16 



The Florists' Review 



October 21, 1915. 



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SEASONABLE m 

 M SUGGESTIONS 



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Early Azaleas. 



There are always a fair number of 

 azaleas offered for Thanksgiving, while 

 Christmas sales are large. The proba- 

 bility of large Belgian importations 

 this season is not bright and many 

 growers will need to rely on carried 

 over stock. If this was planted out 

 and kept well watered «a^ syringed, 

 the plants should be bristling with 

 buds. The foliage may b6 a trifle 

 lighter in color than the freshly im- 

 ' ported article, but this is far more than 

 ■%^ conij^nsated for by the wealth of 

 flower buds. Some people imagine that 

 these carried over plants will not force 

 so well or bloom so early as imported 

 ones. This is pure nonsense; the fact 

 is that the majority flower even ear- 

 lier, as our hot summers permit the 

 plants to complete their growth and set 

 buds earlier than in Belgium.' 



Naturally early sorts, such as Heze, 

 Charles Encke, Mme. Petrick, Deutsche 

 Perle, etc., should now be placed in a 

 temperature of 60 degrees at night and 

 kept freely syringed. Pick out such 

 plants for forcing as have nice, plump 

 buds. Plan to have them in bloom, if 

 you can, a little earlier than they are 

 to be sold, 80 that they can be kept 

 gradually cooler, to give the flowers 

 more substance. 



Oannas. 



Lift and store canna roots before 

 they sustain a hard freeze. Cut them 

 down to within a few inches of the 

 ground and expose them to the sun a 

 few hours before housing them. A 

 shelf in a shed or cellar with a dry at- 

 mosphere, and without much fire heat, 

 will keep these cannas. Lift a good 

 ball of earth with them. If you have 

 no suitable storehouse, pack them un- 

 der the bench in a carnation or other 

 house where they are not likely to be 

 subjected to much drip. They want to 

 be kept dormant for a few months and 

 this is not possible where the soil gets 

 at all moist. 



Oladloli. 



Qladioli should be lifted and stored 

 away now. Cut the stems back to 

 within three inches of the bulbs. Be 

 sure they are quite dry when stored. 

 A suitable storehouse for gladioli is 

 one just clear of freezing in severe 

 weather. Shelves in a dry cellar, such 

 as is used for the storage of potatoes, 

 will answer well for gladioli. 



Early Frencb Bulbs. 



A batch of Paper White narcissi 

 should now be placed in a temperature 

 of 60 degrees. They will not take long 

 to respond and come into flower. They 

 are not needed in any great numbers 

 while mums overwhelm the markets, 

 but a great many country growers never 

 need to sell a flower at wholesale and 

 these are the people who can use some 

 Paper Whites just as early as they can 

 be had in bloom, for they are extreme- 

 ly useful in retail work. If they are 



coming along too fast, it is easy to re- 

 tard them on the floor of a cool cellar. 

 Roman hyacinths should not be 

 started until they have made a couple 

 of inches of growth. They cannot be 

 had in bloom as early as the Paper 

 Whites. The probable scarcity of val- 

 ley has caused a record demand for 

 these hyacinth bulbs. 



V : Peonies. 



BemoVe the fpHage from the peonies. 

 They will be much benefited if a gen- 

 erous layer of manure, tolerably well 

 decayed, is spread between the rows. A 

 great many peonies are reported as 

 flowering poorly each season. There 

 are several probable causes for this, 

 such- as poor soil, cutting flower stems 

 too near the ground each season, late 

 frosts and a failure to transplant when 

 required, but probably lack of plant 

 food is the great cause of plants flow- 

 ering unsatisfactorily. 



Hardy Herbaceous Plants. 



Some perennials, such as peonies and 

 irises, do best if planted in September; 

 others, including Japanese anemones, 

 tritomas, incarvilleas, . pompon chrysan- 

 themums and anchusas, move better in 



the spring, but the overwhelming pro- 

 portion of hardy perennials can be 

 more successfully replanted now than 

 in the spring. All like a deep, well 

 enriched soil, and when the winter has 

 set in they will be benefited by a mulch. 

 Vastly better results are to be had 

 from fall rather than spring planting 

 of nine-tenths of the hardy perennials 

 catalogued. 



Nerines. 



The spikes are now appearing on 

 Nerine Sarniensis apd N. Fothergilli 

 major, the two earliest scarlet varie- 

 ties. They are also. appearing on some 

 of the pink varieties. As the spikes 

 show, move the plants, into a cool, airy 

 house. They need little water until the 

 flowering season has '.passed, but they 

 require a good supply after that time, 

 while making their growth. Any badly 

 matted plants should 'be repotted after 

 flowering, but give small shifts, as 

 nerines only flower satisfactorily when 

 well potbound and thoroughly l^k^d 

 through the summer. The Guernsey 

 lilies come at a season when indoor 

 flowers are scarce; and are, therefore, 

 specially welcome. 



Freesias. 



The earliest batch of freesias should 

 now be about a foot high, stocky and 

 of a rich, dark green color. These 

 should flower for Christmas, but to in- 

 sure their coming in at that season, 

 when prices are high, give them a sunny 

 bench or shelf in a minimum tempera- 

 ture of 52 to 55 degrees. Avoid high 

 feeding, or the ends of the leaves will 

 turn brown. Soot water makes an ideal 

 stimulant. 



ODCN LCITEI^^^ READBU6 



ON funebaij flowebs again. 



In response to Charles A. Cards in 

 The Review of October 7, ptige 18, re- 

 garding the abuse of funersS flowers, 

 we might suggest the following plan 

 of cooperation between ourselves and 

 undertakers, which has proven satis- 

 factory here for a number of years. 



In the first place, we have it under- 

 stood with the undertakers that we are 

 ready at all times to give our assist- 

 ance in the arrangement of funeral 

 tributes, and to have our wagon at 

 hand to take care of them after the 

 services. 



If the services are at a church, the 

 flowers are taken from the residence to 

 the church in our wagon and, with the 

 assistance of a florist, the undertaker 

 is enabled to make a much better ar- 

 rangement; or vice versa. After church 

 or residence services, our wagon car- 

 ries the flowers to the place of burial, 

 and we arrange them at the grave, so 

 that when the funeral party arrives, 

 the unsightly mound of sand has been 

 transformed into a mound of flowers., 



What do we do with flowers fur- 

 nished by our competitors! Treat them 

 as our own. 



What do we do when the family pur- 

 chase their flowers from the other fel- 

 low, but desire our services! We make 



a charge for whatever service we per- 

 form. 



How does it pay usf In many ways; 

 principally in advertising, satisfied 

 customers and, best of all, our flowers 

 are not abused. Here is hoping some- 

 one else will give his experience and 

 opinion. This comes from a country 

 town of 3,000, having four undertakers 

 and three florists. W. E. HaU. 



TO MAKE HYDRANGEAS BLUE. 



I noted the inquiry on page 68 of 

 The Review of October 14, as to how 

 to make hydrangea flowers blue "by 

 the application of iron in some form to 

 the roots of the plants." Last summer 

 I was walking through the residential 

 section of a southern cotton mill town, 

 when I came across a flne hydrangea 

 plant, growing in a tub. The plant 

 was four or five feet wide and was 

 literally smothered with flowers of the 

 most intense blue. It was the most 

 beautiful plant of its kind I have ever 

 seen. Noticing a woman sitting on the 

 porch, I asked her where she obtained 

 it. She replied, "Oh, it's just the 

 same as the others," referring to ^ 

 number of plants with the ordinary 

 pink flowers, "but if you want to get 

 them blue you must grow them in muck 

 land." She told me that one year the 



