Vm'*!^-,-!^.- 



Febbuabt 2, 1005. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



589 



The Fuchsia. 



We often see sad failure made of 

 that easily grown old favorite, the 

 fuchsia, and the reason is because jou 

 have poor stock to propagate from. The 

 fuchsia can be classed as shrubby and 

 is a shrub or dwarf tree where it is 

 hardy, yet in our greenhouses we treat 

 it as a soft-wooded plant or succulent. 

 If you don't have well ripened wood to 

 produce your cuttings in winter time you 

 had better not attempt propagating. 

 That is why I introduce it as a " season- 

 able hint." If you have produced only 

 small, scrubby, iU-shaped plants, throw 

 them out and get two or three plants 

 each of half a dozen of the most desira- 

 ble varieties. Plants propagated early 

 in December are what you want and 

 these should now be in 3-inch pots. Keep 

 them growing. For this purpose stop- 

 ping or pinching is not desirable, as you 

 want the largest plant and earliest ripened 

 wood. 



If grown on vigorously these early 

 propagated plants will show no inclina- 

 tion to dower until May and by that 

 time you will have plants three feet 

 high. Plunged outdoors during summer 

 the wood will be matured by September. 

 Six weeks' rest in a very cool house or 

 even beneath a bench, with only water 

 enough to keep the wood froih shriveling, 

 «nd then shortened back to strong 

 growths and started in good brisk heat 

 will give you cuttings that will grow 

 and make nice plants before wanting to 

 flower. Now is the time to put away 

 your dozen plants for next winter's 

 propagation. 



Some Good Old Sorts. 



Many years ago we used to grow old 

 Elm City, a double red. We propagated 

 in November and the following April 

 sold them wholesale for $1.50 each. What 

 they retailed for we don't know. Two 

 old varieties, Black Prince, single car- 

 mine, and Avalanche, a grand double, 

 can be easily grown and make fine shape- 

 ly plants. I rather think of late that 

 the fuchsia specialists have produced a 

 marvelous blossom with rather a weak 

 plant and the singles are equally beauti- 

 ful, with the doubles, only a little more 

 «o. To realize what a grand flowering 

 plant the fuchsia really is yon should 

 visit the Isle of Wight, off the south 

 coast of England, or California. 



Spiraeas. 



We have received several inquiries 

 about starting this rather cheap and ex- 

 tremely hardy herbaceous plant. Early 

 February is time enough to get them in. 

 They can stand beneath a bench for 

 three weeks or until the foliage starts 

 giowth. Don't forget that 100 or 200 

 of these plants are extremely useful at 

 Decoration day, either as a plant to be 

 taken to the cemetery or for cut flow- 

 ers. For that purpose you can, of course, 

 leave the roots frozen up until early 

 April and start them in a cold frame; 



2^nal Geraniums. 



There never yet were too many good 

 zonal geraniums during May and June, 

 that is, if they were in flower. Shifting 

 from 2-inch to 3-inch was finished about 

 January 10 and now, if they are active 

 at the root, is the time to take a cutting 

 from the top of these plants, providing 

 the growth will admit of it. These cut- 

 tings put in now make good bedding 

 plants and the 3-inch plant will brei^ 

 and make a good early flowering plant 

 in a 4-inch pot later on. Don't murder 

 a plant for the sake of a cutting. If 

 not strong enough to give you a decent 

 cutting just nip only the last joint 

 made and let it go. 



It seems too simple a thing to write 

 about, yet you occasionally see these 

 geraniums treated to a warm, close, poor- 

 ly lighted house. Pot firmly at all 

 times, using a fresh, heavy loam, with 

 very little manure of any kind, except 

 the last shift into 4-inch pots in April, 

 when we use bone meal, which is more 



Lobelia Spedosa* 



Don't forget to put in all the good 

 cuttings you Can get of Lobelia speciosa 

 if you are in the veranda box or vase 

 business. Seedlings are of no use for 

 this purpose and lobelias are useless as v 

 bedding plants. If a plant in a vase 

 gives up in August there are others to 

 fill up, for they are always crowded, 

 but planted in a row in a flower bed 

 they won't be anything but a foliage 

 plant during August and September. 



Sweet Alyssum. 



The double sweet alyssum should also 

 be propagated now. It's another little 

 plant indispensable for vases, etc. Please 

 don't think that I mean all your crop 

 should be rooted now, because cuttings 

 in March are perhaps better, but you 

 don 't usually carry . stock enough of 

 these to put in thousands at once and 

 those you propagate now will give you 

 cuttings later on. 



Begonias. 



There is a splendid flowering begonia 

 of which we are not sure if we have the 

 correct name, but we will call it Be- 

 gonia incarnata grandiflora. It is of 

 stouter growth and much larger and 

 brighter in flower than the old B.-in- 

 carnata. The advent of the gay Lor- 

 raine has driven this and some other 

 species and varieties out of mind. This 

 particular variety should not be neglect- 



V. N. Rudd's Pink Carnation, Lady Margaret 



conducive to flower than foliage. Give 

 the fullest light and air on all occa- 

 sions and never over 45 degrees at night. 

 And one more item, let them dry before 

 you water them. The zonal geranium 

 is very much of a succulent and in the 

 dark months wants little water and even 

 in summer many a bed of geraniums is 

 simply spoiled by the careless use of the 

 hose, or by ignorance of the needs of the 

 plant.- 



ed, for it is a desirable florists' plant. 

 If you have no stock of it, buy a few 

 old strong plants that are free of dis- 

 ease. A rust is its enemy. You can 

 propagate it now from the flower shoots, 

 but it is better done later. Its flowering 

 season is from early December to Feb- 

 ruary. When out of flower almost any 

 part of the plant will root, but when cut 

 down about one-half its height it makes 

 lots of cuttings, which root readily in 



