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186 



TheWcckly Florists' Review. 



JuNB 15, 1006. 



esteemed a few years ago. I find many 

 in the trade are alive to the fact that ths 

 acers will be wanted in the future. 

 . All summer bidding plants are going 

 out freely and there is also a good de- 

 mand for the better flowering plants in 

 pots. There is certainly a better all 

 around business being done this season. 

 Supplies, however, are quite equal to 

 all demands. Verbena Miss Willmott is 

 now coming from a good many growers. 

 It is surprising how well this sells, for 

 though one of the prettiest pink flowers 

 we have, it does not last well. Lilium 

 Harrisii, though good, have been going 

 out at low prices. 



I find the American galax leaves are 

 still procurable, and as most English 

 hardy foliage is yet rather soft, these 

 leaves are found very serviceable. 



Taking the appearance of the market 

 all around, growers should be doing fairly 

 well this season, but there must still be 



a considerable diiference in things now 

 and what they were some years ago. 



I find that for ball decorations, etc.. 

 Crimson Ramblers, Dorothy Perkins, and 

 others of the same type are used exten- 

 sively for hall and staircase decorations, 

 also for forming archways. The long 

 Eamblers can also be used efl'ectively for 

 hanging down from landings or high 

 windows, and these naturally grown long 

 trails of bloom are more effective than 

 made-up long trails, and also last so 

 much better. The trained bushes of these 

 roses are also most effective for corners 

 or any position where larger plants can 

 be used. 



Floral offerings were an important fea- 

 ture among the tributes sent to Marl- 

 borough House, on May 26, for the Prin- 

 cess of Wales' birthday. From America 

 came a case of roses, American Beauty, 

 which were packed in ice, and after cross- 

 ing the Atlantic came out fresh. 



Sweet Alyssum. 



Put in a few hundred cuttings of 

 s^veet alyssum now and they make the 

 right kind of plants to place along the 

 edge of a carnation bench in Septem- 

 ber. It is a most useful little flower 

 and I never noticed that a few plants 

 along the edge of a bench or bed did the 

 slightest harm to the main crop, only 

 don 't overdo it. A plant every three 

 feet is enough. They root readily now 

 if kept watered and shaded. 



Begonias. 



Besides the wonderful Gloire de Lor- 

 raine there are others of this numerous 

 genus worth growing as winter plants. 

 Among the best are B. incarnata, and 

 particularly its wonderful improvement, 

 B. incarnata Sandersi. The plants we 

 saw of this splendid variety last winter 

 were a mass of bloom from Christmas 

 until our late Easter. This begonia was 

 not named for the well known Mr. San- 

 ders, of England and Belgium, but origi- 

 nated in New England with another Mr. 

 Sanders, a private gardener of that ad- 

 vanced horticultural section, and as it 

 reached this city under the name of San- 

 dersi, it is doubtless known in other 

 parts under that name. It is a beauty, 

 whatever name it bears, although it 

 should, like other shrubby begonias, be 

 propagated in early spring. It can yet 

 be rooted in the sand if kept only mod- 

 erately moist and in not too dense a 

 shade. Too heavy a shade is the curse 

 of all classes of begonias, except, per- 

 haps, the Rex type. All the shrubby be- 

 gonias root well now and this incarnata 

 type makes fine cuttings just now. 



Gloxinias. 



These beautiful summer flowering 

 plants deserve careful treatment. There 

 are few plants so satisfactory for a liv- 

 ing room as the gloxinia. The dry at- 

 mosphere j«eems to suit them; A heavily 

 shaded greenhouse and the careless use 

 ot the hose will soon bring on the rust. 

 They need only light shade from the 



bright sun. The best we ever grew we 

 put into a cold frame about this time, 

 raised the sash back and front a few 

 inches and shaded only when the sun 

 was powerful and watered carefully, nev- 

 er wetting their foliage on a dull day, 

 but they can be managed all right on a 

 greenhouse bench with moderate shade 

 and carefully watered. This is a plant 

 that cannot be splashed over with the 

 hose, as you do a bench of cannas. 



Lily of the Valley, 



It is a nice thing to have some lily 

 of thi! valley on your place throughout 

 the summer and you can have shipped 

 1,000 pips or so weekly or semi-weekly 

 from some cold storage specialist and 

 then flower them and save considerable, 

 for I consider the expense of flowering 

 them during summer next to nothing. 

