

^'^^■-^%'r 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



Mabch 19, 1908. 



THE FLORISTS' SUPPLY HOUSE OF AMERICA 



The Alphabet of It 



A stands for anchors, air-plants too, 



B is for baskets, all bright, fresh and new. 



C, crosses, crepe, chiffons so fair, 



D is for doves, you'll need a few pair. 



E stands for Easter, best time of the year, 



F, ferneries, to housewives so dear. 



G for grasses and grass heads so strange, 



H, hampers in which plants you'll arrange. 



I, immortelles, Italian wheat in neat sheaf, 



J for jardinieres to hold flower and leaf. 



K is koral letters to use on design, 



Laurel, beech, cycas, magnolia leaves are fine. 



M for mushroom goods and for mosses, too. 



N is for novelties, we have quite a few. 



O is Orlando, a wreath of great beauty, 



P, pot cover, to hide clay is its duty. 



Quick service we give, we're proud of the fact, 



R is for ruscus, this wreath will attract. 



S is for stands, statice, sea-moss, silkaline, 



T is tone ware, the best vase ever seen. 



U is for Uva, the decorator's friend, 



Violet hampers you surely will send. 



W, wax flowers, of kinds we've a score. 



Of fine wreaths of metal we make more and more. 



X, Y, Z is that extra wise head 



Who orders as soon as these lines he has read. 



H. BAYERSDORPER & CO. 



1129 Arch Street 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. 





Mention The Review when you write. 



the senior partner of Reed & Keller, and 

 Mr. Kreshover, all of New York city. 



Charles Henry Fox, the well-known ar- 

 tistic decorator of The Sign of the Rose, 

 has returned from a short sojourn at At- 

 lantic City, where he has been recuperat- 

 ing after a severe cold. 



Clarence J. Watson, of the Leo Nies- 

 sen Co., is ill with the grippe. 



An immense quantity of Irish sham- 

 rocks were sold and given away in this 

 city on and before St. Patrick's day. 

 William K. Harris and the Hugh Gra- 

 ham Co. had large quantities in small 

 pots. Phil. 



ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS. 



Robert Cameron, superintendent of 

 Han-ard Botanic Garden, delivered a 

 lecture before the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society. His subject was ' * An- 

 nuals and Biennials," and he said, in 

 the beginning: 



. From a horticultural standpoint an 

 annual is a showy flowering plant which 

 lives but one season, and, consequently, 

 requires to be raised from seed each 

 year. 



A biennial is a showy flowering plant 

 which is produced from seed in one year, 

 and blooms, ripens its seed and dies the 

 year following. 



These definitions do not always hold 

 good, as there are some annuals that can 

 be kept longer than one year, if they 

 are restrained from flowering and fruit- 

 ing. 



Annual plants give more pleasure to a 

 larger number of persons, are less ex- 

 pensive, easier to grow, and give quicker 

 results than any other plants that are 

 grown in our gardens. They are so cheap 



that there is no excuse for the poorest 

 people in our thickly settled districts to 

 be without plants. 



No doubt some of you have wondered, 

 as I have, why nature gave such a short 

 period of time to these plants to com- 

 plete the cycle of life, while to others 

 she has given an almost indefinite time 

 to live. Why are they so short-lived and 

 have they been always annuals? These 

 are puzzling questions and little has been 

 written about them. 



We are told by scientists that flower- 

 ing plants have come to us from a re- 

 mote period, from the higher cryptogam, 

 such as selaginellas and lyeopodiums; 

 that the gymnosperms such as the conif- 

 erse and cycadaceae were probably the 

 first plants to produce seeds; then prob- 

 ably came the woody trees and shrubs 

 and after that the herbaceous plants, 

 and no doubt after these came the an- 

 nuals and biennials. 



To answer the question as to why 

 they are so short lived: It probably 

 came about in this way: At one time, 

 where these plants were growing they 

 were about to be driven out of exist- 

 ence by some agents — probably by cold 

 in cold climates and by drought and 

 heat in dry and hot climates. When 

 a plant's life is in danger it always 

 tries to reproduce itself. Therefore 

 these plants under those hard condi- 

 tions flowered early and produced an 

 abundance of seeds which carried them 

 through the trying seasons and they were 

 able to again reproduce themselves when 

 congenial conditions prevailed. Doing 

 this same thing for many years, they in- 

 herited this mode of reproducing them- 

 selves annually from seed, . and were 

 saved in this way from extinction. This 



change did not take place all at once, 

 but required a long period of time. The 

 whole question is one of environment 

 and inheritance. 



From a horticultural standpoint this 

 shortness of life is not such a drawback 

 as some people imagine it is; the fragile 

 flowers and transient beauty of the an- 

 nuals make them all the dearer to those 

 who love a touch of sentiment in their 

 gardens. 



The real merits of annual plants are 

 suflSciently great to render needless any 

 exaggerated statement of their claims. 

 We are well aware that to many the 

 hardy perennials offer superior attrac- 

 tipns, and the lovers of these plants are 

 always sure to lay emphasis on the great 

 trouble of sowing annuals each year. 

 However, the true lover of garden beauty 

 will hardly attempt to estimate by any 

 nice process the comparative merits of 

 the various classes of ornamental plants, 

 but on the other hand, should be sin- 

 cerely thankful for the bountiful supply 

 which has been given him to embellish 

 his surroundings. They possess many 

 advantages, strong points in their favor 

 being the short time required to pro- 

 duce an effect and the small cost at which 

 a display of flowers may be maintained 

 from early summer until late in the fall; 

 they are especially easy to grow and 

 their value for cutting cjlnnot be over- 

 looked. One merit whicl^ they possess 

 and which is not thought about, is that 

 they do not take up room in winter; 

 consequently they are ideal plants for 

 those having limited space. 



With a good knowledge of the va- 

 rious species and varieties there is no 

 kind of ornamental gardening in the way 

 of borders or beds that cannot, if neces- 



