12J6 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Apbil 13, 1905. 



dozen years ago, will still be largely 

 used; there is nothing better for cov- 

 ering the pot of an azalea. Green is the 

 best color. The matting is also used for 

 ipany other purposes, usually tied with 

 a silk cord or narrow ribbon. 



Crepe paper is the most largely used 

 item in a retail florist's stock of sup- 

 plies. It goes with everything, is in- 

 expensive and its use on a plant always 

 enhances the value far beyond the cost 

 of the covering. It used to be the fash- 

 ion to almost smother an azalea in crepe 

 paper but that is no longer good form; 

 only cover the pot and use only a nar- 

 row ribbon or a cord for fastening. Of 

 course Azalea mollis is an exception. Be- 

 ing bare of foliage, its branches must be 

 hidden and figured crepe paper is usual- 

 ly used for this. The paper also comes 

 plaited, waterproof, etc. 



Talip the Easter Flower. 



"While the lily has been given the 

 name of Easter, judged from the stand- 

 point of some of the florists in the less 

 free spending communities, the tulip 

 and the hyacinth are really the impor- 

 tant flowers of the day. A florist with a 

 prosperous store in a residence district 

 neither rich nor poor said the other day 

 that last Easter he sold four pans of 

 bulbous stock for every other sale of 

 plants. His experience was typical. He 

 found the best size to contain about six 

 good hyacinths or from six to a dozen 

 and a half tulips, the pan obscured by 



This year the bulbous stock promises 

 to be pretty well out of the running by 

 Easter. But if tulips and hyacinths give 

 out, there should be some lily of the 

 valley available almost everywhere. Pans 

 of this, appropriately decorated, are 

 hard to beat for table centerpieces. 



Other Easter Subjects. 



Hydrangeas are among the best Eas- 

 ter plants and this year, the season be- 

 ing so late, some splendidly flowered 

 specimens will be offered. Azaleas are 

 with many too forward. In the east 

 ericas are an important item but few are 

 seen west of the Hudson. 



A novelty is the Baby Rambler rose, 

 of which a few are seen. But it is pre- 

 dicted for this that its greatest useful- 

 ness will be at Christmas. A good Eas- 

 ter plant and one not often seen is Prim- 

 ula veris, the old English cowslip, made 

 new by careful greenhouse cultivation. 

 The plant illustrated in this issue is typi- 

 cal but the picture was necessarily made 

 some weeks before the plant was in- 

 tended to be ready for sale. The tresses 

 of lemon yellow flowers with their dark 

 brown centers almost obscure the foliage 

 when the plant is at its best. The flow- 

 ers endure well and the plant is sure to 

 take its place with the other primroses. 



Easter Cut Flowers. 



If the out-of-town florist finds that 

 this late Easter is catching him short of 

 stock, he can supply his needs in the 



Pan of Tulips in Porto Rican Mat Tied with Gauze Ribbon. 



the inevitable crepe paper or occasion- 

 ally by a Porto Eican mat or a basket 

 of raflSa. While several hundred lilies 

 were sold, they went largely for church 

 decorations, whereas the pans of bulbs 

 went to the buyer's home and the sales 

 were limited only by the amount of good 

 stock to be had. 



great wholesale centers; there it is 

 always possible to find something with 

 which to do business. But the small sup- 

 plies of flowering plants, the reduced 

 stock of bulbous flowers, and the con- 

 stantly increasing demand for flowers 

 for Easter make it appear as though 

 the wholesale grower of the staples, roses 



and carnations, would have a better sea- 

 son than usual. There will be all the 

 violets the retailers can use but quality 

 will depend much on the weather for the 

 two weeks preceding this latest of recent 

 Easters. 



COLOR CAUTIONS. 



An utter disregard of the laws of color 

 on the part of a large proportion of 

 those in the trade leads not a few peo- 

 ple to question whether these careless 

 practices are due to a lack of taste in 

 patrons or to the indifference of florists. 

 There are artists among us — and let it 

 be said to their everlasting credit — ^who 

 could scarcely be hired to send out a 

 basket of scarlet carnations tied with a 

 lavender ribbon, and their number is in- 

 creasing; but there are still those who 

 cannot see -more dollars and cents in a 

 floral design which would pass muster 

 with a colorist. 



The whole blame can scarcely be sad- 

 dled on the patronage, for, as a rule, 

 they are people of a refined class. No- 

 body knows classified color laws any 

 more than he knows the alphabet by in- 

 stinct. It is a matter of study, ex- 

 perience and culture of the eye. While 

 it is true that every designer must bo 

 a law unto himself in minor details, it 

 is due to the community in which he lives 

 for a man who pretends to send out 

 floral designs and decorations, to appro- 

 priate such information as he may use 

 from the great mass of literature on 

 this subject. The knowledge of color is 

 no secondary matter, even in the less pre- 

 tentious establishments of the day and 

 age. One must read, observe and experi- 

 ment to obtain a practical knowledge of 

 this science. Wlorks like the two fol- 

 lowing may be had in almost any pub- 

 lic library: Rood's "Text Book of 

 Color," published by D. Appleton & 

 Co.; "Color," by A. H. Church. 



But better than any text books are the 

 color studies and combinations in any 

 flower which may come under one's ob- 

 servation. There are whole volumes in 

 the coloring of a single pansy. Analyze 

 its color composition ; count its tints and 

 shades; find the connection which binds 

 them all in one; trace some one color 

 principle through the whole flower; ex- 

 amine it through a magnifying glass or 

 a microscope; figure out the proportion 

 of different colors here so marvelously 

 blended; make some observations and 

 conclusions of your own. Don't forget 

 these theories when you plan your next ^ 

 design, and ten to one it will be a better ' 

 one than the last. 



, After a few experiments and some 

 study of your own, read a little, and 

 you will come across some fact which you 

 have previously discovered by your own 

 efforts and your interest will increase. 



Search in flower and book to find out 

 why scarlet and purple should not be 

 used together, and why crimson and gold 

 make a good combination. 



If your ideas about scarlet are rather 

 vague, and crimson is only red to you, 

 set a Jacqueminot rose against an 

 America or Crane carnation and try to 

 figure out the difference. Here and there 

 in the Jacqueminot rose you will find 

 traces of blue mixed with the red, which 

 makes purple, which being toned down 

 with more red than blue makes crimson, 

 the color of the Jacqueminot. In the 

 carnations named there is no trace of 

 blue, but in their intense, orilliant color 

 the red is lightened by yellow or orange 

 in its composition. That is scarlet. 



