DECE.MHKU 14, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



219 



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I 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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CHRISTMAS PLANTS. 



Plants Instead of Greens. 



Every liorist who sells at retail lias 

 a call at Christmas for plant arrange- 

 ments of one kind or another and of 

 varying degrees of elaborateness. The 

 holly Mreath Avas onoo the best selling 

 item of the tiorist 's Christmas stoek ; it 

 is still popular -with the people, but in 

 most places holly has lost much of its 

 value to the florist; it is now the chief 

 Christmas specialty of the (Ireek on the 

 curb, of the Italian who runs the pea- 

 nut stand, and holly is handled in large 

 quantities by tiie jirodnce commission 

 men, who supply it to every village 

 grocer and butcher. (Consequently many 

 florists are finding holly less and less 

 profitable, while those who are still able 

 to get a fairly satisfactory price for it 

 are. with few excciiticuis, selling smaller 

 quantities each year because of outside 

 competition. They are devoting their 

 energies to jdant arrangements, leaving 

 the liolly wnatlis and the paper Christ- 

 mas bells to other if less kindly hands. 



The Kind That Sell. 



Plant arrangements call for some soil 

 of basket, hamper, jiot cover or rii)bon 

 for each and the supply liouses have 

 not been slow to ju'ovide a wide assort- 

 ment of these accessories. in tlie 

 wealthier communities the leading re- 

 tailers have, witli their aid, and with 

 the aid of the jdantsmen's best prod- 

 ucts, builded some fearsome things; also 

 others rich, rare and delicate, fit exam- 

 ples of the best work of the craft. The 



b'KviKw lias jii'inted many pictures of 

 tlie pljijit and cut flower arrangeineiits, 

 sent out by the lion-tdii stores, hut to 

 sho\v._ these \ew York "creations'' to 

 the average llorist is frcciuently to fail 

 to interest l;im; he does not liave the 

 stock for their eoiistruetion, and if he 

 had these large or expensive .•inange- 

 ments in his store he could nut tiiid any- 

 body to buy tliem. 



Even in I'ittsliurg, ('lexfland, i'hila- 

 delphia, l->ost(Ui and ( 'liicago tiie largest 

 stores find themselves in the main tle- 

 jiendeiit upon the ]»atr(uiage of |ieople 

 who will not sjiend more than a moderate 

 amount on a single ]Mirchase and their 

 stocks are ari'anged accordingly. The ac- 

 companying illustrations are from photo- 

 graphs made last Christmas at one of 

 the best stores in an inland city, .-i 

 store which has the patronage of the 

 wealthiest class. They "show, not the 

 display pieces, the things (uie admires 

 but does not buv, but tlio thiniis which 

 were actnally being sold. 



Primulas Popularly Priced. 



The most jiopular ariangx'inent was 



the basket or hamper of jirimulas. These 



sold at from ,t."! to ^~), according to size 



and the amount of material i'('i(uire(|, 



and it was no uncommon thing to sell 



several to a custoinei'. to be delivered 



i on Christmas nniining to separate ad- 



i dresses. I'roliahly the hest liked wns 



[ the long, iiairow, zinc-lined ratlia ham 



I |(er containing eight to twelve iiriinulas, 



with no I'ilibon ov .any other accessory. 



1 Another form was the low round h.-isk.-t 



j with its zinc pan, containing piimulas 



and asparagus, adiantuin or occasionally 

 low p(jinsettias. A very g(KMl seller was 

 the small brass recefitacde, some solely 

 for hanging, otliers with legs, like the 

 one illustrated. These contained only a 

 single plant and could be ret.aileil at a 

 |iiic(,> which wouhl lead lo many sale?j 

 and si ill lea\e a good profit. tlN'ery 

 stoi-e shouhl offer >:ometliing ot' this 

 kind; it takes only a moment to till 

 them as net'ded. 



Poinsettias. 



< )f c<Mirse the poinselfia is to cju'lst- 

 mas what the lily is to J-laster, Imt it is 

 a somewhat more expensive jdant than 

 can 111' sold freely in the smaller stores. 

 The bright red brads of a good poin- 

 si'tlia to be sold in the pot should lie 

 as wide as the plant is high. They are 

 not usually of these jiropiu'tions, but 

 ihe lower they are the better they lend 

 themselves to making up in pans of 

 various sizes. They need no <_'inbellish- 

 nn'iit other than a pot cover. I lark 

 "I'een is best, sometimes tied with ludlv 

 led rililion. 



Jiy far the larger mimber of poin- 

 x'tfias ai-e used in planting liaskets or 

 hampers in conibinat imi with otln'r ma- 

 terial. Those which have lost ;i jiart of 

 their foliage ran be cm|iloyed in this 

 way with good effect, the other plants 

 ^ervin-; to i-ovei- their nakeilness. A few 

 b'oinan liyacintli>- serve to brighten tiy 

 contrast the red of the bracts and a 

 pandatius is a lavorite center plant. 

 With jioinset tias. l-'arleyiuise and Ifo- 

 maiis almost any kind ot' a basket or 

 zinc lined h.imper may be filled, alkiw- 

 ing f'lU' a wide lan^e nf style and price. 

 If ribbon is used if wduld better be 

 ln'avy. not too wide and green to match 

 the foliage of the poinsettia, esjiecially 

 if tied on the upper part of the .arrauge- 

 nieul. 



Otaheitc Oranges. 



< »tahiite oran^i's sell well ;it Christ- 

 mas, They ;iic fi(^(|uent ly jilaiited in 

 ham|iers with otjirr material, but last 

 year thousands of well fruited plants 

 were sold in "(mhI stores when shown 



Primroses in a Zinc-Lined Raffia Basket. 



