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JCLY 2. 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



View in Greenhouses of E. Nagel & Son» Minneapolis* 



duties slacken, by which time it is too 

 late to make up for omissions. If you 

 are growing them in pots, by all odds the 

 best plan for those to be forced early, 

 keep the shoots securely tied up and be 

 sure to use the spray nozzle so freely 

 that red spider has no chance to secure a 

 foothold. Keep these plants under glass 

 for some weeks yet. 



If you are growing your plants out- 

 doors with the intention of potting up in 

 late fall, as some successful specialists do, 

 it is just as necessary, for the thorough 

 ripening of the canes, not to let them 

 ramble over the ground. Stake them up 

 individually or erect a temporary fence 

 of wooden posts and one or two strands 

 of galvanized wire to tie them to. Re- 

 move the weakest shoots and allow the 

 plant's strength to go into three or four 

 strong growths rather than double the 

 number of weaklings. A hosing over- 

 head on the evenings of hot, dry days 

 will be helpful in checking the attacks 

 of aphis and red spider. 



Palms and Ferns. 



This is a season of rapid growth, and 

 all plants which are kept under glass 

 will now need frequent spacing to pre- 

 vent their becoming overcrowded. With 

 palms this is less apparent than ferns, 

 but even witjji them growth is now being 

 greatly accelerated and it may be nec- 

 essary to spread some of them out a lit- 

 tle. Be sure that there is sufficient shad- 

 ing on the glass. One or two clear 

 panes may mean the ruin of valuable 

 plants. Always keep a moist atmosphere 

 and avoid coddling if you want stock 

 which will do you credit later. You 

 can grow plants rapidly by a sweltering 

 process, but these will go to pieces quick- 

 ly if used for decorative purposes. Palms 

 which have the pots or tubs matted with 

 roots should receive liquid manure once 

 in ten days. To tone up foliage pale 

 in color, use some soot or nitrate of 

 soda, the latter in weak doses. 



Ferns are now making rapid head- 

 way and it will be found necessary to 

 pot on many of the smaller ones. Use 

 a good proportion of leaf-mold with 

 the loam for compost, but avoid manure, 

 unless it be a little, old and well de- 

 cayed, which will crumble up in the 

 hands. Always use sand freely. 



Shell snails are now troublesome on 

 adiantums. Lay traps in the form of 

 lettuce or cabbage leaves and examine 



these daily. Also scatter some air-slaked 

 lime under the benches, as well as among 

 the pots where they are proving de- 

 structive. The cooler you grow your adi- 

 antums, nephrolepis, pteris and other 

 ferns, the more texture they will have. 

 This applies to plants both planted out 

 in benches and in pots. 



Syringe Overhead Freely. 



During the hot summer months, when 

 temperatures are commonly 85 to 90 de- 

 grees in the shade or over, it is necessary 

 to damp down the paths and under 

 the benches quite frequently to keep a 

 healthy, growing atmosphere under glass. 

 It is also helpful to spray such plants 

 as chrysanthemums, gardenias and others 

 being grown under clear glass several 

 times a day in torrid weather. There 

 may be some who still labor under the 

 delusion that foliage must not be wet 

 when the sun shines or the leaves will 

 be burnt. Such fables are laughed at by 

 practical growers, who know that this 

 syringing of the foliage is most re- 

 freshing to the plants during enervating 

 days. Hard-wooded plants outdoors also 

 greatly enjoy a thorough hosing at mid- 

 day in hot weather, in addition to one 



in the evening. Of course, there are a 

 few plaiits which will not stand wet- 

 ting of the foliage without burning, if 

 placed in the full sun. There are, how- 

 ever, varieties which require some shade 

 at all times, such as gloxinias, gesneras 

 and tuberous begonias. 



Pruning Hardy Shrubs. 



If not yet attended to, now that the 

 spring rush is over is a suitable time 

 to do necessary pruning on any of the 

 hardy flowering shrubs, such as diervil- 

 las, spiraeas, philadelphus, deutzias and 

 others. Cut out any dead or weak wood, 

 also any which has flowered heavily 

 and contains no green growths. Give 

 every encouragement to the new shoots, 

 more particularly those coming from the 

 base of the plants. A short time spent 

 on this work will give you much more 

 shapely shrubs next season and those 

 which will flower more profusely. 



All seeds should have been removed 

 from rhododendrons, kalmias and lilacs. 

 They greatly weaken the plants if left 

 on. 



Cultivate freely around all deciduous 

 shrubs and see to it that rhododendrons 

 have a heavy mulch of leaves to keep 

 the roots cool and moist. 



Trimming Hedges. 



Now is a good time to give hedges, 

 of ^ the popular but reliable California 

 privet, a shearing. Where it succeeds, 

 there can be no better hedge plant than 

 'this, but in severe winters it cannot be 

 depended upon. A much hardier plant 

 is the Japanese variety, Ligustrum Ibota, 

 but this does not make so dense and 

 ideal a hedge as the California variety, 

 so we presume people will persist in 

 planting the latter. 



Berberis Thunbergii is the best of all 

 deciduous shrubs for a hedge. It is a 

 mistake, however, to shear it in much, 

 as thereby much of its beauty is lost. 

 Allow it to grow as naturally as possible,' 

 merely shortening in the long shoots. 



The present is also a good time to do 

 some trimming on hedges of Norway 

 spruce, hemlock spruce, arbor-vitse and 

 other evergreens. These should not be 

 sheared like topiary specimens, but mere- 

 ly have the straggling shoots shortened 

 back in such a way that no pruning is 

 apparent. 



Group o! Metrosideros at the Temple Show, London, 



