T-:. 



Febbuakv 24, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



I 



SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



LUy of the Valley. 



! 



be in flower and, 

 somewliat dwarfer 

 ease-grown plants, 

 leaves and have a 



There is a good call for pots and pans 

 of lily of the valley for Easter, and 

 these, if nicely grown, are among the 

 most attractive plants a retailer can of- 

 fer. To sell well, it is necessary that the 

 foliage should be ample and of a dark 

 green color; stalks with yellowish leaves 

 attached are not wanted. To secure the 

 best foliage you can start the pips now 

 in full light, in a night temperature of 55 

 to 60 degrees. In five weeks these will 

 while they will be 

 than the darkened, 

 will carry beautiful 

 substance practically 

 equal to the outdoor grown article. If 

 you have a warm case in which you can 

 start the pips, the flowering period can 

 be materially advanced; three weeks, or 

 four at the outside, will suffice. Expose 

 the plants to light earlier than if you were 

 growing for cut flowers only, and let the 

 foliage be as ample as possible. As a 

 general rule, 6-inch pots are found the 

 most suitable size, and it of course 

 makes no difference what sort of soil is 

 used, as the pips make no new roots 

 while being forced. 



Hybrid Prepetual Roses. 



The demand for hybrid perpetual roses 

 is not what it used to be before the ad- 

 vent of the numerous ramblers; still, nice- 

 ly flowered pots are a desirable addition 

 to any retailer's stock in trade. It is 

 less easy to time these than almost any 

 other plants. Two or three successive hot 

 days will sometimes ruin the plants for 

 sales purposes, unless they are removed to 

 cool quarters in season. The peerless 

 white variety, Frau Karl Druschki, has 

 sold well during Easter week for a year 

 or two, and anyone who has this sort on 

 time should have no trouble in disposing 

 of them again. It is better not to try 

 any hard forcing tactics on the hybrid 

 perpetuals; better allow the plants to 

 come along in a night temperature of 50 

 to 52 degrees than 58 to 60 degrees. 

 Avoid any cold drafts, which would mean 

 mildew in a more or less aggravated 

 form. Use sulphur on the heating pipes 

 on its first appearance and blow some 

 over the affected plants themselves. If 

 small-sized bulbs are showing in the hy- 

 brid perpetuals from March 7 to 10, they 

 will be on time. A spell of dark weather 

 may, of course, necessitate some extra 

 heat for them. 



Lorraine Beeonias. 



The early Lorraine begonia cuttings, as 

 well as many of the leaves, are now well 

 rooted and little plants are pushing from 

 the bases of the leaves. Pot as soon as 

 they are decently rooted, in 2-inch pots, 

 using a compost comprising leaf-mold, 

 sand and screened loam. Pot somewhat 

 ► loosely and grow warm for a week or two, 

 after which time they can be gradually 

 exposed to cooler, airier and more sunny 

 treatment. Some nice cuttings are now 

 procurable on plants cut down soon after 



Christmas. Those in a bed with some 

 bottom heat will root in a month or five 

 weeks. As plants pass out of flower, 

 prune them back a little and then give 

 them a rest for a week or two, keeping 

 them cooler and drier at the root, after 

 which a warm house will soon cause a 

 nice crop of suitable cuttings to start. If 

 your sand is at all close, add some finely 

 broken charcoal to it, in order that water 

 may pass away freely. 



Seed Sowing. 



February is a good month in which to 

 sow many flower seeds. It is an advan- 

 tage to start many varieties before the 

 solar heat gets stronger. In a more uni- 

 form temperature, such as we usually get 

 in February, germination is more likely 

 to be good than later in the season. If 

 Primula obconica is not yet sown and 

 strong plants are desired by next Christ- 

 mae, sow the seed in pans now. Primula 

 Sinensis can also be sown, although, of 

 course, plants in 5-ineh pots can be grown 

 from seed sown a couple of months hence. 

 Gloxinias, achimines, gesneras, tuberous 

 and fibrous rooted begonias should all be 

 sown now. In each case we prefer to use 

 sterilized soil and to water the soil be- 

 fore sowing the seeds, djusting a little 

 fine sand over them after watering, then 

 covering witll sheets of glass and paper 

 until germination takes place. 



