Apbil 28, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



■«*-■ iiiei" months they will succeed well in 

 any greenhouse. Shade they must have. 

 J^ few hours' direct sunlight will burn 

 the foliage and disfigure the plants for 

 a season. 



Late winter sown seedlings will not 

 (lower before August and will not equal 

 J lants raised from last year's balls. The 

 t iiest gloxinias we ever saw were grown 

 111 shallow benches. These carried mag- 

 ! ificent flowers and were a sight for the 

 j,,)ds themselves. They were grown where 

 mere was a good local call tor the flow- 

 (is for table decorations. We doubt 

 ij' they would pay, grown thus, except in 

 exceptional cases. There are, however, 

 jow customers, if they are real flower 

 l.mciers, who can resist the temptation 

 to purchase a well flowered gloxinia. It 

 is not yet too late to purchase gloxinia 

 tubers. Start in the same way as be- 

 gonias, using the same brand of compost, 

 hut grow them somewhat warmer. Do 

 not wet the foliage with the hose when 

 watering. To secure nice plants, elevate 

 them on pots or. stand on shelves suffi- 

 ciently far away from the glass so that 

 they will not burn. Use liquid manure 

 OS the flowers show. Do not allow them 

 to become crowded, or the foliage will 

 not hang over the pot, as it naturally 

 should. The old-fashioned gloxinias^ 

 with drooping flowers, are rarely seen 

 nowadays, the erecta type having dis- 

 placed them. The types* are many and 

 varied and, of course, it is eventually 

 money in the pocket to purchase the 

 best. 



Achimines. 



Another plant not much seen outside 

 of private estates is the achimine. Here 

 is a plant unequaled as a summer 

 bloomer, and fine alike for wifl3ow boxes, 

 ])ots, pans or hanging baskets. The little 

 corms will probably have been started 

 before now and grow well with the glox- 

 inias, the same soil and temperature 

 being suitable. Nothing can be finer 

 than hanging baskets of achimines for 

 conservatory decoration, letting^ the shoots 

 droop down naturally. In pots or pans 

 they are also excellent. ~A do2en corms 

 will give a good 6-inch pot or pan. It is 

 necessary to put a thin stake to each 

 shoot before flowering time. These 

 conns may be started in pan^ thickly 

 and transplanted to their blooming pots 

 or pans later; or, better still, they may 

 be put directly into the latter. Keep 

 them on the dry side until growths and 

 root action are fairly well advanced. 

 Soil which will grow gloxinias and be- 

 gonias will be all right for achimines. 



Fuchsias. 



As summer blooming plants, we do not 

 see as many fuchsias as we did a quar- 

 ter of a century ago. Owing to our hot 

 summers they are not a success as bed- 

 ding plants unless in shady spots, and 

 then only to a moderate extent, but as 

 late summer flowering plants in pots 

 they are worthy of attention. Plants 

 now in 3-inch pots and grown along in 

 a cool house will make useful stock in 

 6-inch or 7-inch pots in three months* 

 time. Pinching to keep the plants bushy 

 and the removal of all flower buds 

 should be done until three to four weeks 

 before they are wanted in bloom. For 

 window and piazza boxes, fuchsias are 

 particularly serviceable. They will flower 

 during a good part of the summer if 

 kept moist at the root and protected 

 from strong sunshine. In Europe plants 

 grown as standards are much used as 



I-, r 



Bride's Bouquet of Daisies^ by Sawyer & Payne. 



bedders. Dotted in this way through beds 

 and borders, with suitable groundwork, 

 they are extremely effective, but here 

 our use of them in this way must neces- 

 sarily be restricted. There is always a 

 fair sale for little plants carrying a few 

 flowers during the bedding season. 



Care of Bedding Stock. 



The bare benchfts following Easter 

 give us excellent chances to spread out 

 our rapidly growing bedding plants.^ 

 Sales on these will not be general for' 

 several weeks yet, and an effort should 

 be made to get the stock into as good a 



condition as possible. "While coleus, al- 

 ternanthera and sundry other colored 

 leaved subjects will still want a warm, 

 moist house, there are some others which 

 can now be gradually hardened. Among 

 these latter are geraniums, ageratums, 

 verbenas, asters, stocks, dianthus, varie- 

 gated vineas and lantanas. Much harm 

 can be done by too sudden a change of 

 temperature. To remove plants from a 

 house with a night temperature of 60 

 degrees, directly to the coldframes, is 

 courting injury of a more or kss serious 

 nature. The plants will soon present a 

 hard and semi-starved appearance. Let 



