620 



The Weekly Rorists^ Review* 



Jvhx 19, 1906. 



count them. What you want are good 

 red, pink, and white, and a few fancy- 

 leaved ones, in both single and double. 

 It is better to grow a quantity of each 

 variety than to have fifty varieties and 

 only a few of each. When my customer 

 comes in and says, * * I would like to have 

 five or six dozen geraniums for my beds, 

 all one shade," you can fill the order 

 without substituting. I don't believe 

 there is any line of business in which a 

 man gets more roasting than does a 

 florist. So my reason for growing a 

 quantity of what I do grow, with the 

 fancy-leaved varieties, and Mme. Salleroi, 

 is a good one. 



It is best to lift a few plants of each 

 and pot in a 5-inch pot, then you can 

 take your cuttings off during the winter. 

 Mme. Salleroi roots easily, so that a cut- 

 ting put in the sand by February 1 

 will make nice stock in three months' 

 time. 



Other Good Bedders. 



Cannas are great acquisitions to the 

 flower bed. They are easy to handle and 

 don't take up much bench room. After 

 the first frost cut the foliage down to 

 within five inches of the ground. In 

 lifting leave just enough dirt to cover 

 the roots. Lay in the sun for a few 

 days so as to ripen them. A good place 

 for the florist to winter them is on boards 

 laid along the ground under the carna- 

 tion bed. By dividing the clump about 

 ivlarch 1 and placing the eyes in boxes 

 of sand, placed on tiie steam pipes under 

 the bench, they will start nicely, and 

 when the foliage is up about five or six 

 inches, pot them up in 4-inch pots. This 

 method of starting saves considerable 

 bench room and you don't pot up a lot 

 of eyes that won'c make good plants. 



Dahlias, when given good care, make 

 nice plants for a background, or to fill 

 in some corner. The same treatment 

 will apply to them as to cannas, with 

 the exception of starting. Dahlias 

 grown from cuttings make good plants, 

 and will bloom profusely the first year. 

 Cuttings can be taken off about the latter 

 part of February by laying the tubers 

 out, covering slightly with soil and keep- 

 ing them moist. The eyes will begin to 

 break freely and the old clumps can be 

 divided later on. 



Coleus is in great demand for edging, 

 or for solid beds. The most satisfactory 

 way I can find, also the most economical 

 way, to grow them is to lift a few plants 

 of each variety before frost, cut them 

 back to within ten inches of the pot and 

 carry them through the winter in a mod- 

 erately warm house. When spring comes 

 you have all the cuttings you want. The 

 first part of April is time enough to 

 take cuttings; they root in twelve to 

 fffteen days. The old plants are subject 

 to mealy bugs, so keep your hose on them 

 occasionally. 



Lantana.s and heliotrope treated the 

 same way are better than cuttings taken 

 in the fall, only they don 't lift very well, 

 80 you had better put a few in 5-inch 

 pots in the spring and plunge in a frame 

 through the summer. 



Other plants, such as abutilon, agera- 

 tuni, salvia, verbenas, marguerites, double 

 petunias, feverfew, cuttings taken before 

 frost and rooted in the sand, will give 

 you good stock to propagate from 

 through the winter. 



Plants from Seed. 



The following plants can be grown 

 from seed and give good satisfaction, be- 

 sides saving much valuable room; single 

 petunias, asters, lobelia, mignonette, 



moonflower, nastuxrtium, Phlox Drum- 

 mondii, stocks, ziiinnia, candytuft; seed 

 should be sown thoe first part of March. 



Now, in sowing seed it takes patience 

 and care. A goo -d rule to go. by is to 

 cover the seeds thei i r own thickness. First, 

 thoroughly water t.3lie soil before sowing. 

 Shade during the day until they begin 

 to show up; then be careful not to let 

 them get dry or wil Ited. 



