12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



NOVBMBEK 4, 1909. 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



^ 



! 



JUST A FEW SUGGESTIONS. 



"Where a florist's work in designing or 

 decorating is limited to funeral work, a 

 new flower, or a new idea or suggestion, 

 is welcome to relieve the monotony. In- 

 stead of keeping only the designs most 

 salable, as the pillow, wreath, cross and 

 anchor, when you buy in another stock 

 include two or three different designs new 

 to you and your general trade, using 

 judgment as to size and the amount to 

 expend. Often an order may be more 

 quickly obtained, or an indifferent cus- 

 tomer pleased, if you offer a new design, 

 such as a broken column, a basket or 

 whatever is not customarily used. Of 

 course, each must decide according to his 

 knowledge of the trade. This gives one a 

 new interest and greater ability in his 

 work. 



"When growing to help supply your own 

 trade, it is most certainly an advantage 

 to have a number of different ferns, flow- 

 ers and foliage grown expressly for your 

 designing, either in pots, flats or beds. 

 In some places it is almost impossible 

 to keep a good pot of anything to cut 

 from, and arrangements must be made to 

 satisfy both plant buyer and maker up. 

 A good grower can soon make empty 

 space pay, where there is ready sale. 



Suppose you are using flowers com- 

 monly on the market, then grow baby 

 primroses, cyclamens, sweet alyssum, for- 

 get-me-not, various ferns, asparagus, adi- 

 antums, and nephrolepis, but not every 

 variety of the latter, only those you find 

 most practical. 



The leaf -mold to be had in many places 

 near hardwood groves is just the right 

 kind to mix in with your fern soil to 

 make it grow paying plants. 



The soft gray of Asparagus decumbens, 

 with its flexible stems or vines, is ad- 

 mirable for use with carnations or other 

 flowers having gray-green foliage. With 

 pink of the paler sorts it is charming, 

 and can be more readily twined or ar- 

 ranged than smilax. 



English ivy makes a good showing for 

 a touch or main filling in pieces. So do 

 the leaves of cyclamens, specimens of 

 which may be chosen from a lot of seed- 

 lings that are beauties. Eose of Marien- 

 thal, having a broad silver band about a 

 dark center, is one of the best. Some of 

 the salmons have a fine dark leaf of rich 

 color even when slightly marked. Galax 

 is also good, but in many places has been 

 overdone and finds little sale. 



The cyclamen leaves are perhaps best 

 for touches to finish either other foliage 

 or flowers, as a broken column of ivy, 

 using a few of the silver-banded leaves 

 in a cluster at the base, a wreath of the 

 heavier adiantums with a rosette or two, 

 or a simulated spray of well marked 

 cyclamen leaves, having only the one sort 

 of leaf, not mixing the blotched with the 

 banded. Wreaths or any simple de- 

 sign, filled in rather closely with all white," 

 pink or rose-pink carnations or well 

 opened Beauties, would look well with a 

 bunch of the same leaves. 



At places where there is a variety of 

 occasion for your use of flower and 

 foliage, the work is a great deal more 

 interesting, but there are undoubtedly 

 many more towns where such trade could 

 be worked up by degrees, when the size 

 and prosperity of those places permit. 



A centerpiece decoration recently seen 

 at a birthday surprise was a garland of 

 pink roses, cut to three and 6-inch stems, 

 laid flat upon a large center of maiden- 

 hair, broken short from the bases of the 

 fronds and having the points spread out- 

 ward, like rich embroidery over the white 

 linen. Something similar seemed partic- 

 ularly appropriate for wedding break- 

 fasts or pre-nuptial parties, being simple, 

 yet giving the board a festive air. 



Violet Sylvester. 



SAMUELSON'S NEV STOHE. 



The accompanying illustrations give a 

 rather inadequate idea of the attractive- 

 ness of the new store of C. A. Samuelson, 

 at 2132 and 2134 Michigan boulevard, 

 Chicago, where a formal opening was 

 held last week. 



Every once in a while a landlord gets 



the idea that, because a tenant has 

 stayed with him many years with cou- 

 stantly advancing rents, the tenant can 

 not possibly move. This was the case 

 with Mr. Samuelson 's landlord. Th'; 

 flower store had been located in the Lex- 

 ington hotel for so long the owner of th.; 

 property thought Mr. Samuelson was run 

 ning it for the express benefit of th,: 

 landlord, but just about the time notice 

 arrived of another boost in rents at the 

 expiration of the lease an opportunity 

 was presented to get the two stores \v. 

 the building almost directly opposite on 

 a long time lease and at a reasonable 

 rental. Mr. Samuelson at once closed the 

 deal and has been all summer fitting uj> 

 the new store. He spared neither thought 

 nor expense to make it everything that a 

 first-class flower store should be. The 

 main store even had two complete ceil- 

 ings put in, the first one not giving the 

 desired effect, which necessitated strip- 

 ping it to the lath. 



The walls of the store are decorated in 

 green, with mahogany, marble and brass 

 for the fixtures and with elaborate 

 ground glass electroliers for the lights. 

 As in all modern flower stores, there is 

 no counter, handsome wall cases being 

 provided for the display of pottery, rib- 

 bons and other articles, and marble- 

 topped brass tables, which can be moved 

 about at will, being used for made-up 

 plant arrangements, vases of flowers, or 

 any articles it is wished to push. For 

 the opening the wide show window was 

 decorated ,with oak leaves, large Apple- 

 ton mums and baskets of yellow pom- 

 pons. Tall vases of cut flowers were 

 advantageously disposed around the 

 room^ a notable one being of My Mary- 



Tafole Decoration in C. A. Samuelson's Demonstratioo Room. 