 Put the roots in boxes in five inches of 

 sand, or in five or six inches of sand on 

 a bench. Let the glass over them be 

 shaded and the house kept cool and, 

 what is particular, do not let a draught 

 like that from an open door be playing 

 on them or they will wilt. It should be 

 unnecessary to say that you should not 

 wet the opening bells but give plenty 

 of water at the roots. 



Pelargoniums. 



Most of the show and fancy pelargon- 

 iums will soon be out of flower and now 

 is the time they make a vigorous growth, 

 making the cuttings you want for propa- 

 gating in August and September. Some 

 growers plant the old plants outdoors, 

 and you will get a free growth and lots 

 of cuttings by so doing, but I like the 

 more mature cuttings that you get from 

 plants kept in pots under glass, and the 

 old plants, if you wish to grow them an- 

 other year, are easier te manage. Keep 

 them growing now in a light house, with 

 plenty of water and when their growth 

 is made give less water until you cut 

 them down for propagating. 



Lilium Speciosum. 



The time will soon be here when you 



expect cold storage bulbs. The longi- 

 florum lilies will be gone and then wo 

 are very glad of these beautiful and 

 sweet lancifolium lilies, album and rose- 

 iim. They are most valued in August 

 and September. We should endeavor 

 now to keep them cool and shady and 

 never let them suffer for want o^ water. 

 Fine beds of these are seen growing in 

 the open ground, but the flowers are not 

 of the same purity as those grown under 

 glass. Shade, abundant ventilation and 

 careful watering are the present condi- 

 tions. We say careful, because lilies 

 when actively growing like an abund- 

 ance of water, but few plants are more 

 quickly ruined than those lilies with 

 water standing round their roots. ^ Water 

 should pass quickly away. A well drained 

 bed is the first essential for their culti- 

 vation outdoors. 



Pruning* 



In the spring I attempted to ppint out 

 some shrubs that should be pruned while 

 dormant and others that, if pruned at all, 

 it is better to cut back after flowering. 

 The early shrubs that flowered on last 

 year's growth are mostly out of bloom 

 and can now be shortened back. The 

 African tamarix is one and needs a far 

 severer pruning than most any of our 

 flowering shrubs. Its long, slender 

 shoots that were covered with little pink 

 flowers should now be cut down to with- 

 in a foot of the ground. I hope it has 

 been done before this. The lilac and the 

 viburnum and the early spiraeas, also Py- 

 rus Japonica, are all thg better if their 

 faded flowers are cut away. They will 

 make all the stronger growths to bear 

 blossoms for anothgr year. I am aware 

 this is rather late advice for some things, 

 and for some latitudes for all, but better 

 done now than make the mistake of 

 pruning them next winter, when you 

 prune hydrangeas, althaeas, etc. 



Painting. 



Some months ago a gentleman in Can- 

 ada wrote an article on butted glass, and 

 in his opinion all were fools who did not 

 adopt that method. Then a week or so 

 later some one from our side of the Ni- 

 agara condemned butted glass so sweep- 

 ingly that he went quite as far the other 

 way and made evident that if he ever 

 tried the butted method, he knew noth- 

 ing of how it should be done. Both, in 

 my opinion, went too far. The majority 

 of American growers still adhere to the 

 old method of lapping their glass, but 

 there are dozens of establishments in 

 Canada, and some very large ones, that 

 would not dream of doing anything but 

 butting their glass, and this after twen- 

 ty years' experience with it. And they 

 grow as fine roses as can be found any- 

 where, so there you are. 



There is one advantage in the butted 

 system: Every two or three years you 

 can, without sacrifice of glass and with- 

 out a great expense of labor, remove the 

 glass and give your house a thorough 

 painting. Whether you do this or not, 

 a painting every few years is of great 

 benefit and successful growers know this. 

 Not that cypress bars will rot if ever 

 so dirty, for our experience with cypress 

 put up sixteen years ago is that there is 

 no rot about it. Light is what we are 

 after and n scrubbing of the woodwork 

 and then a good coat of white paint 

 makes a new house. The short period we 

 have between our bedding plants and 

 chrysanthemums, or between the throw- 

 ing out of carnations or roses and re- 