Pansies for earl- y plants can be sown 

 in the latter part •of August, and trans- 

 planted to the franrmes when the character 

 leaves show; cover with sashes and later 

 put on a covering mci course manure over 

 all. It is also a good idea, to m^ike a 

 sowing in flats ataoout the first part of 

 February, which v«=viil give you another 

 batch to fill up •the frames after the 

 earlier ones are gonme. 



Alternantheras, : in different varieties, 

 are indispensable as carpet bedding 

 plants. I have lia(3 the best success with 

 them by taking cumttings the latter part 

 of August, puttiuig them in a flat of 

 half soil and halflE sand, watered thor- 

 oughly and placed along the edge of a 

 bench on the grou md, shaded until root 

 action begins. By-^ spring you have all 

 the wood for cuttc^ings you want, or if 

 your supply is adequate, prick them off 



ties, I find that the following varieties do 

 well with us here: Hardy phlox, peonies, 

 Achillea The Pearl, campanula, dielytra, 

 delphinium, heliantbus, funkia, pyre- 

 thrum, Eudbeckia Golden Glow, and 

 anemone. To increase the stock of these 

 either by cuttings or divisions, take cut- 

 tings oflf the soft growth in the spring 

 and make divisions about September 1. 



Planting and Care. 



Now a few words on the planting and 

 care of these plants. The most essential 

 part is to get the ground in proper 

 shape. What I mean by proper shape is 

 this: Whether for fall planting or 

 spring, give the beds a liberal coating 

 of well rotted cow manure. If the 

 ground vis dry, water first, and let it 

 stand until it can be spaded without the 

 soil sticking to the spade, when you are 

 ready to do your planting. This applies 

 either to rain, hose watering or sprinkling 

 can. Half the success with bedding 

 plants depends upon the planting out. 

 Plants purchased from a florist, as a 

 rule, are pot-bound. So in setting out 

 be sure to make your holes deep enough. 



Plants, to inake a good showing, as a 

 rule will stand to be planted from ten 

 to twelve inches apart. After making 



Convenlioa^ Hall at Dayton, Sbowing Part of the Outside Trade Exliibits. 



in 2-inch pots aboumt the middle of April 

 juid plunge in a hootbed. This treatment 

 does not take up beench room. 



I believe I have - named about all the 

 most important boedding plants in the 

 ?oft-wooded line. 



Roses f»<>r Beddingf. 



The hybrid tea roses are very satis- 

 factory as summer — bloomers. Take the 

 plants from the boench the first part of 

 .lune, cut them ba«ck a little, and give 

 them a thorough soaaking ; they will bloom 

 profusely. I have ocarried them over with 

 good success by - putting four or five 

 inches of soil arour:nd the base, and later 

 on, as the weather gets more severe, the 

 same quantity of c»«arse manure. In the 

 spring, as the weaeither gets milder, re- 

 move your top co^^ering. Later on re- 

 move this second ocovering. Cut oflF all 

 dead wood and jom will find that in a 

 short time new shooots will show up and 

 give you good rosess throughout the sum- 

 mer. 



In the line of ba rdy bedders that give 

 good satisfaction aos to blooming quali- 



the holes, place the plants and if the 

 arrangement suits you water each indi- 

 vidual plant. After the water has soaked 

 away fill up the holes with dry soil; this 

 method keeps the soil from baking 

 around the roots. It would be well if we 

 could abide by this rule in all our plant- 

 ings. The soil needs to be kept loosened 

 by frequent cultivation. Don't be afraid 

 to go down well; that is where you 

 want the moisture to go. 



As a rule, sufficient rain falls to do 

 most plants, cannas and dahlias excepted. 

 They can tase a soaking every evening 

 and will be better for it. When water- 

 ing, give the plants enough to thorough- 

 ly soak them, not a light sprinkling, as 

 that only does more harm than good. 



"Window-boxes, veranda-boxes and 

 hanging baskets are used extensively. I 

 find that the wire baskets lined with 

 moss are the best, as they hold the mois- 

 ture better. 



Asparagus Sprengeri is used exten- 

 sively as a basket plant and seems to 

 thrive nicely. For boxes or vases I 

 would recommend mixing your soil with 



