1854 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



May 17, 1906. 



anthemums; the one great disadvantage 

 in showing them on long stems with 

 foliage is that the flowers do not keep 

 so long. 



With Asparagus plumosus nanus I 

 have found that where any of the 

 foliage goes into the water it soon be- 

 comes offensive. Even when packing for 

 market the foliage must be kept quite 

 dry, or it will soon go slimy and be use- 

 less ; but if packed in boxes which are 

 well lined with paper, it will keep good 



a long time without any moisture. With 

 many flowers inexperienced packers use 

 too much moisture, with the result that 

 if shut up close for one day they go 

 wrong. In the warm weather the flowers 

 may be put into water (or rather the 

 flower stems), and allowed to stand some 

 time before packing them, but all blooms 

 should be kept quite dry; and when 

 packing in boxes a good paper lining 

 should be given, the boxes to be made 

 as nearly air-tight as possible. 



Antirrhinums. 



You will have noticed the popularity 

 and call for the snapdragon (antir- 

 rhinum) this spring. If the price it 

 brings dees not make it as profitable as 

 American Beauty roses, it is neverthe- 

 less a very decorative subject and makes 

 a pretty centerpiece or bouquet asso- 

 ciated with other spring flowers. 



Antirrhinums are, I think, mostly 

 growi; from seed sown in July or 

 August and then planted on benches in 

 four or five inches of soil. The trouble 

 with this method is that as the dark 

 days of autumn come on they make little 

 progress and do not flower till the re- 

 turning sun of spring. 



A better plan is to propagate at the 

 end of May from cuttings. The strong 

 growths, from which you have cut blooms 

 last month, will send out side shoots, 

 which will root readily, and must then 

 be carried over summer in pots plunged 

 in a frame in the full sun. This is a bet- 

 ter preparation to make early flowering 

 plants than carrying in the shaded 

 greenhouse. When put on the benches 

 in September or October they will soon 

 give a crop of flowers, and once they 

 begin to bloom you may expect to cut 

 right along until late spring. 



By cuttings you can also perpetuate 

 the most desirable forms and colors, 

 which from seed you are not sure of 

 doing. The white and yellow shades are 

 the most in demand. Soil that will 

 grow carnations will grow antirrhinums, 

 and, as they are free-growing plants, 

 give them room to flourish. Twelve to 

 fifteen inches apart each way is little 

 enough. They are almost hardy in our 

 northern winters, so 50 degrees at night 

 will grow them freely, and give them all 

 the direct sunlight' your location is 

 favored with. 



Marguerite Queen Alexandra. 



A plant that will be more popular 

 next Easter than it was this spring is 

 Chrysanthemum frutescens, commonly 

 known a.s marguerite, or Paris daisy. 

 The variety or form 1 allude to is called 

 Queen Alexandra. It is one of the best 

 of all house plants and the flower is 

 beautiful. The first flowers to open are 

 single, having only one whorl of petals. 

 Succeeding flowers lose the yelloAv eye 

 and the center of the blossom is a rosette 

 of short, crowded petals, much resem- 

 bling the Japanese anemone chrysanthe- 

 mum. With only a few flowers they are 

 not sufficiently attractive, but well-flow- 

 ered plants of medium size in 5-inch or 



6-inch pots or 8-inch pans are bound to 

 be popular. 



Cuttings should be put in now, or a 

 little later, and grown on with occa- 

 sional shifting through the summer, and 

 should be plunged outdoors in the full 

 sun. Or, if kept in not larger than 

 4-inch pots through the summer, they 

 can be planted out on a bench where 

 some of the earliest chrysanthemums 

 have been cut. This will prevent them 

 becoming exhausted in the pots and they 

 will lift perfectly. 



As planting them out will have a 

 tendency to make strong, robust growth 

 rather than bloom, they must be lifted 

 and potted two months before you de- 

 sire them in full flower. For pans take 

 cuttings of the leading shoots about 

 New Year's. They root most easily. 

 Plant five or six rooted cuttings in an 

 8-inch pan. 



As a cut flower, the Queen Alexandra 

 marguerite is also most desirable. 

 Sprays cut will last two weeks in water, 

 the larger buds opening after being cut 

 a week. We have measured flowers of 

 Queen Alexandra the past week that 

 were four inches in diameter, almost 

 double the size of the old type. 



