to 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



; November 18, 1909. 



ley seem to be the choice, of the majority 

 who can afford them, white orchids being 

 preferred when obtainable. Next in 

 favor comes valley, and, following, the 

 arm bunch of Brides only, or Brides and 

 valley. White Killarney as yet meets 

 with little favor. A ball of valley makes 

 a unique bridal bouquet, 

 . The expensive embroidered scarfs 

 make a beautiful tie, but, in my opinion, 

 wide, heavy moire taffeta or fine maline 

 is just as good. We never use flowered 

 . or striped chiffon. For showered bou- 

 quets the half -inch chiffon ribbon is the 

 prettiest. 



Bridesmaids almost invariably carry 

 a large flat bunch of one or another 

 variety of pink roses. My Maryland has 

 the preference. Mums, marguerites and 

 yellow daisies are also effective and are 

 extensively used. On such bunches we 

 use maline or heavy wide ribbon. At 

 some of the. more fashionable weddings 

 we use muffs, balls or fans for the 

 bridesmaids. 



The use of ribbons and chiffons with 

 flowers ia becoming more popular every 

 day, and we use a great deal of expen- 

 sive imported stock especially made for 

 flowers. On the more expensive bunches 

 we use the dotted chiffon over the rib- 

 bon, producing elaborate effects. 



There is always a demand for dainty, 

 well arranged baskets of flowers for 

 gifts, of which we always have a few in 

 OUT window or around the store. 



For the Different Seasons. 



For decorating in the fall, bronze 

 beech sprays and yellow mums I find the 

 most admired. In the summer, white 

 and pink peonies are good; later on. 

 Clematis paniculata cannot be beat. For 

 Christmas, laurel and poinsettias and 



us how they make it. The most profit- 

 able way to handle this class of cus- 

 tomers is to jolly them a little and give 

 yiem as near what they ask for as pos- 

 sible. Do not waste your time trying to 

 talk them into something else. Do not 

 forco anything on them if you wish to 

 retain them as customers, unless you 

 have previously succeeded in securing 

 their confidence. I must say that the 

 general run of flower buyers of today 

 are not quite equaJ to telling the florist 

 what they want, but they usually have 

 an idea, for everybody has more or less 

 natural taste for beauty in flowers, and 

 a suggestion or two from them may be 

 helpful. Their ideas may perhaps seem 

 odd, but coupled with our own artistic 

 experience in such matters, the result 

 will most likely be some pretty good 

 design, perhaps entirely different from 

 anything we might have conceived with- 

 out the aid of their suggestions. 



Some Popular Arrangements. 



I will not attempt to enumerate here 

 all the beautiful arrangements that seem 

 to please the public so well, but the fol- 

 lowing are a few simple ones which are 

 popular in our city: 



A wreath of all roses, such as Brides, 

 Carnots, Eichmonds or Queens, with a 

 well arranged bow of good ribbon, using 

 only rose leaves for foliage. 



The magnolia wreath is also quite pop- 

 ular, especially when a few croton leaves 

 are used to give it some color, or a 

 wreath of cattleyas and Amerpohlii and 

 orchid ribbon speaks for itself. Combi- 

 nations of valley make another swell 

 arrangement. 



The standing cross appeals strongly to 

 the poorer classes. We find it the most 

 showy design for the price. 



All kinds of baskets are beginning to 



One of the Stores of J. A. Mendel, Chicago. 



plain red Porto Kico mats are attractive. 

 At any other time southern smilax or 

 Sprengeri, hung with open Killarney 

 roses, are most effective. Harrisii lilies 

 are still the best Easter church decora- 

 tion, and, I suppose, always will be; we 

 have never yet had enough to supply the 

 demand. 



There are always a few customlrB who 

 know it all, and. when ordering a floral 

 design of any kind, they want to show 



meet with approval and we expect that 

 in a few years they will take the place 

 of a lot of designs in use at present. 



In cut flowers the most popular, in 

 my opinion, are as follows: In roses. 

 Beauties, Killarneys, Marylands and 

 Bicbmonds always have a steady sale. 

 In carnations, Winsor, White Perfection, 

 Enchantress and Beacon are the flowers 

 for us. Double daffodils are a dead let- 

 ter. Paper White narcissus, as a cut 



flower, is likewise out of favor. We find 

 a steady demand for sweet peas all 

 winter, as well as mignonette and freesia 

 when possible. Best valley sells at any 

 time. 



In mums there is an enormous demand 

 for flowers of all colors, in the medium 

 size. The incurved petals are the favor- 

 ites, and although there is always some 

 sale for the extra large blooms, the de- 

 mand is limited. The mums that sell 

 best of all, though, are Pink Ivory, 

 White Ivory and Bonnaffon, old-fash- 

 ioned, but hard to beat as keepers. Prob- 

 ably the most important introductions of 

 recent years are the pompons. There is 

 a great variety of colors among these, 

 the whites, yellows and bronzes being the 

 best sellers. 



The Favorite Plants. 



In plants, Boston ferns have the field 

 to themselves. Scottii, when well grown, 

 is most satisfactory and sells on sight. 

 The newer varieties of fancy or created 

 nephrolepis, although much admired, 

 move slowly, as the public seems scary 

 as to their keeping qualities and cannot 

 be convinced that they are just as good 

 as the Bostons. 



What has happened to the rubber plant 

 is a mystery. There is no hardier house 

 plant, with the exception, perhaps, of 

 the aspidistra; still we could not give 

 them away at 50 cents last year, though 

 fine plants, twenty inches high. This 

 year, though nobody has any in Mon- 

 treal, I think a half dozen will put us 

 through the winter. Not long ago two 

 or three hundred rubbers could be sold 

 by the average florist in one season. I 

 wonder what is going to replace it. 



Ficns pandurata, although greatly ad- 

 mired, is not as yet really popular, prob- 

 ably on account of its high price. 



In palms, kentias are still the most 

 popular, but since the duty has been 

 placed on them, I think I can safely say 

 that not half of the palms are sold in 

 Montreal that were sold some years ago. 

 This duty, in my estimation, is helping 

 along the fern men some, but certainly 

 does not help the florists ' trade any. 



In blooming plants, the azalea is by 

 far the most popular. The rhododendron 

 is also good and we find no diflSculty in 

 selling it all through the winter. It is 

 a plant that usually gives great satisfac- 

 tion to the purchaser. For anything out 

 of the ordinary, in plants or flowers, we 

 find a ready sale. 



Mum plants are a scarce article in 

 Montreal; I don't know why. We pay 

 pretty good prices for the ones we get. 

 I think it would be profitable for some- 

 one to make a specialty of growing 

 them. 



Well grown rose plants and ramblers 

 find a steady sale at holiday time, but 

 are practically useless at any other time. 



I hope I have not been too tiresome in 

 this, my first attempt in this line. One 

 thing I have learned in putting these 

 lines together; it is, that there is some 

 difference between putting flowers to- 

 gether and telling in an intelligent man- 

 ner how it is done. If this humble effort 

 of mine, however, has the effect of 

 bringing out for our next meeting a 

 paper from one of the many clever 

 artists of this association on this sub- 

 ject, which, owing to the rapid develop- 

 ment in our profession, can always con- 

 tain something new, I shall feel that my 

 efforts have been amply repaid. 



The Review can supply any horticul- 

 tural books at publishers' prices. 



A 



