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14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



July 20, 1911. 



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PANSIES 

 AND VIOLAS 



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WAXING IN POPUliARITy. 



Time to Sow Pansies for Winter. 



While it is yet somewhat early to 

 sow pansies for spring flowering, ex- 

 cept in the most northerly districts, if 

 any are wanted for winter blooming 

 they should be sown at once, except 

 from New Jersey southwards, where 

 perhaps a date a few days later will be 

 better. 



Pansies are being more appreciated 

 each year as winter flowers. They will 

 never equal the violet in popularity in 

 this respect, but are worthy of more 

 attention than they have yet received 

 and are quite a i)rofitable crop. Like 

 the violets, they do not flower as freely 

 in the dark winter months as toward 

 spring, when they give a great crop of 

 flowers, and they bloom freely for many 

 weeks after violets are gone. Their re- 

 quirements are a cool house with a 

 winter minimum of 40 to 42 degrees, a 

 rich soil and an abundant water sup- 

 ply. Some shade on the glass is a 

 benefit after March, as it helps to keep 

 the plants cool. In funeral designs, and 

 also for wearing and for table decora- 

 tions, pansies are becoming of more im- 

 portance, being particularly adaptable 

 to successful culture in the colder 

 states, where they are always found at 

 their best. Pansies love a cool, moist 

 climate and in such they will flower 

 from early spring until winter. Only 

 in a few favored seaside places in the 

 most northerly' states, particularly in 

 Maine, are they, however, really satis- 

 factory summer bloomers, the heat and 

 drought in other sections being too 

 much for them. 



Oood Varieties. 



There are many choice strains of 

 large flowering pansies on the market. 

 Many are selections from or improve- 

 ments on Trimardeau, which remains 

 one of the best all-around varieties in 

 commerce today. The trouble is that 

 what some dealers call Trimardeau is 

 merely a hotchpotch mixture, but if the 

 true strain is got from one of the re- 

 liable dealers, many of whom advertise 

 in The Eeview, the seed will give satis- 

 factory results. The bulk of purchas- 

 ers accept or prefer mixed pansies, but 

 for bedding eff'ects and bunching sep- 

 arate colors are vastly better. Emperor 

 William, ultramarine blue; Lord Bea- 

 consfield, violet, upper petals fading 

 white; Queen of Blues, pale lavender 

 blue; Golden Gem, golden yellow, and 

 Snow Queen, pure white, are all good 

 Trimardeau sorts, which are good for 

 bedding-out purposes and produce fine 

 mass effects. Some people admire the 

 red shades. Cardinal, bright red, will 

 please them, while the Mme, Perret, 

 giant strain, though somewhat more 

 tender, produces immense flowers which 

 are chiefly of rich red and wine shades. 



0«t the Best. 



Now is a good time to buy pansy seed. 

 It is well not to wait until the last mo- 



ment before ordering it. Do not pur- 

 chase cheap seed, as it will only give a 

 big proportion of small, miserable flow- 

 ers, which no one will want to buy. The 

 best seed is always the cheapest and 

 at the same time most profitable in the 

 long run. Unless many thousands of 

 plants are to be raised, a coldframe is 

 the best place in which to sow the seed. 

 Make the soil light and moderately 

 rich, and pulverize it well. Sow the 

 seed broadcast. Cover lightly. Keep 

 well watered and germination will take 

 place in eight or ten days. Once the 

 seed is up, avoid coddling and remove 

 the sashes. A covering or cheesecloth 

 for a few days is, however, beneficial. 

 If sown outdoors, beds three feet wide, 

 slightly raised, are good. After sowing, 

 water and give a light mulch of dry 

 moss, leaves or even newspaper, to pre- 

 vent too rapid drying out. Of course, 

 this must be removed as the seedlings 

 appear. A cheesecloth or lath shading, 

 raised a little above the ground, also 

 answers well in assisting to keep the 

 soil moist. 



Viola Cornuta. 



The true Viola cornuta, blue and 

 white, rarely gives more than a small 

 proportion of true plants from seed. 

 Cuttings are the best method of prop- 

 agation, taking these in late fall and 

 planting them quite thickly in sandy 

 loam in a coldframe, where they can be 

 wintered. The larger violas, such as 

 Papilio, violet lilac; Admiration, dark 

 blue; Mauve Queen, pale blue; White 



Perfection, white, and grandiflora lutea, 

 golden yellow, are splendid bedders and 

 are specially good for using as a base 

 for tulips and other bulbous plants, 

 making an effective show when the 

 bulbs are gone also. In Europe there 

 is a great assortment of named varieties 

 of these violas and they occupy an im- 

 portant place as bedders, flowering in 

 profusion all sumnjer long. 



ii 



WINTERING PANSY PLANTS. 



I expect to gToyfi about 15,000 pansy 

 plants for spring aiales, but last season 

 about one-half my plants winter-killed, 

 although on dry, sandy ground with a 

 good slope, while those on wet, clayey 

 soil did not winter-kill, though not pro- 

 tected. Is there any sure protection 

 against winter-killing here, in the 

 southern part of Maine? C. A. P. 



Last winter in your state was an 

 abnormally dry one and to this must 

 be attributed the dying out, not only 

 of pansies, but of many perennial 

 flowering plants, trees and shrubs. Dur- 

 ing the average winter, pansies on 

 ground with a gentle slope will winter 

 much better than those on lower land, 

 but we had little rain last year for sev- 

 eral months and even plants like 

 pansies could not stand it. 



You ask whether there is any sure 

 way to carry over pansies. The best 

 plan, were you growing 1,500 or so, 

 would be to transplant into coldframes 

 and leave them there. Or, give them 

 a good soaking of water before the 

 ground freezes up; then, when the frost 

 has tightened up the soil well, give a , ^ 

 light mulch of dry leaves and stand 

 sashes over them. If they are treated 

 thus, you will not lose any plants. If 

 perchance you have no sashes, the 

 plants will winter without them. Re- 

 move the mulch early in April in your 

 latitude. C. W. 



SWEET PEAS FOR WINTER. 



Will you kindly give us some infor- 

 mation on the growing of sweet peas 

 for winter? When do you plant the 

 seed? Will they do best in solid or 

 raised benches? What temperature do 

 they require? What are the best va- 

 rieties in pink, white and lavender? 

 Any information on this subject will 

 be appreciated. H. G. 



Sweet peas for an early winter crop 

 should be sown from the middle to the 

 end of August. They can be sown in 

 small pots, in flats, or directly in the 

 rows where they are to flower. I pre- 

 fer to transplant from flats. Flowers 

 can be secured a little earlier from 



raised benches, but the quality is never 

 so good or the flowering season so pro- 

 longed as from solid benches. 



Sweet peas want a generous com- 

 post; good loam, with plenty of well 

 decayed cow or sheep manure spaded 

 in, is what they like. The drainage, 

 of course, should be good. They re- 

 quire copious waterings when in active 

 growth and flowering, and need ample 

 head room, not less than six feet, and 

 ten to twelve feet would be better. 

 Wide, lofty houses are now used by all 

 the specialists and the rows are run 

 lengthwise of the houses, four to six 

 feet apart. When the wider distance 

 is given, a crop of violets can be taken 

 out between them. 



Sweet peas, when flowering, like an 



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