Gipe Jasmine* 



In the last issue of the Eeview there 

 were interesting illustrations of the cul- 

 ture of gardenias in Texas, which is 

 good proof of the immense demand there 

 is from the northern florists. The gar- 

 denia is a native of tropical Asia and 

 southern Africa, so our warm southern 

 states grow it to perfection, but from 

 the fact of their being native to the 

 Cape of Good Hope would lead us to 

 believe that a tropical temperature is 

 not necessary in winter time. However 

 plentifully they can be produced in 

 Texas, Louisiana or Florida, they are a 

 long way off from our large northern 

 cities, where the chief market lies, and 

 they do not travel well, their soft petals 

 being easily bruised or soiled by the 

 packing material and the long journey, 

 so it is desirable that they should be 

 produced near where they will be used. 



It is interesting to learn from Nichol- 

 son 's Dictionary of Gardening that 

 Gardenia florida was named for a Dr. 

 Garden, of Charlestown, South Carolina, 

 who was a correspondent of the great 

 Linnfcus, which proves the antiquity of 

 Charlestown in horticulture, for Lin- 

 naeus wrote about 1720. Nicholson says 

 it is "a genus comprising about sixty 

 species," of which no doubt Dr. Garden 



found one species in cultivation in our 

 southern states and from which have 

 come the double forms now known as 

 G. jasminoides, or cape jasmine, and 

 that grandiflora is merely a garden form 

 of the latter. 



Gardenias Under Glass. 



We noticed last August, during a 

 visit to one or two of the leading plant 

 establishments of Philadelphia, that 

 there were several houses of gardenias 

 planted out on benches, just as we grow 

 carnations and roses. They were free 

 of insects, growing vigorously and must 

 have given splendid results. The natural 

 time of flowering is April and May and 

 the grower who can flower it freely in 

 midwinter reaps a good harvest. 



Most writers on the cultivation of 

 Gardenia florida under glass recommend 

 growing it in pots, but that is no reason 

 why its culture planted out should not 

 be s. great advance in the right direction. 

 Kemember, brother florists, that if forty 

 years ago the planting out of roses, 

 carnations or chrysanthemums had been 

 advocated to a good old gardener, he not 

 only would have been skeptical, but dubi- 

 ous as to your sanity. They assuredly 

 can be grown in pots very successfully, 

 and for conservatory decoration that 

 would be the way, but, commercially, 

 planting out will be the method. 



Easy Plants to Grow. 



As they propagate easily from cut- 

 tings, which is best done in early Jan- 

 uary, it is now too late to speak of that, 

 but plants in 3-inch pots can be pro- 

 cured in right condition for planting 

 out, now or a few weeks later, in about 

 five inches of well chopped up turfy 

 loam with a fourth or fifth of rotted 

 horse or cow manure. The bottom of 

 the bench should afford ample drainage. 

 I will say here that the gardenia is an 

 easy plant to grow and flower. The 

 chief essentials are heat and moisture, 

 with an abundance of water at the roots 

 during the growing season, £^nd, lastly, 

 freedom from insect pests, chief of 

 which is the mealy bug. 



After they have started to grow free- 

 ly the leading shoots can be pinched 

 during the season to produce more 

 branches, which means more flowers. 

 They must be syringed at least twice a 

 day to keep down mealy bug and, if 

 that is not effectual, then a syringing of 

 kerosene emulsion will eradicate them. 

 The constant syringing they require 

 keeps the soil wet and prevents a rest- 

 ing of the plants in the fall • and no 

 cessation of growth and consequent late 

 flowering. 



And now I am to mention something 

 incident to the planting-out system. On 

 telling this to Robert Craig last fall he 

 wrinkled up his Socrates-like brow and 

 remarked: "1 think that is a valuable 

 point. ' ' Here it is : 



As It Is Done at Frisco. 



Wm. Belsey, of this city, who was 

 several years engaged in the growing 

 end of floriculture in the city of San 

 Francisco, on his return to the east 

 told me of the ease and success with 

 which they grew gardenias under glass. 

 It appears that in place of planting on 

 a level surface of soil on a bench, as 

 we do roses and carnations, they spread 

 about five inches of soil on the bench 

 and then mound it up in little hillocks 

 and plant on top of these little mounds. 

 For instance, the summit of these little 

 mounds would be eight or nine inches 



