OcTOBEn 31, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENTS. 



A Special Easter Ba(k«t. 



The accompanying illustration is from 

 ii photograph of a special Kaster basket 

 designed by Charles Henry Fox at the 

 Sign of the Rose, Philadelphia. This 

 basket is one of Mr. Fox 'a choicest pro- 

 ductions. It is filled with "Alice blue" 

 hydrangeas, blue silk fiber being woven 

 through the straw of the basket to har- 

 monize. Both the l)asket and its ar- 

 rangement were the personal work of 

 Mr. Fox and his designation of the 

 hydrangeas as Alice blue is a touch in 

 keeping with the skill shown in the de- 

 sign. 



COLOR COMBINATIONS. 



Too few retailers give sufficient 

 thought to their color combinations. The 

 proper use of colors marks the floral 

 artist. It is not at all skill in the me- 

 chanical part of the work that marks the 

 adept. It takes an artist, for instance, 

 to know that only one color should be 

 used in a show window. Too many are 

 inclined to show how great a variety of 

 stock they have, rather than how well 

 they can display one item. One of the 

 handsomest retail windows seen in a long 

 time consisted of a single vase of big 

 yellow mums. This was some fine Mon- 

 rovia, but any good yellow sort would 

 answer as well, and there is nothing to 

 beat old Bonnaffon, which soon will be 

 in. The flowers stood at the rear of 

 the center of the window a'nd were in a 

 tall, dark-green, rattan-covered vase. 

 The floor of the window was carpeted 

 with green sheet moss, which was built 

 up to cover the pots of several fine 

 >*pecimen plants of Adiantum Farleyense. 

 From the tall vase of mums there were 

 streamers of yellow ribbon leading to 

 the adiantum. The only two colors were 

 shades of yellow and green. Words fail 

 to tell how much more efl'ective this win- 

 dow was than that of a neighbor who 

 probably had $50 worth of cut flowers in 

 no greater space. 



FALL PLANTING. 



The retail florist who does a general 

 Inisiness can often turn to good account 

 things outside his own sphere of adver- 

 tising. For instance, a widely circu- 

 lated weekly magazine recently began a 

 'Series of articles on "Home," with a 

 chapter devoted to the gardening en- 

 vironment of the ideal habitation. The 

 Budd Park Greenhouses, of Kansas City, 

 took quick advantage of the opportunity 

 py sending out to the owners of homes 

 m the vicinity, a neatly printe<l circular 

 which read as follows: 



The article in the current issue of 

 the Saturday Evening Post, entitled 

 Home,' is suggested for your careful 

 consideration. 



'We are more than anxious to have 

 ^'5" give us a trial order of planting any 

 «i the bulbs or shrubbery that should 



now be planted. We can, we believe, do 

 it just a little bit better than any one 

 else and at prices within reasonable 

 scope, quality considered. 



"We are also prepared to fertilize 

 your lawn without the usual litter and 

 produce more satisfactory results than 

 where manure is lised, obviating spring 

 cleaning of same. 



"Tulip beds made from $3 up. 



"We will 'be pleased to advise with 

 you concerning anv work of this charac- 

 ter. ' ' 



The same opportunity lay at the door 

 of every florist who does planting and 



scene, a horsey window during the week 

 of the equine exhibition, all help to keep 

 alive the public interest. The newspaper 

 and mail advertising should be in accord 

 with the window whenever possible. 



HAUSWIRTH'S NEW STORE. 



r. .1. Ilauswirth has a fine store 

 in the new annex to the Auditorium An- 

 nex, Chicago. The room is amply large, 

 with a basement even larger, equipped 

 for the storage of stock and the making 

 up of work, so that tlie store itself need 

 be used for nothing except display and 

 sales. The walls are white, marble be- 

 low and enameled terra cotta above, and 

 the flecoralion is simple, so that the stock 

 shows off to better advantage than where 

 the ornamentation of the walls is too 

 elaborate. No fixtures will l^e required 

 except some marble-topped tables, per- 

 haps a ribbon and basket case and the re- 

 frigerator shown in the illustration on 

 the following page. 



The exterior of the refrigerator is 

 made of a combination of verd-antique 

 and English vein Italian marble. The 



AliiC Blue Hydtangea in Gold Basket. 



the return is sure to be in the long run 

 much more than would be necessary to 

 justify such a piece of enterprise. 



Every retail florist should seek to take 

 advantage of the things that excite pub- 

 lic interest, as many now <lo by special 

 window displays. The show window, 

 next to a well pleased customer, always 

 will be the florists' best advertisement, 

 and it is worth careful handling to get 

 out of it all it is worth. This week a 

 Halloween basket, in June a wedding 



panels inlaid in the marble are of art 

 glass of various soft tone colors. The 

 floor of the flower chamber is laid in 

 white tile. The'rear of the flower cham- 

 ber is fitted with mirrors, which assist 

 greatly in the display of the cut stock. 

 The ice chamber of this refrigerator is so 

 arranged that it can be used either with 

 artificial refrigeration or natural ice, Mr. 

 Hauswirth having the advantage of con- 

 nection with the refrigerating plant in 

 the hotel. But should any accident hap- 



