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12 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Decembkb 17, 1908. 



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SUGGESTIONS 



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Christmas Plants. 



Eacli yoar sees an increasing trade in 

 pot plants at Christmas. Tlie demand 

 at this holiday is largely ^or those with 

 bright flowers, scarlet being the most 

 popular color. White there may be a 

 little sale for white-flowered plants, it is 

 not wise to bank upon too many being 

 disposed of. We see each year a heavy 

 slump in white carnations, roses and 

 French bulbous stock at the holidays, and 

 a corresponding boom in Eichmond 

 roses, red carnations, bouvardia and any- 

 thing cut of a scarlet shade. So with 

 pot plants; we always find that nice pans 

 of poinsettias, short, stocky plants, with 

 foliage down to the soil, will move quick- 

 ly. Eed azaleas are also excellent sell- 

 ers, the little Hexe and Apollo being 

 specially good. Berried plants, such as 

 ardisias and Jerusalem cherries, take 

 well. The latter can be sold at a popular 

 price and are preferable to the Christmas 

 peppers sometimes seen. 



Bright colored cyclamens are popular. 

 Another useful plant not seen so fre- 

 quently as one could wish is Euphorbia 

 .Tacquiniffiflora. Pans of this bright 

 little flower are decidedly effective. 

 Scarlet geraniums, single and double, if 

 nicely bloomed, also make good Christ- 

 mas plants. For lilies, white azaleas, 

 gardenias, lilacs, lily of the valley, Ro- 

 man hyacinths and other white flowering 

 stock there will be some call, the valley 

 perhaps selling as well as anything. Take 

 note of what moves well and provide for 

 another year. 



Move anything which has been forced 

 to a cooler house a few days before 

 Christmas. Clean all flower pots most 

 thoroughly. Use neat stakes where nec- 

 essary. Remove dead or decaying foliage. 

 Be prepared with plenty of wrapping 

 material in the event of cold weather. 

 Do not send out any plants dry at the 

 root, and deliver as promptly as possible. 

 Unless you are something of a store 

 artist, do not attempt any ribbon orna- 

 mentation. Xo well grown plants require 

 it, although judicious use of it will aid 

 in selling rather wretched lookirg plants. 



While palms and foliage plants gen- 

 erally are not in heavy call at Christ- 

 mas, you may have some calls for them. 

 Be sure you clean the foliage thoroughly 

 before sending them out. To meet the 

 call for fern dishes, prepare a number. 

 If you Avant a light centerpiece, nothing 

 ifi better than Cocos Weddelliana. 



Camellias. 



It is pleasing to note a better inquiry 

 for camellias. While not adapted for 

 cutting, and a little stiff in appearance, 

 nicely flowered plants in 6-inch to 8-inch 

 pots make nice Christmas presents. Do 

 not attempt any hard forcing to get them 

 into bloom. The only time camellias ap- 

 preciate any warmth is in the growing 

 season. At that time a warm, moist heat 

 seems to suit them. The natural flower- 

 ing period for camellias under glass is 

 in January and February, and if your 



plants do not come in for Christmas, 

 there will be opportunities to dispose of 

 them during those months. 



Half a dozen good camellias to grow 

 are : Donckelaarii, semi-double, large, 

 crimson, marbled white; alba plena, pure 

 white; Mathotiana, bright red; Lady 

 Hume's Blush, flesh color; Valtevareda, 

 bright rose, sometimes spotted with 

 white; Duchess de Nassau, light pink. 



Mignonette. 



The cooler weather is now much im- 

 proving the quality of the mignonette. 

 Stout spikes are never possible during 

 the hot months, but during the dark, 

 winter months, when the night tempera- 

 ture can be held down to 40 degrees, they 

 do surprisingly well. As the benches 

 will now be well filled with roots, a 

 watering of liquid manure once in ten 

 days will stimulate them, A mulch of 

 old, decayed cow manure will also keep 

 the surface soil moist and encourage 

 roots to come up into it. Attend to any 

 supporting before the stems can become 

 bent, or they are useless. Attend to dis- 

 budding closely if you want first quality 

 stalks and let any fumigating be done 

 lightly, as mignonette is easily injured 

 by tobacco smoke. 



Calceolarias. 



Now is the season of rapid growth with 

 the herbaceous calceolarias. Both these 

 and cinerarias move slowly in the warm 



*■< 



fall months, but with a steady, low tem- 

 perature they are exactly in their ele- 

 ment. Forcing they must never have, or 

 they will be speedily ruined. Anything 

 clear of freezing will grow them well. 

 Keep the plants potted along before they 

 get matted with roots. Use a rather 

 lumpy compost, one-third broken cow ma- 

 nure, two-thirds turf loam, with plenty 

 of sharp sand, a dash of fine bone and 

 some powdered charcoal. The charcoal 

 seems to be much liked by calceolarias 

 and one always finds plants succeed bet- 

 ter where it is used. 



If your plants show signs of running 

 up to flower now, earlier than you want 

 them, pinch out the top of -the leading 

 6hoot close down. A light spraying over- 

 head once a day is relished by calceo- 

 larias. Fresh tobacco stems laid among 

 the pots will keep down that arch en- 

 emy, green aphis, but if you fumigate 

 once a week you can dispense with these. 



Double Ea^ cf fews. 



Double feverfews are particularly val- 

 uable at Memorial day. They require a 

 cool house and if, after your poinsettias 

 and other Christmas stock are cleared out, 

 you can give the feverfew a vacant 

 bench, you can depend upon getting an 

 abundance of bloom for Memorial day. 

 Old chrysanthemum soil will answer well if 

 it is forked over and some rotted cow ma- 

 nure or bone is added to it. This flower 

 is not one which will take at the flower 

 stores and its odor is not specially pleas- 

 ing, but for Memorial day trade it has 

 always come in very useful. 



Fuchsias. 



Neat fuchsia plants in 4-inch to 6-inch 

 pots sell well with the average country 

 florists at bedding-out time. They will 

 not bloom, owing to our intense summer 

 eat, as in Europe, where they are at- 

 tractive features in the public parks and 

 gardens, but for window and piazza- 

 boxes, especially where they can have a 

 little shade, they are useful. To get a 



.J 



Lace Corsage Bouquet Handkerchief. 



