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September 6, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



983 



Lorraine Begonia. 



This is tne season tliat Begonia Gloire 

 de Lorraine is makiug its fastest 

 growth, and most of the plants will be 

 improved by stopping or pinching the 

 leading shoots. Here is where you will 

 get excellent material for propagating 

 your next year's plants, and now is the 

 lime to do it. 



I am aware that several of the most 

 successful growers of this fine begonia 

 will not agree with the method I ad- 

 vocate. They adopt the propagation 

 plan of rooting the leaf stalks in No- 

 vember and December, when there is 

 some heat in the sand. Still, after 

 watching the great success attained by 

 two or three growers of my home city, 

 I must lean toward rooting, the tops of 

 the young growths, because I believe 

 a larger percentage can bo rooted. In 

 cutting off the tip of the shoot, cut 

 just below the fully developed leaf, and 

 insert the cutting an inch deep in the 

 sand. The cutting needs no trimming 

 of any kind. Now I ought to say here 

 that two or three eyes of the rest of 

 the cutting, which is really a flowering 

 shoot and ^fi]l soon develop flowers, are 

 not of the slightest use to the future 

 plant, and as soon as the young growths 

 wnich start from the roots appear this 

 little flowering piece can be pinched off 

 close to the surface of the soil. You 

 then have virtually the same plant you 

 wouid have from a leaf cutting, but the 

 few extra leaves and stem have hastened 

 the rooting process. 



The treatment of these rooted cut- 

 tings differs little from that of the 

 leaf cuttings. They should be potted in 

 a mixture of half sand and half light 

 loam, should be shaded for a week or 

 two from bright sun, and watered only 

 when really dry. You can not with suc- 

 cess water these young begonias as you 

 can a batch of geraniums or chrysan- 

 themums. Some may need water, others 

 may not, and for the dark days of win- 

 ter keep them always on the dry side. 



The returning influence of spring 

 starts the young growths into activity. 

 A shift into a 4-inch pot in April or 

 Maj' and, as Mr. Peterson pleasantly 

 puts it, ' ' your trouble is over. " It is 

 in the early days of its existence that 

 this begonia is difficult to handle. For 

 two years after its introduction to this 

 country its culture was understood only 

 by a few. Those few have taught 

 others, and when once mastered it is, 

 like many other things, quite easy after 

 you know how. Every honest gardener 

 will admit that there are many points 

 or operations in our business, that he 

 may consider so simple today, that one 

 day he considered a Chinese puzzle, and 

 deplored the want of familiarity with 

 the subject. 



Early Frosts. 



It seems out of place to refer to 

 frost after the long, beautiful summer 

 that has blessed us, but although Sep- 

 tember in the north is our loveliest 

 month, it is fickle, and along about Sep- 

 tember 20 we often get a frost that 



wilts such susceptible plants las 

 dahlia and the heliotrope. We can't 

 everything in one day, so what san 

 done to advantage today never pu 

 till tomorrow. 



Stevia. 



I trust' you have your bouvardias 

 lifted and on the bench a week ago; if 

 not, don't delay a day. Another plant 

 that is cheap and common, but most 

 useful, is Stevia serrata, better known 

 as sweet stevia. It should be lifted 

 and potted. It is i^iuch too early to 

 bring these plants into the greenhouse 

 because the longer you can keep them 

 outdoors the stouter and better the 

 spikes will be, and what is of more 

 consequence, it will retard them so that 

 they are in their prime at the holidays. 



After potting firmly in 6-inch, 7-inch 

 or 8-inch pots, as the plants may re- 

 quire, and giving them the usual soak- 

 ing, place th^m on. 'the north side of 

 some sheltering fence or building. Al- 

 though delighting in a low temperature, 

 this plant is easily hurt by a light 

 frost; if potted, they easily can be laid 

 down and protected, and then may be 

 safe outdoors for another six weeks, 

 greatly to their benefit. 



Vioca Major. 



If you are well supplied with that 

 most useful drooping plant, Vinca ma- 

 jor, both variegated and the green form, 

 you may not need to propagate any this 

 fall. If you must have more, then divi- 

 sions of the old plants will give you 

 them. Propagate now, for I have neve? 

 seen the time when any of us had too 

 many of these unequalled drooping 

 plants for vases and veranda-boxes. 

