J 396 



The Weekly Rorists' Review^ 



April 5, 1906. 



view of a specimen of each kind with- 

 out having to handle the plants. 



"We will sui)pose the stock includes 

 Easter lilies, callas, cineraria, primroses, 

 spiraeas, azaleas, hyacinths, tulips, ferns, 

 palms, lilacs, genistas, roses, etc. Have 

 plenty of plant stands and pedestals of 

 various heights, from a foot and a half 

 to five feet, and as many low tables as 

 space will allow. Have some of them 

 quite low. First classify the collection 

 as to kind; for instance, have a table of 

 hyacinths and a group of azaleas, etc. 

 Then arrange or separate the kinds of 

 plants as to color, placing purple and 

 lavender hyacinths at one side of the 

 group. Scattered among the light pur- 

 ple let a few white be seen. Then group 

 the white close together, add a few light 

 pink and work in the deeper pinks 

 towards the opposite side. 



The effect of the whole is not only 

 pleasing, but after a customer locates 

 his favorite color he can more quickly 

 make his choice as to the plant he de- 

 sires. 



At a convenient distance have a group 

 of Easter lilies with palms and ferns in- 

 terspersed. These should be ranged 

 from the height of the plant on the floor 

 to one upon a tall stand. The group may 

 be crowned by a large palm. Toward 



Most of them look better on the floor 

 or on a low platform. 



Care should be taken not only to pre- 

 serve color harmony between the plants 

 of different colors in the same group, 

 but also between the groups. Separate 

 clashing colors by a bunch of green or 

 white. Place the purples and scarlets at 

 the ends of the display space. 



It will soon be noted that the plants 

 which stand apart sell most quickly. Pot 

 receptacles do not always sell themselves, 

 but they sell the plants and are there- 

 fore a good investment. 



Let the pot covers be plain and quiet, 

 the less ribbon the better. 



A chiffon bow or ribbon is admirable 

 on a basket handle, but it should be 

 well chosen and in close harmony with 

 the basket 's contents. Where the con-, 

 tents of a plant basket looks too solid 

 set a slender vase on one side close to 

 the handle and fill with some slender 

 spray flowers, like snapdragon or spiraea. 

 Often the combination will sell. 



Of course all this means extra thought 

 and care, but it pays. Plants with a 

 little thought put upon their appearance 

 and arrangement will easily bring a bet- 

 ter price than an ill assorted lot of even 

 better quality. 



Gertrude Blair. 



The G>oveotional Form of Azalea. 



the edge of the lily group begin to intro- 

 duce a bright bit of color in the way 

 of a pink azalea. Next group the aza- 

 leas, grading the colors from dark to 

 light, setting aside some odd color for a 

 more convenient place. 



Leave space enough between the dif- 

 ferent groups for the salesman to walk 

 around and reach individual plants. Aza- 

 leas should not be staged very high. 



AZALEAS FOR EASTER. 



The accompanying illustrations show 

 Easter azaleas, one of them the well- 

 known, flat-headed form of which hun- 

 dreds of thousands are sold every season. 

 This is a typical plant, fairly well 

 flowered, well shaped in the convention- 

 al form, with the pan resting in one 

 of the popular pot covers and tied with 

 a big bow of satin ribbon. 



While such plants as these are the 

 ones which sell in greatest quantity, such 

 plants as are shown in the second illus- 

 tration have taken a firm hold on the 

 public favor and are called for in great- 

 er quantities each season. A leading 

 Chicago retailer already has such a plant 

 in his window with a card, "The new 

 pyramidal azalea, the greatest novelty 

 of the season. " As a matter of fact 

 such plants invariably attract the at- 

 tention of visitors through the fact that 

 the average customer has not seen plants 

 of this shape. 



The plant illustrated was a most at- 

 tractive specimen. It is profusely 

 flowered and the flowers are uniform- 

 ly distributed on all sides of the plant. 

 The one defect is that the plant was not 

 quite straight, nor could the top be made 

 to stand quite erect by staking. The 

 addition of the pot cover and the chiffon 

 was, of course, necessary to make the 

 plant ready for sale. As a matter of 

 fact, this plant was packed up last East- 

 er by a leading Chicago retailer and 

 shipped for a customer to an Iowa 

 town, where it arrived safely. 



THE ROSE BASKETS. 



Reproduced in this issue are photo- 

 graphs of four of the fancy baskets in 

 the Easter display, 1905, at the store 

 of C. A. Samuelson, Chicago. These 

 show the popular twig baskets in three 

 styles and also show a fancy raffia ham- 

 per, zinc lined, with lid only partially 

 visible in the illustration. With Mr. 

 Samuelson these baskets were among the 

 best selling specialties for Easter. They 

 naturally brought good prices because 

 they were worth it and because Mr. 

 Samuelson 's trade calls for the best. 



The material used in each of these 

 baskets was the Clothilde Soupert rose 

 with Baby Ramblers. In some of the 

 baskets the pussywillow is seen and also 

 a little selaginella, a few small plants 

 of cocus and some Asparagus plumosus. 



The best selling baskets were those 

 with the handle, but all were decorated 

 with ribbon. In three of these specimens 

 chiffon was used and on the other Per- 

 sian silk ribbon, the figure being a pink 

 rose. Last year Mr. Samuelson used 

 large numbers of the Easter chickens, as 

 shown in several of these handled bas- 

 kets. They invariably made a hit with 

 the ladies and children, and added not 

 a little to the selling qualities of the 

 many arrangements to which they were 

 added. 



TREATMENT FOR AZALEAS.' 



We would like to have you tell us the 

 best method of caring for azaleas that 

 are left on our somewhat inexperienced 

 hands. Can they be readily managed so 

 as to bloom well next season, or would it 

 be cheaper to throw them away? 



. E. & B. 



Many times have azaleas been alluded 

 to in the columns of the Review. There 

 was a time when we believed that aza- 

 leas unsold at flowering time were not 

 worth bothering with. We have, how- 

 ever, learned that this was a big mistake 

 and now many of our best Easter aza- 

 leas are those plants carried over from 

 last year. The individual flower is not 

 quite so large, but the sure and great 

 profusion of blossoms make the plants 

 most attractive. Some varieties like Ber- 

 nard Andre and Bernard Andre alba do 

 not flower satisfactorily the first spring 



