14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



June 15, 1911. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Marguerites. 



The flowering season for marguerites 

 will soon be over and some attention 

 must be given to plants for next win- 

 ter's flowering. Late propagated stock 

 is the best to carry over. The white 

 varieties can be headed back, potted 

 and plunged where they can be con- 

 veuiently watered, or planted outdoors. 

 The latter plan is generally favored, 

 as it entails less work and the plants 

 invariably lift well, but where an early 

 winter crop is wanted pot culture 

 through the summer is to be preferred. 



The yellow varieties are less easily 

 carried over than the white ones. If 

 they can be given a coldframe with a 

 lath shading well elevated above them, 

 they will summer much better, using 

 the hose on them freely during the hot 

 weather. 



Speaking of marguerites, everyone 

 snould try a few plants of the new 

 double sport of Queen Alexandra, 

 named Mrs. F. Sander. Many growers 

 think this is one of the best novelties 

 introduced in late years. 



Smilaz. 



It hardly pays to carry over smilax 

 from year to year, as often is done. 

 After June weddings are over, the call 

 for it is practically nil until Novem- 

 ber. Smilax need not have a light 

 house. It will do well where carna- 

 tions or mums would become spindling. 

 It wants solid beds, rather than 

 benches, and likes generous compost. 

 A foot between the rows and nine 

 inches between the plants will suffice. 

 Do not overwater at first, but keep 

 plenty of moisture in the atmosphere 

 and syringe the plants freely. Get 

 strings in position as soon after plant- 

 ing as possible, as once the growths get 

 entangled it is practically impossible 

 to separate them. 



Beds which it is intended to carry 

 over should have a rest after the final 

 crop of strings is cut. Then remove 

 some of the surface soil and give a 

 liberal top-dressing. Be careful not to 

 overwater at first when starting them 

 up, as the roots are easily rotted when 

 they have no growths on them. Smilax 

 can be grown either cool or warm. It 

 does best and is most profitable when 

 grown warm and the strings, if allowed 

 to mature, keep just as well as those 

 grown cool. 



Asparagus Sprengeri. 



There are few crops grown by the 

 average florist which pay better than 

 Asparagus Sprengeri. Introduced by 

 the noted Italian firm of Dammann & 

 Co., in 1890, this has become one of 

 the most popular of plants for cutting, 

 and were it taken away there would 

 be a tremendous gap in our supplies 

 of greenery. Like the smilax, it is not 

 fussy about having a light house. Any 

 which will not grow good flowers may 

 answer well for Sprengeri, and it does 



equally well in beds or benches. Such 

 soil as has been prepared for mums, 

 carnations or roses will suit Sprengeri 

 to a nicety, and it will pay any florist 

 to devote at least one bench to it. 

 Sometimes narrow boxes along the 

 edges of the benches are planted with 

 it, while in wire baskets hung where 

 it can have a little shade it makes a 

 splendid growth and, besides being 

 ornamental as a basket plant, it fur- 

 nishes lots of sprays for cutting. 



Get young plants in the benches now 

 and they will give an abundant crop 

 of nice, well-ripened shoots before fall. 

 Grow them cool and airy during the 

 summer and if cutworms attack them 

 feed the worms with poisoned mash. 

 Where it is intended to carry over old 

 beds, be careful not to trim off the 

 growths too closely, as this seriously 

 cripples the plants. Cut away any old, 

 worthless shoots. Eemove some of the 

 old soil and top-dress with loam and 

 cow manure. Asparagus Sprengeri 

 can, if desired, be planted outdoors, 

 lifted and benched in the fall. One or 

 two quite successful growers treat it 

 in this way and with excellent success. 

 Sprengeri is a gross feeder. 



Begonia Incamata. 



The present is a suitable time to in- 

 sert a batch of cuttings of that useful 

 winter-flowering plant, Begonia incar- 

 nata. The cut-back plants will now 

 have an abundant crop of soft cuttings, 

 which will root readily and make good 



plants. The side shoots from plants 

 not headed back, even if they root, 

 never make shapely plants. This beau- 

 tiful begonia takes two years to make 

 fine plants in 6-inch and 7-inch pots, 

 and while it is in many respects a 

 superior variety to Lorraine, especially 

 the improved form, the fact that it 

 must be sold at a proportionately 

 higher price to make it profitable will 

 somewhat restrict its culture commer- 

 cially. 



Hydrangeas. 



Tubs and larger pots containing 

 specimen hydrangeas for late summer 

 flowering will do much better outdoors 

 now than in the overheated green- 

 houses. They need a position in partial 

 shade and must have copious supplies 

 of water, feeding twice a week and 

 spraying overhead on hot days. A lit- 

 tle alum used in the water will assist 

 in making the flowers a stronger blue 

 color; in fact, if used steadily, it will 

 make pink ones turn a bluish shade. 

 Young plants propagated in early 

 spring should be planted outdoors, if 

 they can be grown where they can get 

 an occasional watering. If not, they 

 will do much better kept in pots and 

 plunged outdoors in a sunny exposure. 



Peonies. 



The present season cannot be classed 

 as a satisfactory one for peonies. The 

 intense heat in May and abnormal 

 drought conditions have combined to 

 make the flowers fewer in number and 

 far below the average in quality. Their 

 keeping qualities also are unsatisfac- 

 tory. So severe has been the drought 

 in some sections that strong clumps 

 are not flowering at all, or are only 

 producing scattered blooms. Artificial 

 watering for peonies is out of the ques- 

 tion, unless one has the good fortune 

 to have a Skinner or other irrigating 

 system installed, and each year proves 

 more and more the value of these sys- 

 tems. The best, therefore, that we can 

 do is to cultivate freely. 





FERNS IN COLDFBAMES. 



The coldframes are sometimes al- 

 lowed to grow up to weeds when the 

 bedding-out season has passed. This is 

 both unsightly and unprofitable. The 

 up-to-date florist always contrives to 

 keep the frames filled, both winter and 

 summer. Not only are the frames 

 valuable for growing cyclamens, prim- 

 ulas, tuberous begonias and other flow- 

 ering plants, but they are equally 

 good for quantities of foliage plants, 

 while for ferns of almost any kind 

 they are away ahead of greenhouses. 

 If the needful head room does not exist, 

 it is easy to dig out the bottoms a 

 little. Then give a good coating of 

 fine coal ashes. Scatter some air- 

 slaked lime over this and rake it over 

 to care for any rambling snails or 



^n 



other marauders, after which the ferns 

 can be stood in them. Adiantums, such 

 as Croweanum, cuneatum and gracilli- 

 mum; any of the pteris, cyrtomiums, 

 polypodiums, davallias and nephrolepis, 

 to say nothing of other varieties, will 

 make a much better growth in frames 

 than greenhouses and will be more 

 compact and stocky. To reduce water- 

 ing they can, if necessary, be partially 

 plunged in partially decayed leaves, 

 cocoanut fiber or tanbark. The sashes, 

 of course, must be well shaded, ventila- 

 tion carefully given and the plants 

 never allowed to suffer for want of 

 water. 



Try a few sashes of ferns this season 

 and you will be so well pleased with 

 the results that you will want to grow 

 more in this way another year. 



