OCTOBEK 29, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



BEDDING TULIPS. 



Best Varieties and Their Culture. 



Tulips can be bedded out from the 

 beginning of October until Christmas. 

 Of course, the latest planted bulbs can- 

 not be expected to give as good results 

 as the earlier ones, much of their 

 strength being frittered away in paper 

 bags or boxes. As a general rule, from 

 the middle of October until the middle of 

 November is the favorite planting time 

 in the northern states. 



Although there is no apparent increase 

 in the trade in forced Dutch bulbous 

 stock, there has been an immense im- 

 petus given to the outdoor culture of 

 this class of plants. This is not sur- 

 prising, for no flowers are so universally 

 popular as these harbingers of spring, 

 and I expect to see an enormous in- 

 crease in their culture in the next decade. 



About every retail florist has the filling 

 of a number of beds with bulbs, and 

 of these tulips occupy first place in pub- 

 lic esteem. In many cases rainbow or 

 other mixtures are used with good re- 

 sults. Mixed beds are in good taste, 

 much more so than the fantastic color 

 combinations sometimes attempted in 

 some of the public parks and gardens. 

 Personally, I prefer beds of separate 

 colors to those halved, quartered or other- 

 wise divided in ribbon attire, but the 

 latter present a gay appearance and 

 seem to take the eyes of the multitude. 



Solid Beds. 



Solid beds of any reliable bedding 

 tulips are effective, the following being 

 specially fine: Joost van Vondel, the 

 fiiiest white bedding tulip: White Pot- 

 tebakker, "White Swan, Keizerskroon, 

 Chrysolora, Ophir d'Or, Thomas Moore, 

 Pink Beauty, Proserpine, Sir Thomas 

 Lipton, Couleur de Cardinal, Dusart and 

 Boyal Standard. Queen of the Nether- 

 lands, the most beautiful of all pink 

 tulips, still remains rather too high 

 priced to come within the range of many 

 purses. 



I noticed last year a beautiful circular 

 bed of White Swan with a broad cross 

 of Couleur de Cardinal, red. Another 

 circular bed of Chrysolora, with a cross 

 of Vermilion Brilliant, was striking. 

 The following combinations are all in 

 good taste, if bedded together and 

 flower at the same time: White Potte- 

 bakker and Chrysolora; Prince of Au- 

 stria, President Lincoln and Chrysolora; 

 White Joost van Vondel and Queen of 

 the Netherlands; Keizerskroon bordered 

 with La Eeine (Queen Victoria); Chrys- 

 olora and Dusart; DUchess de Parma and 

 Fabiola; Ophir d'Or, Wouwerman and 

 Cottage Maid. 



Tulips Mixed ^ith Other Bulbs. 



Not infrequently beds are planted with 

 both hyacinths and tulips, to allow of a 

 longer season of bloom. As a rule, the 

 two flowers do not agree well aesthet- 



ically, but if the hyacinth spikes are re- 

 moved before the tulips are open, the 

 arrangement is all right. Sometimes, 

 however, the two bloom simultaneously, 

 with rather distressing results. Narcissi 

 are also sometimes mixed through tulip 

 and hyacinth beds. This is not in good 

 taste. The narcissi should be by them- 

 selves. For a groundwork among bulbs, 

 myosotis, daisies and violas are com- 

 monly used, these being planted, of 

 course, in the spring and making a nice 

 show when the bulb season has waned. 



How seldom do we see the magnificent 

 late Darwin and Cottage tulips used in 

 bedding! These in beauty and grace far 

 surpass the early flowering bedding sec- 

 tion already referred to, and it is really 

 surprising that more of them are not 

 used in the parks and public gardens, for 

 the cost of many of the most beautiful 

 ones is low. The Cottage section has 

 mostly originated in the cottage gardens 

 in Great Britain and Ireland during the 

 last half century. They are splendid for 

 planting along shrubberies and succeed 

 well left from year to year. All are tall 

 growing and carry large flowers. For 



pure white; Pride of Haarlem, rose, 

 shaded scarlet; Gretchen, soft pink; 

 Flambeau, bright scarlet; King Harold, 

 red, shaded maroon; Glory, cherry red; 

 Margaret, soft blush pink; and Dorothy, 

 heliotrope, shaded white. 



The following Cottage and other' spe- 

 cies of tulips are all late flowering and 

 comprise some of the most beautiful va- 

 rieties in commerce: Gesneriana major, 

 crimson scarlet; Gesneriana lutea, the 

 finest golden yellow late tulip; Golden 

 Crown, yellow, edged orange red; 

 Pico tee, white, margined cerise; Isabella, 

 syn. Shandon Bells, rose, flaked white; 

 Bouton d'Or, deep yellow; Didieri, 

 crimson vermilion; Ingleseombe Scarlet, 

 bright vermilion; and Vitellina, pale 

 primrose. All are moderate in price. 



Tulips will grow im almost any good 

 soil to which has been added some well 

 decomposed barnyard manure. Fresh 

 manure should never be used. Care 

 should always be taken to well pulverize 

 the soil, and an average covering over 

 the tops of the bulbs, four inches thick, 

 is about right. Winter protection in the 

 form of leaves or strawy manure should 



Fotosa (Darwin) in Foreground, Picotee in Backcfround. 



cutting they are splendid and in some 

 seasons make big prices for Memorial 

 day. Every florist who does any business 

 at that holiday — and who does not? — 

 should plant at least a few hundreds of 

 these late tulips. 



Darwin and G>ttas[e Varieties. 



Of the Darwins, good mixtures pro- 

 duce pleasing effects. The following 

 named sorts can also be strongly recom- 

 mended: Clara Butt, pale rose-pink; 

 Farncombe Sanders, cherry red; Lord 

 Duncan, scarlet; White Queen, nearly 



not be given until the ground has become 

 well frozen. The bulbs are perfectly 

 hardy, but the mulching prevents the con- 

 tinual freezing and thawing, which will 

 heave out many of the bulbs. 



NOTES ON NARCISSI. 



The Increasing: Variety of Colors. 



The two most popular spring flowering 

 bulbous plants in America are the tulip 

 and the narcissus. The former is at 

 present somewhat in the ascendant, and 



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