24 



The Wckly Florists' Review. 



December 9, 1909. 



SEASONABLE ^=^^^^1 



SUGGESTIONS | 



Rambler Roses. 



It may seem a long cry ahead to 

 Easter, but even though we have not yet 

 reached Christmas it must be borne in 

 mind that only three months separate 

 the latter festival and the Easter of 

 1910. It is now time to start rambler 

 roses if you want to be sure of having 

 them on time. When Easter comes about 

 the middle of April there is no necessity 

 for starting the plants thus early, but 

 March 27 is an unusually early date and 

 it is well to get plants started in good 

 season. The wood on all ramblers now 

 is, or should be, well matured, especially 

 in the case of stock grown all summer in 

 pots and kept on the dry side for the 

 last six weeks, and should quickly re- 

 spond to moderate forcing. Plants potted 

 in the late fall start less quickly and 

 should be given a cool house at first, 45 

 degrees at night being ample. 



Give stock grown in pots through the 

 summer a liberal top-dressing. Cut out 

 all weak and useless wood and twist the 

 shoots around in order to get as many 

 breaks as possible. Syringe freely until 

 the plants break; then give them an ad- 

 vance of 5 degrees in temperature. We 

 like to bring our ramblers along in a 

 heat not exceeding 55 degrees at night 

 at any stage of their growth, if possible. 

 Grown in this way they are stockier and 

 more floriferous, and the flowers have a 

 better color than when subjected to the 

 sweating process. The pink ramblers 

 should be allowed eight or ten days more 

 time than the crimson ramblers. 



Bedding Geraniums. 



Now that chrysanthemum benches are 

 cleared, it is possible to pot over any 

 young geranium stock rooted in the 

 propagating benches, or now in flats of 

 sand. Pots two inches in diameter will 

 suflSce for the first potting. Use loam 

 and sand, and if you can give the little 

 plants a place where a trifle of bottom 

 heat comes through the benches, they will 

 establish themselves surprisingly fast in 

 the little pots. Soak well after potting; 

 then water moderately, to avoid losing 

 plants by damping off. Plants rooted in 

 2-inch pots in the fall will now be in 

 need of a shift. All the plants may not 

 require it, but look over them and put 

 the strongest in 3-inch pots. The balance 

 may be all right in the smaller pots until 

 the new year. When you wish to carry 

 your young stock in the bench or flats 

 some time longer, give them just suflB- 

 cient water to prevent shriveling and a 

 light, cool, freely ventilated house. 



Lillum Candidum. 



LUium candidum is less of a commer- 

 cial flower than its merits would seem to 

 warrant. While it may be rather un- 

 gainly as a pot plant, well grown spikes 

 of it are superior to any longiflorums. 

 Where candidums are wanted for Easter, 

 the plants, which up to this time should 

 have been kept mainly outdoors and sub- 



jected to several freezings, should be 

 placed in a house kept at 45 to 48 de- 

 grees at night. L. candidum is spoiled 

 by hard forcing, and if it can be flow- 

 ered in a house averaging 52 degrees at 

 night, the flowers will be much finer than 

 if grown in 10 degrees more heat. 



Berried Plants. 



Celestial or Christmas peppers should 

 now have the fruits well colored. W6^ 

 have always failed to see any great 

 beauty in these plants, believing the 

 Jerusalem cherry to be a far more de- 

 sirable pot plant, but at present they 

 seem to be having a miniature boom. If 

 the fruit is insufficiently ripened, let the 

 plants have a warm house and all possi- 

 ble sunshine. Berried solanums are gen- 

 erally in first-class shape for Christmas 

 and will be better if kept in a cool house. 

 Ardisia crenulata is a deservedly popular 

 plant for Christmas, for in order to sell 

 it, it is only necessary to have the fruit 

 ripe. Some growers, unfortunately, hold 

 it too cool, with the result that the ber- 

 ries are not half ripe for the holidays. 



Push any laggard plants along now in a 

 warm house. 



Small Ferns. 



The average country florist depends, as 

 a rule, on the big fern specialists for his 

 supplies of little ferns for the holidays. 

 This stock should have been procured 

 before now, but if the matter has been 

 overlooked they should be ordered at 

 once. Let them have a moist house, 

 where there is a genial atmosphere with 

 no drying heat. Do not make the mis- 

 take of buying too many varieties of 

 small ferns; half a dozen are sufficient. 

 In addition to the uses they are put to 

 in filling special fern dishes, almost any 

 of them come in handy for planting in 

 pans of poinsettias or among dracsenas 

 and other colored-leaved tropical plants. 



Calceolarias. 



Now that we are getting steadily cool 

 weather, the calceolarias are making 

 rapid growth and must be frequently 

 given a fresh stand on the benches. Do 

 not allow them to become at all potbound 

 before giving them their final shift, or 

 they will give unsatisfactory results. 

 Never coddle them. They delight in a 

 cool, airy house; one which has a damp, 

 clammy feeling suits them to perfection. 

 We like to leave some ventilation on the 

 roof on all but the coldest nights, and on 

 all bright days we give the foliage a 

 light spraying over. Be ever on the 

 watch for green aphis, the arch enemy of 

 the calceolaria. You cannot kill all by 

 Spraying, as they get under the lower 



[Continued on pasre 60 . ] 



The Pink Baby Rambler. 



I 



