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10 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Febbuart 1, 1912. 



Primroses and Cyclamens Dressed for St. Valentine's Day. 



be such as are sent as Valentine's day 

 gifts. A nicely lettered card can tell 

 that orders taken in advance will be 

 delivered at any designated hour on 

 St. Valentine's day. 



ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. 



The Stock in Demand. 



Fortunately for all concerned, the 

 flowers most popular for St. Valentine 's 

 uses are those most abundant at this 

 season of the year. First of all comes 

 the violet; nothing else equals it in 

 popularity for this date. Second choice 

 is the sweet pea, with, of course, a 

 certain proportion of the customers 

 using cattleyas instead of the less ex- 

 pensive flowers. "With the violets go 

 gardenias and valley. 



Violets are just coming into the 

 spring crop in the early part of Feb- 

 ruary, so that a large supply is as- 

 sured. With many growers the winter- 

 flowering varieties of sweet peas are 

 just coming in, so that these also will 

 be abundant. Cattleyas by the middle 

 of February will not be so plentiful as 

 they have been through January. The 

 crop of Cattleya Trianaj is passing, 

 but it is a misfortune rather than a 

 benefit to have cattleyas too plentiful. 

 A great many flower buyers select 

 orchids merely because tney are orchids 

 and are thought to be something ex- 

 clusive and out of the ordinary. When 

 you cheapen the price of the orchid it 

 loses its value in the eyes of a good 

 many people. Gardenias are now in 

 much heavier supply than they were a 

 year or two ago, for there are many 

 more growers producing them. Of 

 valley there usually is an abundance. 

 Therefore the retail florist can go ahead 

 with his St. Valentine 's day prepara- 

 tions with the assurance that there will 

 be good supplies of the most popular 

 flowers and an unlimited supply of 

 bulbous stock to fall back upon should 

 the season's specialties, and the sta- 

 ples, fail to satisfy the demand. 



Accessories Are Essential. 



Practically all the St. Valentine's 

 flowers go out in one of two forms. 



Either they are sent merely as boxes 

 of loose cut flowers, or they are made 

 up in the form of corsage bouquets. It 

 is as important to have the accessories 

 as it is to have the flowers. Of prime 

 importance is the stock of boxes of ap- 

 propriate size and shape, but of almost 

 equal necessity is a stock of such mate- 

 rials as corsage shields of more or less 

 elaborateness, appropriate ribbons and 

 ties, with large, fancy-headed pins or 

 clasps — no use sending out a corsage 

 without some means for the recipient 

 to attach it to her costume. 



PILANTS FOS VALENTINES. 



Plantsmen Not to be Denied. 



It is only in recent years that St. 

 Valentine's day, February 14, has come 

 into any prominence as a special flower 

 day, but in the last two or three sea- 

 sons it has come strongly to the front. 

 People of mature years and refined 

 taste have found the youthful practice 

 of sending valentines again opened to 

 them by the ingenuity of the florist: 

 To a grown man the tissue paper gew- 

 gaw with the amorous verse was an 

 impossibility, but nothing could be in 

 finer taste than for him to send each 

 of his lady friends a box of flowers on 

 St. Valentine's day. 



The moment enterprising florists be- 

 gan to advertise to call attention to 

 the appropriateness of the use of flow- 

 ers as valentines, the business began to 

 grow, until now February 14 is one 

 of the special flower days for which 

 preparations must be made if one is 

 to take full advantage of his oppor- 

 tunities. 



When the retailer began to push for 

 St. Valentine's day business, it was all 

 cut flowers. At first the sales mostly 

 were boxes of loose cut flowers, and 

 they probably still are, but corsage 

 bouquets soon came to be the specialty 

 of the day. Most of these were made 

 of violets, but sweet peas are only 

 slightly less popular, with orchids ap- 

 pealing to the class of trade that is 

 willing to spend more money. All these 

 call for the use of cut flowers, and St. 

 Valentine's has been a cut flower day. 



But when any day develops a spe- 

 cial demand for the retail florists, 

 plants are not for long to be denied a 

 share of the extra business. 



Some Simple Plant Arrangements. 



Last year it occurred to some of the 



St. Valentine's Day Baskets Arranged by Jacob Schulz, Louisville. 



