32 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Dbcbmbbb 10, 1908. 



SP 



^.^•^.«^.<»^.'i*^.<*^'»=^.<»=^<»^r'fer»>-fer»>-^r»)-fer»>'fer»l>'fer»l-fer»>-fer»!>'fef»>-'^ i 



SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



'^^^^^^TS^JSWS^^JSWS^^TSW^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



ss 



Lilies. 



Plants of Lilium Harrisii wanted for 

 Christmas should now have the buds all 

 hanging down and the largest ones show- 

 ing white. In a temperature of 60 de- 

 grees at night these will be in season. It 

 is unwise to try any hard forcing. There 

 is a fairly steady call for lilies all win- 

 ter and sometimes they bring more early 

 in January than at Christmas. It is 

 always well to remove plants in flower to 

 a cooler house for a few days. This 

 adds greatly to their substance. 



Longiflorums for Easter must not on 

 any account be overlooked. The Ber- 

 muda and Formosa stock will now be 

 several inches high and will be all right 

 if grown along in a temperature of 

 50 degrees. The Japanese bulbs, which 

 do not arrive until November, will hard- 

 ly have made any growth as yet. Be 

 careful not to allow the pots to become 

 wet. They are much better kept on 

 the dry side until the pots are full of 

 roots, when more moisture is advan- 

 tageous. Be sure that you do not allow 

 aphis to get quartered in the tops of 

 the shoots, or great damage will be 

 done. In addition to the regular fumi- 

 gation, drop some tobacco dust in the 

 tops of the shoots and lay fresh stems 

 among the pota once a fortnight. 



Speciosums grown from cold storage 

 bulbs, intended for Christmas, are now 

 showing color, a few flowers being open. 

 These are better grown a little cooler 

 than the longiflorums. With this class it 

 is even more essential to keep aphis at 

 a distance, the buds being easily ruined 

 by this pest. If the new importation 

 of speciosums is not yet potted, they 

 should be gotten into the soil as soon as 

 possible. They soon lose much of their 

 plumpness if left lying around. Pack 

 them in sand if you cannot pot them 

 right away. Stand the newly potted 

 speciosums in a frame or pit where they 

 will not be subject to fire heat. They 

 will root better and break stronger there 

 than in a greenhouse. 



Marguerites. 



Keep the marguerites potted alon^ 

 before they become potbound. This is 

 especially necessary in the case of those 

 in small pots. These arc among the 

 most useful of Easter decorative plants. 

 The white varieties make especially good 

 pot plants. The yellow sorts are some- 

 what shy in blooming and do not make 

 quite as shapely plants. Any which 

 were carried over the summer in pots, 

 which should now be a network of roots, 

 and which have been kept in a tempera- 

 ture of 50 degrees the last two months, 

 should give a good Christmas crop. Feed 

 them liberally and never allow them to 

 become dry at the root. Some good 

 growers let their plants root through 

 the pots into a bed of soil and get a 

 fine lot of midwinter flowers. Pinching 

 may still be done to plants for Easter 

 blooming. Marguerites are useful at 

 Memorial day. To get nice plants at that 



date, there is still ample time to root 

 and grow them along. In propagating 

 from yellow varieties, select shoots which 

 do not show a tendency to become blind. 



Asparagus Sprengeri. 



The demand for cut sprays of Spreng- 

 eri will increase now, as the cooler 

 weather comes on, and to keep up a 

 steady succession will require a little 

 judgment. It is best to cut over one 

 section of a bench at a time. After re- 

 moving the ripe shoots, cut out all which 

 are yellow and dying. Scratch over the 

 surface soil and, if the bed is at all 

 impoverished, apply a top-dressing of 

 loam and rotted cow manure. It is not 

 a good plan to cut every shoot away 

 from a plant; it has a weakening tend- 

 ency. 



Azalea Mollis. 



At nearly all the better class stores 

 Azalea mollis meets with a good sale each 

 winter. The imported plants are the 

 best for forcing, being usually much more 

 heavily budded than home-grown stock. 

 Plants carrying thirty to forty buds each 

 in 8-inch pots make a beautiful show, 

 and while they do not last as long as the 

 Indian azaleas, they include some en- 

 chanting shades of color not to be found 

 in the latter class. Soak the balls well 

 when received. Pot up at once if you can 

 do so, and store where a little frost will 

 reach the plants. Azalea mollis stands 

 hard forcing with impunity; but with 

 this, as with all other forced shrubs, the 

 proper plan is to remove the plants 

 to slightly cooler quarters as the flowers 

 begin to open. 



Moschosma Riparium. 



Moschosma riparium, a graceful SoutH 

 African plant, lends itself well to deco- 

 rative effect and should make a good 

 Christmas market variety. Anyone who has 

 seen a nicely flowered specimen in bloom 

 will bear testimony to its grace and 

 beauty. For cutting, this has its limita- 



tions, but as a holiday plant it is excellent. 

 If the plants were housed in September 

 and have been given a temperature of 50 

 to 52 degrees at night, they should now 

 be coming into bloom. Give them an 

 abundant water supply and feed liberally. 

 Do not subject them to any forcing, in an 

 effort to hurry them along, or the flowers 

 will drop almost as soon as they open. 

 To see this at its best, comparatively 

 cool treatment is necessary. 



Hydrangeas. 



All hydrangeas should now be in their 

 winter quarters and be kept drier at the 

 root. It is not too early to start a batch 

 if you want them for Easter. Select 

 such as have .the wood of a good nutty 

 brown color. Give a good top-dressing, 

 but do not repot. Start in a temperature 

 of 50 degrees, spraying lightly once or 

 twice a day until they are breaking 

 freely. Probably a few of these early 

 hydrangeas may not show many flower 

 heads. From such, select a good supply 

 of cuttings and place in the propagating 

 house. These will make plants fit for 

 8-inch pots the following fall, if prop- 

 erly grown along. 



Rambler Roses. 



Where rambler roses have been pot 

 grown through the summer and the canes 

 have been thoroughly ripened, a small 

 batch can now be started in a cool house. 

 Pick off some of the surface soil and give 

 a top-dressing of loam and bone meal. 

 Cut away any dead or weak wood and 

 bend down the canes so that they will 

 break evenly. Keep in a temperature of 

 40 to 45 degrees at night until the 

 buds are well swelled, when they can be 

 given 5 degrees more heat. Hard forcing 

 should not be resorted to. The minimum 

 night temperature should not exceed 55 

 degrees at any time, if you want first- 

 class plants. Of course, many growers 

 subject their plants to hard forcing, and 

 the faded, mildewy specimens seen 

 around many of the stores bear mute 

 testimony to this treatment. 



Genistas. 



While Easter is the season when there 

 is the best sale for genistas, bushy, well 

 bloomed plants will sell at any time 

 during the winter. If wanted in flower 

 early in February, it is time to move the 

 plants into a cool greenhouse. Grown 

 along in a temperature which never ex- 

 ceeds 50 degrees at night, genistas will 

 keep fairly weW in a dwelling house. 

 Those subjected to forcing are worthless. 



Miss Dora Brown's Colonial Flower Shop, Goshen, Ind. 