 They root readily now. Cut the long 

 growths up in pieces of two eyes. Don't 

 use the heavy, hard wood near the old 

 plant, or the tender tops. It is neces- 

 sary to have an eye or joint in the sand, 

 because it is from the root that the 

 strong growths which make the useful 

 plant will spring. Although the growth 

 from the root may not occur till Feb- 

 ruary, keep the cutting wet and shade 

 from bright sun, and they will surely 

 root, although it may be slowly. 



Deutzias. 



• If you grow your own deutzias for 

 spring forcing, they can be dug and 

 potted now, and there will be plenty 

 of time for them to get rooted and 

 established before winter. They will 

 force much better than dormant plants 

 that you pot only just before you be- 

 gin to force, and which cannot have 

 many roots to supply the leaves and 

 flowers. Lift with all the roots you 

 can, pot firmly, water thoroughly and 

 keep sprayed for a week. They will 

 soon take hold of the new soil. 



Hydrang:eas. 



I noticed in my travels that some 

 successful hydrangea growers were lift- 

 ing fine plants in 6-inch pots from the 

 frames, Avhere they had been plunged 

 and were growing vigorously. If kept 

 plunged and moist growth had con- 



tinued, when frost necessitated removal 

 to the greenhouse the woo(^ and eyes 

 would have been unripe and in poor con- 

 dition to take a rest. The object of 

 lifting them and exposing them to more 

 light and air, as well as less moisture 

 at the roots, was to arrest growth and 

 ripen the wood and flowering buds. If 

 your hydrangeas are crowded and still 

 growing fast, stop the growth by this 

 means. 



Pansies. 



Pansies sown in July will be about 

 ready to plant out in the beds where 

 they are to winter. The longer and 

 better- they are rooted, the more fit 

 will they be to stand the rigor of our 

 hard winters. They can be planted four 

 inches each way, but five inches is bet- 

 ter. Plant firmly and water thoroughly, 

 and you will have fine little flowering 

 plants before real winter sets all vege- 

 tation hibernating. 



Rambler Roses. 



I notice a batch of Dorothy Perkins 

 ramblers that have been grown in 6- 

 inch pots all summer in the houses. 

 You may have this variety or some 

 other of those fine ramblers in the same 

 condition. They should by this time 

 have made all the grtiwth you desire, 

 and it is now time the canes should 

 be ripened. 



Stand them outdoor^, not on the damp . 

 ground, or where water will stand, 

 but on boards, because you want 

 them to ripen their wood. Don't sud- 

 denly dry them off, but give less water 

 at the root each succeeding week. In 

 October it will pay, in case of heavy 

 rains and warm temperature, to lay 

 these plants on their side, for, if the 

 canes are ripe, the eyes will often break 

 and make a short lateral growth. It is 

 these eyes that you want to be large 

 and plump and dormant when you be- 

 gin to force in January. 



These ramblers will do outdoors until 

 at least November 1, and later if the 

 weather is mild, or till you expect very 

 severe frosts. From the time of pro- 

 tecting them till you begin to force, 

 they should be laid down in a frame, 

 covered with a few inches of straw, and 

 cover the frame with boards when put- 

 ting the plants away for their winter 

 rest Give the roots a watering. As 

 I have often had occasion to remark, 

 no hardy trees or shrubs will endure 

 severe frosts when their roots are dry; 

 we have often suffered loss by exposing 

 hardy shrubs to severe frosts with the 

 roots dry. 



I had a good deal to say last Feb- 

 ruary about these ramblers and believed 

 then that we had mastered the art of 

 forcing and flowering the Crimson Eam- 

 blers, with plants dug from the field 

 in November. 



They were dug about November 10, 

 potted, laid down outdoors and covered 

 with four inches of light soil. When 

 brought into a night temperature at the 

 end of January, they were laid on the 

 bench and covered with three or four 

 inches of damp straw from bottom to 

 top. They broke splendidly, every eye 

 bursting out with vigorous growth, and 

 we could see dollar bills sticking all 

 over them. As Easter approached, we 

 looked for trusses of flowers, but to 

 our dismay nearly every lateral growth 

 was blind. Now why was this? Octo* 

 ber and the early part of November had 

 been mild, and hurried growth had con- 

 tinued; the wood of these ramblers was 



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