FiiBliuARt 14, 1007. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



923 



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SUGGESTIONS 



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Geraniums. 



Flowering plants for Easter are re- 

 quiring more and more room each day, 

 and to give them the necessary space is 

 a temptation to crowd the bedding plants 

 more closely. Especially is this true of 

 geraniums. If you want nice, salable 

 plants they must have room. They are 

 speedily ruined by overcrowding. Those 

 potted early in the year will now have 

 the pots well filled with roots. Top cut- 

 tings taken from these and placed in 

 small pots or a propagating bed with a 

 fair bottom heat will soon root, but care 

 must be taken not to overwater them. 

 They will soon rot if sprinkled daily, as 

 carnations or chrysanthemums are. Usu- 

 ally a good soaking when inserted should 

 carry them until rooted. 



If cuttings are not needed, merely 

 pinch the tops out, if bushy plants are 

 needed. Do it while the plants are grow- 

 ing actively and not while repotting 

 them. The temptation is strong to kill 

 the two birds with one stone, but it does 

 not pay. If early potted stock is becom- 

 ing well rooted give a shift to 3^4 -inch 

 or 4-inch pots. Use a light but fairly 

 rich compost for this purpose. 



Pelargoniums. 



Theie beautiful and attractive plants, 

 often spoken of as Lady Washington 

 geraniums, are not much grown commer- 

 cially and have never attained in Amer- 

 ica the immense popularity they enjoy in 

 Europe, Their flowering season here is 

 shorter, owing to our hotter summers, but 

 as they remain in bloom for some two 

 months- they are well worth growing. 

 They prefer a cool house and at this 

 season, unless especially early flowers are 

 needed, the most prominent shoots should 

 be pinched back. As green aphis has a 

 special fondness for them, keep some to- 

 bacco stems among the pots. These 

 plants are naturally at their best in 

 May and June and around Memorial day 

 are especially useful. Their flowers work 

 in nicely In bouquets. 



There are now some fine varieties of 

 fancy pelargoniums. A few good sorts 

 to grow are Crimson King, Lady Car- 

 rington, Mme. Thibaut, Dr. Masters, 

 H. M. Stanley, Mrs. R. Sandiford and 

 Duchess of Cornwall. 



Heliotropes. 



The present is a good time to put in 

 a batch of cuttings of that sweet and 

 most useful plant, the heliotrope. They 

 root quickly in a warm house and, pot- 

 ted along, will make fine stuff in 4-inch 

 pots before bedding plant sales start 

 in. For window-box, vase, or bedding 

 out purposes heliotropes are most satis- 

 factory, while nicely flowered plants in 

 pots are always salable. 



Lemon Verbena. 



If any old plants of lemon verbena 

 have been stored in a cool house and 

 kept on the dry side during winter, the 

 present is an opportune time to prune 

 them back and place in a warm house, 



where they will soon make a crop of nice 

 cuttings. These soft shoots root readily 

 when rubbed off with a heel. Some peo- 

 ple imagine this is a hard plant to prop- 

 agate. It is, when ripe or half-ripened 

 wood is used, but soft cuttings take root 

 as freely as heliotropes. 



Jerusalem Cherries. 



If you want a batch of nice, bushy 

 Jerusalem cherries in 6-inch pots for 

 Christmas sales, sow seed now. Probably 

 you have saved one or two berries which 

 will give you just as fine plants as any 

 you can buy. Pot off into 3-inch pots 

 when large enough, gradually harden off, 

 plant outside in an open, sunny spot 

 early in May, lift and pot about the 

 middle of August, and you will have 

 some stock to be proud of. Cuttings 

 root readily, but while they make plants 

 which ripen the berries a little earlier. 



found flowering up to November. The 

 seed catalogues List a number of forms 

 of Salvia splendens, some of which are 

 much dwarfer than the type. All are 

 good, although we have failed to notice 

 any difference in some of them except 

 the name. 



Coleus and Alternantheras. 



While the severe winter continues and 

 a brisk bottom heat can be had, it is a 

 good time to put in a batch of cuttings 

 of coleus and alternanthera, which are 

 always in more or less demand. Throw 

 away the old coleus plantp, which seem 

 to be favorite lurking places for mealy 

 bug. From cuttings put in now coleus 

 may be jiotted off within two weeks and 

 kept in a warm house they will speedily 

 give a crop of tips for cuttings. 



Easter Lilies. 



Lent is now with us and it is possible 

 to tell with some degree of certainty 

 how lilies are going to be for Easter. 

 From present appearances a large num- 

 ber will not be in flower unless we get a 

 warm March, or the plants are subjected 

 to sweltering heat. If the buds are now 

 visible you are all right, provided the 

 plants are kept in a temperature of 55 

 degrees at night. Where the buds are 

 still hidden, give the plants as warm and 

 sunny a location as possible.. Spray two 



Wreath of Orchids and Adiantum^ by B. Schroeter, Detroit. 



they have not the neat, bushy habit of 

 the seedlings. 



Salvia Splendens. 



While it is still somewhat early to 

 sow seeds of the popular scarlet sage, if 

 good sized plants are desired a sowing 

 can be made at any time. Some florists 

 prefer to keep over a few old plants and 

 take cuttings from these. Of course 

 these will make nice plants and will start 

 to flower ahead of the seedlings. Our 

 experience has been, however, that they 

 lack the vigor of seedlings and their 

 blooming season is ended before frost 

 comes, especially if we get a prolonged, 

 open fall, wliile seedling plants will be 



or three times a day and give them a 

 little sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of 

 soda once a week when watering. Re- 

 member that lily plants and flowers lose 

 half their value when Easter has gone 

 and it therefore pays to watch the plants 

 closely now. 



Hybrid Roses. 



Plants carrying half a dozen or more 

 buds and flowers of Brunner, Jac^y Loui- 

 zet and other well-known and popular 

 hybrid perpetual roses make popular 

 Easter plants. To get them in to a 

 nicety is rather a difficult problem. 

 Plants should now have broken and made 

 shoots several inches in length, on which 



