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1572 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 18, 1905. 



the dead, but the generally pleasing ap- 

 pearance of the whole grounds. 



Mixed Plants. 



If the mixed vase is still preferred, 

 there is considerable choice of material. 

 For a center plant there is nothing equal 

 to that cast-iron plant, Dracaena indivisa. 

 It not only exists but it grows and en- 

 dures the fierce sun and drying winds. 

 Then there are the zonal geraniums, col- 

 eus, achyranthes, variegated geraniums, 

 Begonia Vernon, aialypha, Boston fetn, 

 centaurea, fuchsias (in the shade), pe- 

 tunias, etc. About the only palm that 

 would be good for a center plant in 

 place of the dracsena would be the phoe- 

 nix. They will stand the sun and the 

 wind. 



It is neither fair nor wise to put in 

 plants that will make a fine show for a 

 week or two and then be out of bloom 

 for the whole summer. Such plants as 

 the white feverfew or show pelargonium 

 will not do, or any plant whose season of 

 flowering is short. Nearly every ceme- 

 tery has situations where any plants will 

 thrive and other bleak, windy positions 

 where only the hardiest plants will pre- 

 serve a decent appearance. This must 

 be studied. 



Drooping Plants. 



All these mixed vases will want an 

 assortment of drooping plants and there 

 are very few really good ones. Some 

 that may thrive and flower in a shel- 

 tered, partly shaded place! will look like 

 rats' tails in a few weeks if exposed to 

 the winds and starred for root room. 

 The English ivy will remain just where 

 you put it, but in a vase is not grace- 

 ful. The vincas are truly the best of all. 

 Then there is the ivy geranium, Abutilon 

 vexillarium, double sweet alyssum, 

 money vine, senecio (often called Ger- 

 man ivy), lobelias, maurandia, nastur- 

 tium, etc. There are two splendid climb- 

 ing plants, both excellent for this pur- 

 pose, but seldom seen becaiise tbey are 

 neglected in the winter, in fact, often 

 lost, viz., Ipomoea Mortonii and Pilogyne 

 sua vis.. 



Don't Crowd the Plants. 



Now, if you are a beginner at the la- 

 borious vase business, remember that 

 you crowd into a space of two feet in 

 diameter or less, as many plants as 

 would about properly fill a 6-foot bed. 

 Therefore the soil should be of the best. 

 In addition to manure, use a 6-inch pot 

 of bone flour to every wheielbarrow of 

 soil and be sure to get the soil firmly 

 and compactly down between the balls of 

 the plants. Let each plant be well firmed 

 in its place. We cover the surface of the 

 soil with green moss. It keeps the soil 

 from washing off, prevents some drying 

 out of the soil and when the roots reach 

 it they thrive in it. 



One thing more. When you start a 

 young man filling these vases, your stock 

 is abundant and he wants to make a nice 

 looking job and crowds in your fine 

 geraniums. Now, with these early filled 

 vases there is no need to crowd, for they 

 will soon fill up and be all the better 

 for a little room to spread. Save your 

 plants, for there are lots of belated or- 

 ders coming along until July 4. Then 

 you would be glad of the plants you so 

 lavishly used when they were plentiful, 

 and it is the late filled vases that need 

 crowding, if any. 



We like to water the vases we fill 



and if you water several hundred at $2 

 or $2.50 each for the season it does not 

 seem a large charge for the individual, 

 but it will be found a better paying op- 

 eration tnan the charge for filling and 

 you have the opportunity to care for 

 your own work. 



Veranda Boxes. 



There is a good deal being said of late 

 about window boxes. We noticed just 

 twenty years ago the coming summer, in 

 England, that the window box was great- 

 ly in vogue in the windows of houses of 

 moderate pretensions, and conspicuous 

 in all those boxes were, two gay colors 

 that we in this country are deprived of, 

 the shrubby yellow calceolaria and the 

 blue lobelia. The former is absolutelj' 

 useless here and the latter goes out of 

 flower in a short time. 



The window box has been used in this 

 country in the modest homes for many 

 years, but never in pretty detached resi- 

 dences. Their gardening embellishment 

 has been the veranda box, and fifteen 

 to twenty years ago it was in the height 

 of its favor. I feel sure I am within 

 bounds by stating that no other city in 

 the Union used so many thousand feet 

 of these ornamental arrangements as the 

 city of Buffalo. It began some thirty 

 years ago. We have lived through its 

 birth, its days of glory and, I am sorry 

 to say, almost its "decline and fall," al- 

 though it has by no means quite fallen. 

 There are perhaps not 100 feet filled 

 now to 1,000 feet ten years ago. 



Nearly all the houses on residence 

 streets stand back from the property line 

 from twenty-five to fifty feet and are all 

 detached and seldom a fence of any 

 kind. This latter fact wonderfully sur- 

 prised Mr. Goldring, of the London Gar- 

 den, on a visit here. He was surprised 

 that there was not all kinds of trespas- 

 sing and vandalism going on. There is 

 nothing of the kind. Perhaps if there 

 were a big fence and a bull dog inside 

 there might be some attempt at tres- 

 passing. These residents object to the 

 little stretch of lawn being cut up for 



flower beds, preferring to view the restful 

 green sward and a clump of flowering 

 shrubs or a few small growing trees. 



So on the verandas they placed boxes 

 filled with flowering and ornamental 

 plants, with drooping vines. Some houses 

 on front and side verandas had as much 

 as 100 lineal feet of boxes and fifty feet 

 was common. It was not your own em- 

 bellishment you enjoyed as you sat on 

 your veranda, for you looked over that 

 and admired the beauty of your neigh- 

 bor's across the street. And for thel 

 passerby on the shaded avenue it was 

 beauty the whole way along. 



I know of no good reason why many 

 have given up their veranda boxes, except 

 that they desired a change, got a little 

 tired and in many cases for the trivial 

 leason that the wooden boxes rotted out 

 and they did not trouble to get new ones. 

 There is no style of gardening which will 

 make a street more beautiful and wel 

 trust the taste for it will again come 

 around. 



A Good Style of Box. 



If we were asked to supply the boxes, 

 as we have thousands of feet in the) 

 past, we should have them made of cy- 

 press and painted deep green, or the 

 color of the veranda. A good size is ninel 

 inches wide at the top and eight inches 

 at the bottom and six inches deep. Let 

 the front splay an inch outward. This 

 is all inside measure. As these boxes 

 are much better filled at the greenhouses, 

 they should not be too long. A box of 

 the size mentioned and six feet long is a 

 good lift for two men. Don't forget a 

 few holes in the bottom for drainage. 



The beauty of these veranda boxes is 

 that invariably they flourish and grow. 

 They can be watered faithfully and are 

 seldom exposed to hard winds. The 

 drooping vines are a most important 

 part. The boxes themselves should never 

 be visible. After a few weeks' growth 

 they should be covered with a drooping 

 curtain of green vines. The soil should 

 be rich, but rank growth of such plants 

 as coleus should be kept in check or they 

 smother the geraniums. 



An Easter Plant Receptacle Originated by C H. Fox, Philadelphia. 