Salvia splendens in variety can be 

 propagated from either cuttings or seeds. 

 The latter method gives far more vigor- 

 ous plants and, except in the case of 

 some special plants which it may be de- 

 sired to perpetuate, seedlings are far 

 more to be desired. Salvias grow rapidly 

 and can be sown as late as April and 

 still give nice flowering plants for May 

 sales. Some other annuals to start this 



month are: Verbenas, Vinca rosea, V. 

 alba, heliotropes, browallias, cannas, as- 

 paragus in variety, musas, Lobelia Em- 

 peror William, L. gracilis, torenias, as- 

 ters (successional batch) and petunias. 

 It is too early to sow ten weeks' stocks 

 for bedding, zinnias, castor oil plants, 

 cosmos and other rapid growing varieties. 

 Many perennials can advantageously 

 be started now. These include delphini- 

 ums, kniphofias, aquilegias, lupines, cam- 

 panulas, veronicas and other varieties. 

 Pentstemons and Canterbury bells should 

 be sown now. The former will bloom well 

 all summer and fall and the latter make 

 strong plants to lift in the fall for pot- 

 ting. 



For any vacant benches you may have 

 now, or are soon likely to have, batches 

 of such annuals as antirrhinums and ten 

 weeks' stocks will be found extremely 

 useful; 



Dahlias. 



Everything points to an active call for 

 dahlias the coming season. Already some 

 of the large growers are . practically 

 cleaned out of the more desirab}e sorts. 

 The lists of named dahlias continue to 

 grow at a rather alarming rate. The av- 

 erage trade grower cares nothii^g.fqir hun- 

 dreds of varieties, and if the ' biff' gro\^- 

 ers would boil down'.'their li^'ltls one- 

 tenth their presejit size, it w0iiMr.%[e bet- 

 ter for them and, vastly better fo^ their 

 customers. In the case of varieties "which 

 are not overplentiful and of which a few 

 extra plants are desired, it is n^i-Wv^frell to 

 give some attention to them, ajid it they 

 are placed in heat «nd cuttijlfg^taken 

 with a heel as they become of sufficient 

 size, quite a nice little sti©ek can be 

 worked up before planting-out time ar- 

 rives. . These cuttings are more ^popular 

 in Europe than here. Tlie inain trbuble 

 is that they sometimes' appear '^' to"' be 

 toothsome chewing for cutworms' or 

 snails, and once cut off, there beir^'no 

 tuber, the plant is lost. Barring tbiis ■|)6s- 

 sible danger, they make at least as fine 

 plants as those started from root divi- 

 sions. * 



It is too early to start the general lot 

 of dahlias for spring sales, but take ad- 

 vantage of any spare hours, which will be 

 less and less each week now, to look over 

 the tubers and remove any decaying ones. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM RUST. 



Will you please tell us what to do for 

 a brownish rust that is on our chrysan- 

 themum stock plants and feverfews? 



E. & B. 



I presume the rust mentioned by E. & 

 B. is the genuine chrysanthemum rust, 

 which affects the chrysanthemum and its 

 kindred species. The best thing I know 

 of for this is sulphide of potassium, used 

 in the proportion of one ounce to two 

 gallons of water. This can either be 

 sprayed on the plants or the cuttings can 

 be dipped in it before they are placed 

 in the sand. Plants so treated will, as 

 soon as the spring sun is strong enough 

 to move them, quickly grow out of the 

 rust, I have never had any bad effects 



on the plants from the use of potassium, 

 but a good grower who had used this 

 preparation gave me a warning to keep 

 it away from the paint on the bars or 

 sides, as it will turn the paint a dirty 

 brown. Chas. H. Tottt. 



NOTES FROM GREAT BRITAIN. 



W. Wells, chrysanthemum specialist, 

 Merstham, England, has issued a re- 

 vised edition of his book, "The Culture 

 of the Chrysanthemum." It is freely 

 illustrated and contains several views of 

 chrysanthemums grown and photographed 

 in America. These illustrate a chapter 

 devoted to "Chrysanthemums in Ameri- 

 ca," in which the writer states that "the 

 enthusiasm of the Americans for chrys- 



i.'s./'AJn.v. er. ^ 



