The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



April 9, 1908. 



» "i 



Two Quick Sellers Among Easter Plant Arrangements* 



the order clerk had put up the wrong 

 article. 



Such a system can be modified to 

 meet the needs of any retail store — but 

 the time to figure out the plan is right 

 now, not Saturday night before Easter. 



EASTER ARRANGEMENTS. 



Moderate Priced Articles. 



No matter how high class trade a flo- 

 rist has, the larger part of his Easter 

 sales, as at any other time, will be on 

 the things he can offer at moderate 

 prices. It is so at the store of the E. 

 "Wienhoeber Co., Chicago, and no store 

 in that city has a more favorable loca- 

 tion for holiday business, or a Avealthier 

 class of customers. ''Where we sell one 

 plant arrangement at $15," said Mr. 

 Wienhoeber, "we sell a dozen at $3 

 each. ' ' 



In any first-class flower store the great 

 majority of the customers will come with 

 the idea of spending from $2.50 to $5, 

 and, of course, in many places such 

 prices will be right up to the limit of 

 what any customer will spend. It may 

 be all right to have a few big baskets, 

 well filled hampers, and expensive plants 

 about the store, but the display that will 

 really bring the money will be a good 

 assortment of things that are well with- 

 in the means of the class of customers 

 you cater to. It always is so, and this 

 year it will be more so than ever. It 

 pays to teach your patrons to appreciate 

 better and better stock, but the way 

 to do it is to offer a selection at a 

 range of prices, not by effort to induce a 

 customer to spend more than was in- 

 tended. No matter what the class of 

 trade you handle, have a few things for 



the person with the slender purse. To 

 let such a one go out with the idea 

 that everything in the store is beyond the 

 means of ordinary people is to not only 

 keep that person away in future, but 

 that person's friends. 



Odd Receptacles. 



On pages 24 and 25 of this issue are 

 illustrations of some of the best selling 

 things shown at Wienhoeber 's. They 

 will serve as examples of good arrange- 

 ment, for in each case the colors were 

 in perfect harmony and added a great 

 deal to the salability of the stock. As 

 the Wienhoeber trade is of the kind that 

 knows good ware at sight, the receptacles 

 are of the best grade and the selling 

 price consequently higher than it would 

 have been had cheaper ware been used. 



The details of color combination are 

 given too little consideration in the aver- 

 age flower store; it really is the point 

 which marks the artist and sets his pro- 

 ductions apart from those who merely 

 work at the trade. Appreciation of 

 color values is the most difficult thing 

 to teach the young people beginning 

 life in flower stores, for an eye for color 

 is like an ear for music — natural to some 

 and almost impossible of attainment for 

 others. For the one who possesses the 

 painter's perception as to color values, 

 great variety of plant arrangement is 

 possible, while the work of the one who 

 is without that faculty is either com- 

 monplace or else unfortunate combina- 

 tions give a frequent note of discord — 

 indeed, color-blindness has been charged 

 against some retailers as a result of dis- 

 regard of the canons of art in the use 

 of colors. 



But there is just one little touch in 

 the Wienhoeber pieces illustrated that 

 anybody can accomplish and few can 



fail to appreciate. It will be noted that 

 in each case the soil is covered with 

 live sphagnum moss. It gives a finish 

 that would not be possible in any other 

 way. 



BIRCH BARK. 



In all the long list of aids which the 

 supply houses afford the retail florists 

 in disposing of their Easter stock, noth- 

 ing is more serviceable than birch bark 

 ware. In the early days of birch bark, 

 the plant receptacles made of this ma- 

 terial were rough and not at all artistic, 

 but the bark is so well fitted to combina- 

 tion with plants and flowers that ingen- 

 ious gentlemen have developed the line 

 until now it has all the artistic merits 

 of more expensive ware. The shapes are 

 innumerable and something adapted to 

 every purpose may be had, whether it 

 be as a receptacle for a bunch of vio- 

 lets or for planting as a window^box, 

 with all the range between. 



One page 27 of this issue there is a 

 reproduction from a photograph of a 

 handled basket containing azaleas. Sou- 

 pert roses, primulas, a Japanese maple, 

 adiantum, Asparagus Sprengeri and other 

 material. There is hardly any plant 

 which does not look well in birch bark. 



Where the sale of Easter lilies is by 

 the single plant, birch bark boxes make 

 a pleasing variation from the ordinary 

 pot covered with paper or mats. Take a 

 short lily or two, with several half open- 

 ed buds, plant the lily in a birch bark 

 box and tie a big bow of pale green 

 ribbon or chiffon a few inches above the 

 box, cover the soil with some live sphag- 

 num and you have an arrangement that 

 will be found quickly salable. 



A birch bark box, lichen covered, the 

 length being about four times the width, 



