The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 28, 1908. 



SALVIA SNOWDRIFT. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 one of the greenhouses of the Hyde Park 

 noral Co., Austin, Tex., and in the fore- 

 ground a row of Salvia Snowdrift, of 

 which Edgar Hall, treasurer of the com- 

 pany, says : ' * This is a new pure white 

 salvia we have here. It is perfectly 

 hardy, more so than the Shasta daisy, 

 and it stands the sun much better. It 

 is a perennial, coming year after year 

 from the same root, and can be propa- 



gated readily by cuttings and also comes 

 true from seed. We never have seen 

 such a salvia, nor have we seen it de- 

 scribed in any trade catalogue. If there 

 is anything like it we should be glad 

 to hear of it." 



The salvia is a large genus, Bailey 

 stating that it includes about 650 species. 

 The most widely used of all salvias cul- 

 tivated for ornament is, of course. Sal- 

 via splendens, the scarlet sage. A num- 

 ber of species are hardy and of this 

 class there are several with white forms. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



Lorraine Begonias. 



It is not too late even now to take 

 any nice bottom cuttings from your old 

 stock plants of Lorraine begonias. 

 These will root quite readily in sand 

 and make nice little specimens before 

 Christmas. Plants grown from cuttings 

 are really preferable to those produced 

 from leaves, having a more compact 

 habit and proving more floriferous. Of 

 course, some buyers criticise Gloire de 

 Lorraine because it carries too many 

 flowers, preferring the looser habited 

 plants grown from leaf cuttings, but the 

 majority will be found to choose the 

 other type. It is yet a trifle early to 

 move these begonias into frames. When 

 making their growth they seem to relish 

 fairly warm treatment. Thus we have 

 better success with them in a house kept 

 somewhat close. Do not allow the early 

 rooted cuttings to become potbound, or 

 they will never make presentable plants. 

 Avoid large shifts and make the compost 

 light and porous, always using a good 

 proportion of flaky leaf-mold and sand. 

 These begonias do not want a heavily 

 shaded house, just sufficient whitening 

 on the glass to break the sun's direct 

 rays. 



Nephrolepis. 



With the passing of Memorial day and 

 the cleaning out of quantities of bedding 

 plants and miscellaneous cut flowers for 

 that occasion, you will now have a good 

 deal of empty bench space. Probably 

 you will be needing some of this for 

 your chrysanthemums, but you can no 

 doubt spare at least one bench to plant 

 out a good batch of nephrolepis runners. 

 If gotten in at once, kept shaded and 

 sprayed overhead for a time, these will 

 speedily take hold of the soil and it is 

 really surprising the growth they will 

 make before fall. If you can spare no 

 greenhouse bench and have considerable 

 coldframe sashes, you can utilize a few 

 of these to good advantage. Shade the 

 glass well. Keep close for a time, but 

 air more freely as the plants become 

 established. 



AUamandas. 



With the increased solar heat, alla- 

 mandas are now growing freely, some, in 

 fact, already showing their flowers. The 

 climbing varieties, such as Hendersoni 

 and grandiflora, should have been given 

 a rich surface dressing some time ago. 



This will now be well filled with active 

 roots, and liquid manure will be bene- 

 ficial if applied once a week. The vari- 

 ety Williamsi makes an ideal pot plant 

 for summer use, being used quite a little 

 at Newport, E. I., and other fashionable 

 summer reports. If your plants are 

 straggly in habit, it will be best to pinch 

 the soft shoots to try to get them more 

 shapely. While familiarly known as 

 stove plants, the allamandas all succeed 

 finely in any ordinary greenhouse in 

 summer, and even outdoors they will 

 grow and flower satisfactorily. To in- 

 crease your stock, soft cuttings taken off 

 with a heel will now root freely in sand. 



Asters. 



The earliest batch of asters planted 

 under glass is now growing apace, the 

 flower stalks being already some inches 

 in height. Keep the surface soil stirred, 

 but do not overwater. They need a gen- 

 erous water supply when the benches r.ic 

 filled with roots, but too much now may 

 produce stem-rot. Keep the plants in 

 the field constantly cultivated. The flow- 

 ers they will furnish will be of great 

 value, coming in as they do when carna- 

 tions are puny. It is not too late to 

 sow successional batches of seed; in fact, 

 such sorts as Dwarf Chrysanthemum and 

 Victoria can be started as late as the 

 last of June. With Semple's Comet and 

 Ostrich Plume it is better not to sow 



after the first week in June. While th« 

 late sowings can be made outdoors, it is 

 better to use coldframes for this pur- 

 pose, where water can be supplied when 

 required. 



Gardenias. V; ; 



Except where they are being specially 

 grown for summer flowering, the gar- 

 denia season under glass is practically 

 over. It does not pay to carry over old 

 plants; at least, such has been our own 

 experience. A good stock of cuttings in- 

 serted in sand now, kept well shaded, 

 saturated with water and given a close 

 house with a night temperature of 70 to 

 75 degrees, will be ready to pot off in 

 four weeks or even less. If you want to 

 have success in rooting gardenias, re- 

 member that heat and abundant moist- 

 ure at the root are vital essentials. 

 Having obtained all the cuttings you 

 want, get rid of the old plants, as they 

 are veritable Meccas for mealy bug. 



Dahlias. 



Although dahlias can be planted a 

 month hence and give good returns, it is 

 better to get them into the ground now. 

 If we were certain killing frosts would 

 hold off until the middle of October, we 

 would rather plant about the middle of 

 June, but with our vicissitudes of cli- 

 mate it is better to start the tubers now. 

 Our experience has always been that the 

 late planted stock, commencing to bloom 

 with cool weather, gives much the finest 

 flowers. Some of your roots will prob- 

 ably throw up several shoots. It is bet- 

 ter to reduce these to a solitary one. 

 This, if pinched, will produce a nice, 

 bushy plant, which will be almost self- 

 supporting. Be sure that the cutworms, 

 now fairly abundant, do not destroy 

 your dahlia shoots as they appear. They 

 have a special fondness for such succu- 

 lent shoots. There are a number of 

 sure cutworm cures on the market; any 

 we have tried are of doubtful value. 

 Poisoning with shorts sweetened with 

 molasses, with Paris green added in suffi- 

 cient strength to slightly color the whole, 

 is effectual. Dusting soot around the 

 plants has also been found an excellent 

 remedy by many. 



Tender Nymphaeas. 



It is inadvisable to plant out the 

 more tropical of the water lilies until 

 summer weather seems settled, and the 

 early part of June is usually selected as 

 a suitable season for this work, although 

 in such favored regions as Florida and 



Salvia Snowdrift. 



