878 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



I 



February 15, 1906. 



NEPHROLEPIS PIERSONI 



ELEGANTISSIMA 



Grand stocky in all sizes. Very popular in New York and all the largfc cities* 



INPRECEDENTED SALE OF LARGE SPECIMENS 



Prices from 75c each ; $9.00 per doz.; $50.00 per lOO, up to $2.00, 

 $3.00, $5.00 and $7.50 each. Satisfaction Guaranteed. 



F. R. PIERSON CO., TARRYTOWN, N. Y. 



PACIFIC COAST. 



Portland, Ore. — M. Andrews has sold 

 out to Jos. Botano, who will grow let- 

 tuce. 



Seattle, Wash. — A meeting of the 

 trustees of the King County Horticul- 

 tural Society was held February 7 at the 

 office of George B. Kittinger. The mem- 

 bers of the committee voted to hold a 

 mass meeting on March 14 at the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, to represent the var- 

 ious improvement clubs, churches and 

 civic organizations of the city. Aid will 

 then be asked for the big flower, fruit 

 and vegetable show, which will be given 

 .June 13, 14 and 15. The programme 

 of exhibits was prepared and adopted 

 unanimously by the committee. This 

 will be submitted at the next regular 

 meeting of the Horticultural Society. It 

 is proposed to rent a large auditorium 

 for the flower show, and if this is not 

 available to give the big show in a large 

 tent. 



DECORATIVE HARDY STOCK. 



We have in California many native 

 groAvths which are becoming more popu- 

 lar year by year with the general pub- 

 lic and with many of our florists they 

 now represent quite a portion of their 

 monthly sales. It takes quite a time to 

 get the public interested in any thing 

 out of the ordinary, but when once a de- 

 mand is created the dealers have to 

 keep many articles on hand that used to 

 be classed as rubbish. It is only within 

 .1 few years that huckleberry and Ore- 

 gon grape were introduced to the people 

 of San Francisco and vicinity and now 

 they are both indispensable. 



I find the California manzanita ia 

 rapidly coming to the front as a decora- 

 tive article and justly so, for it is one 

 of our most beautiful shrubs. It is 

 known botanically as Arctostaphylos 

 tomentosa and grows abundantly here. 

 The plants grow from five to twenty feet 

 in height, with pale green leaves and 

 purple-brown bark and the flowers, which 

 are borne in great profusion, are of a 

 deUcate pinkish white color and very 

 waxy. It is well known here and closely 

 resembles the Madrono. Arbutus Men- 



ziesi, the branches of which are in great 

 demand the last few years for holiday 

 decorating on account of the profusion 

 of bright red berries. At this season of 

 the year it is quite as pretty for its 

 great panicles of small white, bell shaped 

 flowers and polished green leaves. 



The California wild currant, Bibes 

 glutinosum, has also found great favor 

 as a decorative green. It grows in shrubs 

 six to ten feet high and is particularly 

 abundant in our southern country. In 

 the early winter, in the south and some- 

 what later in the north, the wild cur- 

 rant becomes a thing of beauty hardly 

 to have been expected. The young foli- 

 age of a clear, brilliant green is gaily 

 decked with the long clusters of pecu- 

 liarly fresh pink blossoms, making a 

 very pleasing contrast. The cut branches 

 keen well in water and have a char- 

 acteristic heavy fragrance. 



Acacia moUissima, although not a na- 

 tive of this state, is used more than ever 

 this season by the florists. Its time of 

 flowering is but a few weeks, but quanti- 

 ties of the branches and blossoms are 

 used at this time. 



The holly leaved cherry, Prunus ilici- 

 folia, is a very ornamental shrub grow- 

 ing from eight to twenty feet in height. 

 It has shining prickly evergreen leaves 

 and is coming more and more into favor, 

 especially for the making of wreaths at 

 holiday time and for decorating when 

 long graceful branches are needed. 



The California buckeye, Aesculus Cali- 

 fornica, is closely allied to the horse- 

 chestnut and the branches and blossoms 

 are among our most beautiful native pro- 

 ductions. They are rather delicate to 

 handle to advantage, but very effective 

 when used. 



The Berberis repens, Oregon grape, is 

 now so well known as to need no descrip- 

 tion. Within the past few years it has 

 taken front rank as a decorative plant 

 and there is danger of it becoming very 

 scarce from the constant recutting of it 

 in our wooded country. We have several 

 other varieties of the barberry in Cali- 

 fornia, but the most beautiful one is the 

 well known sort I speak of. 



The yellow lupine, Lupinus arboreus, 

 although a very common shrub here, is 

 quite extensively used in decorating and 

 furnishes a color that is hard to dupli- 

 cate in more expensive flowers. 



I have spoken only of our hardy 

 shrubs that are used by the florists in the 

 line of decorating, and these only within 

 the past few years. We have an almost 

 endless array of wild flowers, some of 

 which have already begun to make their 

 presence felt and will go a long way 

 toward making the florists' windows 

 bright for the next few weeks. G. 



VICTORIA. B. C. 



Spring has come. At least, so say the 

 birds and flowers. Snowdrops January 

 1, daflPodils (Henry Irving) January 25; 

 Iris reticulata January 20; our wild 

 Sisyrinchium grandiflorum January 31. 

 These dates probably chronicle a record 

 in this part of the world. From Jan- 

 uary 22 to February 3 we had such warm 

 weather that it was possible with banked 

 fires to keep air on carnations and roses 

 all night. Since then we have had a 

 light frost at night, but the days so 

 bright and warm that summer ventilation 

 was needed, and we could water and 

 spray to our heart's content. 



A. J. Woodward had a fire in nis 

 boiler house some six weeks ago, but 

 very little damage was done. He has a 

 fire hose on the place and soon got the 

 blaze under control. 



Mrs. Farrington has also had trouble. 

 The bottom of her boiler dropped out ajid 

 it took sixty hours to make repairs. 

 Luckily, no damage was done. 



A. J. Woodward has bought the lease 

 and stock of the Vancouver Floral Co. 

 Bob Withers is still retained as manager. 

 Mr. Woodward also has opened a store 

 in the Arcade in addition to the one on 

 Granville street. 



Mrs. M. A. Flewin has a fine bed of 

 freesias. They are two feet high and 

 strong in proportion. They cany three 

 and four spikes to the bulb. 



E. A. W. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



The Market. 



Business continues fair, not quite as 

 good as it was a week ago. Funeral 

 work easily occupies the front place. 

 Flowers are daily becoming more plenti- 

 ful. We have had a great deal of warm 

 weather and everything is coming into 

 market with a rush. Daffodils of vari- 



