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POT ROSES FOR 



EASTER SALES 



Few plants have the appeal to the customer that a well grown pot 

 rose in full hloom exercises. The demand is heavier each Easter and the 

 supply, though it mounts annually, never catches up. Pot roses deserve 

 more attention and study on the part of the trade. 



OT - FORCED roses have 

 been constantly increasing 

 in favor of recent years, 

 with additional accelera- 

 tion the last few seasons. 

 Their popularity has been 

 deserved, and coming 

 Easters should see them in 

 still greater numbers in re- 

 tail florists' shops. Re- 

 ports regarding the supply of giganteum 

 lily bulbs vary, but there is no doubt 

 that the price of this Easter plant will 

 be high next spring. And there are al- 

 ways a great many persons to whom, 

 even for this occasion, white flowers 

 have no appeal. For them roses are and 

 will continue to be a real attraction. 

 There is a large demand for pot plants 

 for Mothers ' day as well, and it has 

 been found in the last two 

 years that rose plants 

 which did not make 

 Easter found plenty of 

 buyers when the second 

 Sunday of May came. 

 Roses have a particular 

 hold on the feminine 

 heart. The choice of men, 

 more often than not, falls 

 upon some other flower, 

 but since, not they, but 

 the other sex, governs the 

 selection in the vast ma- 

 jority of the purchases in 

 the florist's shop, the rose 

 has come to be the staple 

 item of stock. This is true 

 of cut flowers; if the sup- 

 ply were available, no 

 doubt the sales of pot 

 roses would be corre- 

 . spondingly great. 



Season Not Limited. 



The season of the pot 

 rose is not nopcssarilv lim- 

 ited to a short period in 

 the spring of the year. 

 The editor of the Amer- 

 ican Rose Annual, in an 

 article on potted roses 

 based on Thomas Roland's 

 experiences and opinions, 

 quoted the president of 

 the Society of American 

 Florists, whose notable 

 ability as a grower of 

 these jilants is widely 

 known, on this particular 

 phase of the subject as 

 follows: 



"Pot-PTown roses. I be- 

 lieve, will eventually be- 

 come the most popular of 

 all plants for house deco- 



ration. They may be had in usable con- 

 dition during eight months of the year. 

 After they have done service inside, 

 they are in suitable condition for plant- 

 ing outside, where, if conditions are 

 proper, they may continue to give pleas- 

 ure for many years. 



"There are many fine varieties, 

 equally useful as pot plants and for gar- 

 den purposes. 



"The various ramblers and the good 

 hybrid perpetuals can be had in fine 

 condition from March 1 to July 1, while 

 from July 1 to November 1 it would al- 

 ways be possible, if desirable, to have 

 well grown hybrid teas and dwarf ram- 

 blers blooming freely in pots." 



It is for the earlier period, however, 

 that the florist is most desirous of ob- 

 taining these plants in good Vjloom. The 



Several Plants of Lady Gay Combined to Give Bushy Effect. 



cultural methods are not difiicult, yet 

 there seems to have grown up a spe- 

 cialization in these plants. Their pro- 

 duction is found to be confined to a 

 few growers in each flower-producing 

 center, who do them remarkably well. 

 Some Philadelphia growers, in fact, 

 have built up such a reputation for fine 

 specimens that their products are 

 shipped a thousand miles away, to the 

 class of retail shops which find call for 

 them. Such plants bring $25, $35 and 

 $50, and they are worth it. Yet the 

 persons who can pay it are not a great 

 many, and it is not on the extraordi- 

 narily fine stock of this character that 

 the expansion of the trade can be built. 

 What interests the trade in general and 

 is most in mind in this article is the 

 type of plant tlint can be po'd at a 

 smaller figure, with satis- 

 faction to the customer 

 and profit to the florist. 



The roses most common- 

 ly forced in pots for 

 p]aster are grouped in va- 

 rious ways, but may be 

 mainly divided into two 

 classes. Sometimes these 

 are called "bush" and 

 "climbing." Sometimes 

 they are termed "baby 

 rambler" and "rambler," 

 respectively. The former 

 class includes what are 

 known as dwarf polyantha 

 and also as baby rambler 

 roses. The latter com- 

 prises in a general group 

 what are included under 

 climbing polyantha, or 

 rambler roses, and also 

 those known as hybrid 

 Wichuraiana varieties. 



Leading Varieties. 



Headings vary in the 

 catalogues as well as in 

 common speech, but the 

 confusion is more appar- 

 ent than actual. The most 

 commonly used varieties 

 in the bush group, how- 

 ev(>r they are denomi- 

 nated, are Baby Rambler, 

 Baby Tausendschoen, Echo, 

 p;ilcn Poulsen, Erna Tesch- 

 endorff, Greta Kluis, Jes- 

 sie, Mrs. W. H. Cuthush, 

 Orleans, Triomphe d 'Or- 

 leans, Phyllis, Baby Doro- 

 thy and Ciothilde Soupert. 



Among the climbers 

 Dorothy Perkins, Tausend- 

 schoen, Lady Gay, Excelsa 

 and Hiawatha lead by long 



