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May 25, 1005. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



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A Corner of the Orchid Display at Garfield Park, Chicago. 



TRITOMA PnTZERIL 



Few plants have been in wider demand 

 this spring than Tritoma Pfitzerii. Every 

 order for hardy perennials, whether for 

 planting or for commercial cut flowers 

 or for the ornamentation of the home 

 grounds, has called for a few plants 

 of this and some of the largest dealers 

 are pretty well cleaned out of stock. 

 At a meeting of the Florists' Club of 

 Philadelphia Herbert Greensmith spoke 

 as follows of this plant: 



"Tritoma Pfitzeri is perhaps getting 

 old now, but it is still being offered as 

 a novelty, and so it deserves to be. 

 It was first introduced in Germany by 

 the man whose name it bears, I be- 

 lieve in 1894. Later on the whole stock 

 was bought and brought here and 

 found to be nearly identical with one 

 purchased from a florist under the name 

 of ' Everblooming, ' and this name hav- 

 ing priority and being a little more 

 catchy was retained by its purchaser, 

 but under the name PfitzerJii, by which it 

 has scored its greatest popularity, it 

 was and is still sent out in Europe and 

 by Henry A. Dreer. It is needhss to 

 say its popularity is unbounded, and 

 there is no wonder at it when we con- 

 sider the many uses to which it may 

 be put and the ease with which it is 

 grown and its ready adaptability to most 

 all soils and conditions. John Lewis 

 Childs says: 



'It Is the grandest bedding plant ever Intro- 

 duced, surpassing the finest cannas for attrac- 

 tiveness and brilliancy, equal to the gladiolus 

 as a cut flower, and blooms Incessantly from 

 June until December, regardless of frost. 

 Plants are perfectly hardy In the open ground 

 all winter south of Philadelphia; further 

 north they must be protected or wintered In 

 a cellar, like the ordinary tritoma. Just bury 

 the roots in sand; nothing more Is required. 

 It should be planted out very early In spring, 

 and will commence growth and bloom at once, 

 growing larger and finer every day. Plants 

 show from six to twenty grand flower stalks 

 ■11 the time, each holding, at a height of 



three to four feet, a great cluster of flame- 

 colored flowers of Indescribable beauty and 

 \ brilliancy. Ea,ch cluster keeps perfect several 

 weeks, and when It fades two or three more 

 are ready to take Its place. Fall frosts do 

 not kill it or stop Us blooming, and It is as 

 brilliant as ever long after all other garden 

 flowers have been killed. For cutting it is 

 unsurpassed and the beautiful long spikes 

 keep several weeks in water. Without a sin- 

 gle exception, it is the most desirable garden 

 flower. It has created a sensation in the 

 New York cut flower miirkpt.' 



* ' Of course this is a catalogue de- 

 scription and must be taken with a 

 grain of salt, but still it seems almost 

 diflScult to overestimate the beauty and 

 utility of this grand plant. 



" Tritomas generally are coming to the 

 front. In 1899 about thirty-seven varie- 

 ties were offered by one Holland firm, 

 and these have quite a wide range of 

 color, through various shades of yellow 

 and red and even to white. Here again 

 is another family now so large and 

 so varied as to give us flowers from 

 June until late fall. T. Tuckii is the 

 earliest to flower with us, being rather 

 a curiously pretty plant when in flower. 

 The color of the flower is yellow, tinged 

 with red. It is not a constant bloomer, 

 but in foliage it is quite decorative. 

 Otto Mann comes closely after this, with 

 bold, striking foliage and large, stout 

 flowering scapes bearing a huge mass 

 of handsome scarlet and yellow flow- 

 ers, and right in line with these 

 comes the everblooming section, as they 

 are now becoming to be known. Corol- 

 lina. with its small, grassy foliage and 

 persistent, bright coral-red flowers, is 

 quite as free a bloomer as Pfitzerii. R. C. 

 Aflfourtit is another claimant to these hon- 

 ors, and in my estimation it is a much 

 improved Pfitzerii. But perhaps the mast 

 remarkable one of all is Tritoma Tri- 

 umph. As its name imolies, it is a 

 most stately and remarkable looking 

 plant. It is a very vigorous grower, 

 making leaves over three feet in length 

 and throwing up a branching flower scape 



four or five' feet high, with a head of 

 rich orange or golden-yellow flowers 

 twelve to fifteen inches long. It also 

 throws out two smaller heads on the 

 scape, a characteristic which I have not 

 seen in any other variety. Numerous 

 ether varieties have been tried and all 

 are very different from the real, old- 

 fashioned variety, T. Uvaria. It is nec- 

 essary to store all or most all in cold 

 storage during the winter months; we 

 generally lay ours in a cellar with a 

 sandy bottom." 



REPOTTING DVARF TREES. 



The Hinode Florist Co. gives the fol- 

 lowing directions for repotting the 

 dwarfed Japanese evergreens, rapidly 

 becoming popular jardiniere plants in 

 this country: 



"This is done by us once in two or 

 three years, as follows: Lift the plant 

 out of the jardiniere, and with a sharp- 

 pointed sticlt remove about one-third of 

 the old soil around the edges and bot- 

 tom, cutting away a portion of the old 

 fine roots, but none of the strong roots, 

 then replace the plant in the same jar- 

 diniere, first looking to the drainage. 

 For a small shallow jardiniere We use 

 a flat piece of tin or a flat crock over 

 each hole; over this spread some rich 

 fresh soil, neatly balance the plant and 

 fill up with the same rich, fresh soil 

 to within one-half inch of the rim. This 

 holds the water and prevents the manure 

 being washed over the sides of the jardi- 

 niere. Also the soil should be made 

 sufficiently tight round the edges of the 

 jardiniere to prevent the escape of 

 water, it being of the first importance 

 that the entire ball of soil around the 

 plant be moistened at each watering. 

 Should the watering of the plant at any 

 time' have been neglected and the soil 

 become quite dry, put the jardiniere in 

 I a tub of water for ten or fifteen minutes. 



