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Januabt 81, 1007. fl 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



777 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Easter Lilies. 



Wc are experiencing a much colder 

 Avinter than a year ago, and one whicli 

 so far has given us an abnormal pro- 

 portion of sunless Aveather. February 

 will have arrived before these notes 

 roach the majority of readers. It is a 

 short month and usually a snowy and 

 cold one. Easter comes early this year, 

 and a great deal of care will be neces- 

 sary to get lilies and other flowering 

 plants in on time. The buds on Easter 

 lilies should be showing so that they can 

 be counted by the middle of February. 

 By hard forcing, flowers may be had 

 even if the buds do not show till tlie 

 end of the month, but six weeks is none 

 too long to allow for their proper de- 

 velopment. It is better to have them 

 in bloom, and hold them back in a 

 cool house for a few days, rather than 

 attempt to force them almost to death 

 in the last few days. 



Assuming that the plants are in about 

 the right stage, give them a night tem- 

 perature of 55 degrees, syringe overhead 

 twice a day and see that they arc not 

 allowed to become dry at the root. Drop 

 a little tobacco dust or juice in the top 

 of the shoots for the benefit of the 

 omnipresent green aphis. As the pots 

 will be well filled with roots, give some 

 liquid stimulants once a week to keep 

 them toned up. 



We are this season trying a good 

 many Azores longiflorums and they 

 have the smallest percentage of disease 

 of any on our place. The Bermuda 

 stock is far less satisfactory. 



If some of your plants have buds 

 well advanced, and you wish to retard 

 them, do not place them in a cold house 

 or most of the buds will be destroyed. 

 Keep fairly warm until the first flowers 

 are ready to open. Then place in a 

 cooler structure. 



If there are any bulbs still unpotted 

 and you need same for Memorial day 

 trade, lose no time in getting them into 

 the soil. 



The popular hardy garden lily, L. 

 candidum, will be difficult to get in 

 flower by the end of March. This lily 

 •lislikes hard forcing. Better hold back 

 the plants for Memorial day rather than 

 ruin them in a vain effort to secure some 

 for Easter. 



Rambler Roses. 



If ramblers were started in Decem- 

 ber they will now have shoots several 

 inches in length and it should be possi- 

 ble to see the buds in a few days. 

 Give them a light, sunny location; 

 syringe only on bright days; keep a 

 little sulphur painted on the pipes to 

 hold mildew in check; water carefully, 

 and if the plants have been grown right 

 along in pots provide some liquid food. 



There can be no question but that 

 this class of roses is far and away bet- 

 ter when pot-grown all the time. They 

 force better, break more evenly and 

 give larger trusses of flowers. Crimson 

 Bambler, to be in season for Easter, 

 should have the buds just peeping. The 



new pink forms, such as Lady Gay, 

 Dorothy Perkins, and others, need fully 

 two weeks longer than Crimson Ram- 

 bler to come in. They will stand a 

 fairly brisk heat now, 60 degrees at 

 night being hot enough. Later batches 

 started now will provide salable plants 

 in April. The pink forms have proven 

 better sellers than the crimson, being 

 less common and of a pleasing color. 



Hydrangeas. 



Hydrangeas are less grown for Easter 



liquid manure or a chemical surfacing 

 once a week. 



Probably some plants will not throw 

 much bloom, but will provide good cut- 

 tings. Take off a good batch of these 

 and place in a warm propagating bench, 

 where they will soon root and make nice 

 plants for another year. Some buyers 

 prefer the pink forms of H. Otaksa, 

 while others consider blue the best shade. 

 An absolutely pure white one would 

 probably please all elements. 



Astilbe. 



Astilbes, or as they are more popu- 

 larly called, spiraeas, are always useful 

 at Easter. They are comparatively 

 cheap plants, but can be put to diverse 

 uses. They will stand hard forcing un- 

 til the flowers show color, when they 

 should be placed in a cooler house. The 

 old variety, A. Japonica, has to quite a 

 large extent been displaced by its im- 

 proved form, A. Japonica compacta 

 multiflora, A. astilboides, and the fine 



Mirror Decoration of Winsor Carnation and Elegantissima Fern. 



(One of the Toronto exhlbltB of the P. R. Plerson Co.) 



than a few years ago, most growers pre- 

 ferring to have them in flower about 

 Memorial day. Well shaped and 

 bloomed plants, however, usually sell 

 well. The flower heads should now be 

 discernible, in which case they should 

 be all right by March 31. Hydrangeas 

 need literal supplies of water, with 



new variety, Gladstone. The three lat- 

 ter sorts need about two weeks longer 

 to fully develop than does the older sort. 

 By this time the plants should have 

 started to grow. Give them a night tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees for a month yet, 

 gradually lowering the temperature as 

 the flowers commence to open. They 



