nymphseas. 

 He showed these in deep blue, laven- 

 der and pure white colors. A worthy 

 recognition to our leader in aquatics 

 in America. A rockery partly planted 

 with rock plants for the Julius Roehrs 

 Co. is a starter for what might be de- 

 veloped into a great feature at future 

 shows here. 



Ferns and Orchids. 



The ferns did not contain any real 

 novelties. There were apparently as 

 many nephrolepis varieties as ever. F. 

 R. Pierson Co. had, among others, some 

 grand specimens of Bostoniensis, still 

 the best; Harrisii, improved elegantis- 

 sima, Whitmani compacta, Elmsfordii, 

 Milleri, superbissima, magniflca and 

 Giatrasii. The grand specimen of Cibo- 

 tium Schiedei from John Wanamaker, 

 grown by J. H. Dodds, was the finest 

 exhibited. 



Orchids were fine, as they always are 

 in New York. The main group of the 

 Julius Roehrs Co., with a canopy cover 

 of grfeen baize and side mirrors, showed 

 up well. It contained many choice 

 odontoglossums, white cattleyas, brasso- 

 cattleyas, phalaenopsis, cypripediums 

 and other genera. Lager & Hurrell had 

 a beautiful group and many choice spec- 

 imens. I noted that the dendrobinm 

 specimens, however, were not half the 

 size of those shown in Boston, but odon- 

 toglossums I was pleased to see well 



