Tj^'^ . 



:^7^X^7W'^™.'^-'^''r^f^' 



The Weekly Florists' Review/ . 



Februabt 27, 1908. 



Zonal Geranium Gertrude Pearson. 



scarlet and crimson are: Jacquerie, Paul 

 Crampel, Cannell's Crimson Bedder, 

 Richmond Beauty, The Sirdar, Duke of 

 Bedford and Mrs. E. Rawson, 



Cuttings of zonal geraniums should be 

 placed in 2-inch or 2^ -inch pots during 

 January or February, using a compost of 

 sandy loam. Stand the pots quite close 

 together, on a bench where a little bot- 

 tom heat will reach them. Give a good 

 soaking of water and let them become 

 rather dry before watering again. Avoid 

 syringings overhead, which are more 

 harmful than beneficial. The plants need 

 no shade whatever and ninety-five per 

 cent should root. Shift to 4-inch pots 

 when nicely rooted and later to 6-inch, 

 where they may be flowered unless extra 

 large plants are required, in which case 

 a further shift to 8-inch may be given. 



For the final pottings a compost of 

 turfy loam and well rotted and dried cow 

 manure, to which are added some sharp 

 sand and a pinch of bone meal, is suit- 

 able. Pot quite firmly. The plants will 

 need some pinching until the end of Aug- 

 ust, after which time, if desired for 

 Christmas flowering, it can be discontin- 

 ued. Our experience has been that the 

 plants do better kept under glass all the 

 time, giving them a little shade in sum- 

 mer. In feeding avoid the use of too 

 much liquid manure. It produces too rank 

 and soft growth. Occasional top-dress- 

 ings with such highly concentrated foods 

 as Clay's fertilizer are to be preferred. 



W. N. Craig. 



A FINE BORDER GRASS. 



The florist who grows bedding plants 

 is sometimes short of suitable border 

 plants for beds of cannas or other tall- 

 growing plants. While this does not 

 mean to say that Abutilon Souvenir de 

 Bonn, or Savitzii, or coleus are not most 

 useful for this purpose, the more of a 

 variety one has to oflfer the more apt 

 one is to suit the different tastes. Pen- 

 nisetum longistylum is not a new thing, 

 yet outside of the public parks or large 

 places little of it is seen; still it gives 

 a formal bed a most finished appear- 

 ance. When covered with white plumes 

 in August it forms a most beautiful con- 

 trast against bronze-leaved cannas. It 

 can also be made use of to good effect 

 with salvias or caladiums, or in clumps 

 along shrub-borders. Its cultivation is I 



simple. Seed sown now will make nice 

 plants in 3-inch or 3 V^ -inch pots, eight 

 to ten inches high by planting-out time. 

 The seedlings look tiny, and it is well to 

 put three or four together when trans- 

 planting them. Around a bed twelve 

 to fourteen inches should be allowed be- 

 tween the plants, so as to prevent them 

 from growing straggly. F. B. 



CYCLAMENS. 



Their Increasing Popularity. 



One notices with pleasure that there is 

 a distinct revival of interest in these 

 useful midwinter flowers. When the mel- 

 ancholy days are with us, the shortest, 

 saddest and most uninteresting of the 

 year, it is well to have something bright 

 in the way of plants, something of an 

 assured cheerfulness, which will give 

 color to the conservatory or to the flo- 

 rist's window. What can one find better 

 for this purpose than a well grown batch 



of cyclamens? Surely we could wish for 

 no prettier sight than these plants, orna- 

 menting the greenhouse during the dull- 

 est days of winter with their mottled 

 foliage and brightly colored flowers. It 

 is true we have hyacinths, tulips and 

 various other sorts of forced bulbous 

 stuff during the early months of the year. 

 But at the best these are common and 

 artificial to a true lover of flowers. 



I have always flattered myself that I 

 understood thoroughly the wishes and 

 tastes of that mighty personage, the man 

 in the street, or woman, as the case may 

 be, and I have frequently noted how a 

 nice pot of cyclamen catches the eye. 

 Low-growing, neat and demure, with its 

 beautiful, fantastic flowers in various 

 shades of color, it never fails to make an 

 impression upon the ladies. There is 

 something bizarre, something Frenehy if 

 I may use the expression, which appeals 

 to them. 



Recent Improvement in Quality. 



One of the best proofs we have of the 

 utility of this class of plants is to be 

 found in the various seed firms, in this 

 country and in Europe, which have lately 

 turned their attention to the improve- 

 ment of their cyclamens. And, thanks 

 to a rigid system of selection adopted 

 by them, cyclamens at the present day 

 have attained a development and a vari- 

 ety of color which can hardly be sur- 

 passed. 



Plants of almost any species are a 

 pleasure to look at when well grown. It 

 is, however, even more so with cycla- 

 mens. When badly grown they are a 

 horror and an abomination. On the other 

 hand, when well grown they are, in the 

 language of the Greeks, "a sicht for 

 sair een. ' ' While cyclamens are of easy 

 culture, it does not necessarily follow 

 that they do not require care and atten- 

 tion during the various stages of their 

 development. 



It should scarcely be necessary for me 

 to remind growers of the great impor- 

 tance of buying good seed. It cannot be 

 too clearly understood that good cycla- 

 mens cannot be grown from cheap seed. 

 If plants of good quality are desired. 



Zonal Geranium Duke of Bedford. 



