Apeil 13, 1905. 



ThcWeekly Florists' Review. 



1215 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



THE EASTER BUSINESS. 



Not long ago a Chicago retailer, one 

 whose store is in a residence street, was 

 quoted as saying that last Easter ninety- 

 five per cent of his sales were plants. 

 If not an exaggeration, that is certainly 

 an exceptional case but it cannot be de- 

 nied" that the sale for flowering plants 

 at both Christmas and Easter is increas- 

 ing much faster than is the sale for cut 

 flowers. 



Just before Christmas, when the rush 

 was at its height, a peculiarity which 

 marked the sales in one of the leading 

 retail stores of the country impressed 

 itself on the writer. The telephone de- 

 manded almost constant attention and 

 almost invariably the call was for roses 

 or carnations. But out in the store the 

 customer who had both the cut flowers 

 and flowering plants on the counter for 

 comparison in almost every instance 

 chose the plants, even where the sales- 

 man offered no encouragement. It was 

 simply that the telephone buyer did not 

 know about the plants; even when the 

 telephone salesman tried to tell about 

 them he could not convey a clear idea of 

 what an aucuba or even a pan of poin- 

 settias would look like when delivered. 

 But the cut flowers I That was different. 

 Everyone knows what a box of roses or 

 carnations is like, and the telephone 

 buyer ordered them. But the customer 

 who saw the plants chose them nearly 

 every time. 



One January day the following con- 

 versation took place in the same store: 



"How much are the roses t" 



"These are $2 and these are $3 a 

 dozen. ' ' 



"A dozen and a half of the shorter 



ones would do — ^but what a pretty plant! 

 Is it a begonia?" 



"Begonia Gloire de Lorraine. We 

 sell that size, with crepe paper to cover 

 the pot, for $3. ' ' 



"How long will the flowers last?" 



"Oh! Three or four days; maybe a 

 week; possibly more. We do not guar- 

 antee it in any way.'' 



"That's not encouraging, still the 

 roses wouldn't last beyond tomorrow. I 

 believe I'll try the begonia as it doesn't 

 cost any more than the roses. What did 

 you call it. Glory ?" 



Easter the Plant Season. 



Easter is preSminently the plant sea- 

 son, but it is not every retailer who can 

 sell the magnificent specimens seen in 

 the splendid stores in New York. Even 

 in Chicago there is a limit to the cost 

 and size of the plants which can oe sold. 

 The other day Frank Oechslin, of the 

 Garfield Park Flower Co., which supplies 

 the majority of large plants to leading 

 Chicago retailers, said that last year he 

 had a lot of large and finely flowered 

 azaleas which he wholesaled at $10 and 

 $12 each, but the retailers who bought 

 them in most cases had them left un- 

 sold. This year Mt. Oechslin did not 

 grow any azaleas to wholesale at 

 above $8. 



The leading stores throughout the 

 country, and particularly in New York, 

 may sell a few of the beautiful Eam- 

 blerg, rhododendrons, great pans of lil- 

 ies and other plants frequently illus- 

 trated in the pages of the Bevibw but 

 the average reader is not able to supply 

 himself with these plants if he would 

 and could not sell them if he had them. 

 Even in the best class of stores the sale 



for large plants is limited, by far the 

 greater number of good-sized orders 

 calling for arrangements of plants or 

 cut flowers in hampers or baskets, of 

 which so great a variety is now offered. 



The Florists' Requisites. 



While few novelties in the plant line 

 are offered, the dealers in florists' sup- 

 plies annually provide many unique 

 things to help the retailers present their 

 wares in attractive shape. There is a 

 great variety in hampers, boxes and bas- 

 kets, so great in fact that no store- 

 keeper has use for more than a few of 

 the really good things at his disposal. 

 The raffia hamper and basket is no lon- 

 ger a novelty; it has traveled the length 

 and breadth of the land on its own mer- 

 its. A last year's novelty which has 

 come into general n&e this season is the 

 twig basket in its many forms. Two of 

 these shapes are shown in illustrations 

 in this issue of the Review. 



The handled basket contains a zinc 

 pan which will not leak and on the out- 

 side the zinc is stained dark Lrown so 

 that it will not show between the small 

 twigs which compose the sides of the 

 basket. In this case the basket held 

 some daisies and sweet peas with a little 

 green and stood on the sales counter of 

 one of the leading stores, where few cus- 

 tomers failed to speak of ^ its simplicity 

 and grace. The other twig basket is 

 round and low, with a cover. It con- 

 tains a cocos, four primroses, three 3- 

 inch adiantums and a dozen valley. 



Chicks and Ducklings. 



The same twig baskets are offered in 

 many other shapes, including the form 

 of birds ' hests, and to go with the birds ' 

 nests, as well as for many other uses, 

 thousands upon thousands of chicks and 

 ducklings will be used. All wte supply 

 houses report them selling rapidly and 

 going to all parts of the country. Last 

 year a few of these were used and made 

 a hit in many an Easter plant arrange- 

 ment and box of flowers. The use of 

 such accessories as these is rapidly in- 

 creasing. 



But no matter how many new or dif- 

 ferent pot covers there may be, the . 

 Porto Eican matting, a novelty of half a 



Easter Requisites— The Chick, the Baby's Shoe and the Ugly Duckling. 



