

14 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Fbbbuaby 8, 1912. 



or remedy, which must be known and 

 applied in the proper way, at the proper 

 time. 



"Once a florist, always a florist," ap- 



pears to be the rule, as it rarely occurs 

 that the profession is abandoned even in 

 old age; so it may safely be regarded as 

 a most interestuig one. Ge Dale. 



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I SEASONABLE 



§ «W ^ SUGGESTIONS 



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Antirrhinums. 



In order to have a good Memorial 

 day crop of antirrhinums, plant the seed 

 or root cuttings now. Select separate, 

 shades of color. The pinks are espe- 

 cially popular, and scarlet shades, while 

 not in heavy demand at other seasons, 

 always move well at Memorial day, a 

 time when bright colored flowers are 

 wanted. In selecting cuttings, rub off 

 with a heel those found on the flower- 

 ing shoots. Place them in any cutting 

 bench such as will root carnations. Pot 

 off when nicely rooted and bench dur- 

 ing March. Each of these plants should 

 carry four to six good spikes. They 

 do not require a warm house. They do 

 better at 45 degrees as a minimum, and 

 50 degrees should not be exceeded. 



Gladioli. 



The first planting of the large bulbed 

 varieties of gladiolus, such as America, 

 Augusta, etc., will now be several inches 

 high. Some of these may be open for 

 Easter, but as a rule they are not seen 

 in any number before the middle of 

 April. About the middle of February 

 is a suitable time to get a second batch 

 in the soil, for cutting around Memo- 

 rial day. Do not omit a good number 

 of that inexpensive but excellent scar- 

 let variety, Brenchleyensis, in addition 

 to America, Augusta and Mrs. F. King. 

 Do not use any fresh manure which will 

 come in contact with the bulbs. If 

 you have no old manure, try fine bone 

 and pulverized sheep manure, incorpo- 

 rating them well with the soil. In 

 order to secure an early crop of such 

 varieties as Colvillei The Bride, Peach 

 Blossom and Blushing Bride, every 

 week or ten days bring a few flats into 

 a house kept at 48 to 50 degrees at 

 night. A higher temperature will spoil 

 them. 



Asters. 



It is just a trifle early to sow asters 

 to plant outdoors, but if you will have 

 a vacant bench about the end of March 

 or right after Easter, which you can 

 plant with them, you will find them a 

 useful crop, as they will give you flffw* 

 ers of good quality just at the time 

 when carnations are getting poor. Prob- 

 ably the earliest of all asters is Early 

 Wonder, now obtainable in two colors, 

 pink and white. This comes in at least 

 a week ahead of Queen of the Market, 

 has longer flowers and partakes more 

 of the character of the Comet section. 

 Queen of the Market is the standard 

 early variety to grow. It gives a tre- 

 mendous crop of flowers, not so long 

 stemmed as the later sorts, but valuable 

 for all classes of design work. The 

 Hohenzollerns are also fine early asters, 

 with big flowers, and are grand for 

 cutting. As a rule, white asters have 



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first call, pink, light blue and dark 

 blue following in order of popularity. 



Vincas. 



The annual vincas, or periwinkles of 

 Madagascar, are most satisfactory sum- 

 mer bedding plants. They are never 

 without flowers, and whether in solid 

 beds or scattered in clumps through 

 mixed borders, are equally effective. 

 There are white, rose, and rose and white 

 varieties. In addition to being splendid 

 for bedding, it is not generally known 

 what excellent summer flowering pot 

 plants they make. In Europe they are 

 much used in this way. In order , to 

 have strong plants for spring sales, 

 sow the seed now in a brisk heat. These 



annuals want rather more heat than 

 asters, stocks and the general run of 

 annuals, to grow them well. 



Moonflowers. 



The moonflowers, Ipomcea HorsfallisB, 

 are always in demand as climbers. In 

 order to get strong plants, the seed 

 should be sown in heat by the middle 

 of February. Do not grow the little 

 plants in strong heat right along, or 

 they will get too big. Move into a 

 house that asters, geraniums, etc., de- 

 light in after they are potted off and 

 they will come along nicely. 



Salvia Splendens. 



While strong plants can be had from 

 salvia seed sown as late as the end 

 of March, if plants are wanted which 

 will carry flowers before bedding out 

 time, the seed is better sown by tjie 

 middle of February. The dwarf varie- 

 ties, such as Zurich and Bonfire, are 

 excellent bedders, but the old splen- 

 dens, while a taller grower, is still hard 

 to beat and in the estimation of many 

 is still superior to the improved types 

 constantly being introduced. 



Silvery Foliage. 

 Where plants with silvery foliage are 

 in demand for bedding, now is the time 

 to sow a batch of Cineraria maritima, 

 Centaurea candidissima and C. gymno- 

 carpa, the best plants of this particu- 

 lar shade of color. 



WINTEB-BIiOOMINa SWEET PEAS. 



Will sweet pea seed grown in Cali- 

 fornia, in the open, flower as prolificly 

 as seed grown under glass f I have 

 heard complaint this winter that sweet 

 peas are not blooming so well as in 

 other years and certainly mine are not. 

 Seed sown September 15 in pots and 

 planted in solid beds had not showed 

 bloom January I. Of course I refer to 

 the winter-flowering type of sweet pea, 

 which has come into such wide de- 

 mand among florists. The question is 

 whether growing the seed in California 

 will not change the nature of the plant 

 and cause the trouble we have had 

 this winter f This is a most important 

 point and will have to be thoroughly 

 understood if we are to avoid disap- 

 pointment in the future. C. E. Y. 



In answer to C. E. Y., in regard to 

 sweet peas not flowering, I would say 

 that winter-flowering sweet peas should 

 now be in flower, providing they have 

 been grown at a flowering temperature. 

 It is possible enough, however, if they 

 have been grown cool, not to be in 

 flower yet. It may be that the seed 

 was of the ordinary type. This being 

 so, they will not flower for some time 

 yet. It would be impossible for the 

 winter-flowering kind to change its 



character. All the seed is grown prac- 

 tically in California. We are having 

 no trouble here. It is either the seed 

 is the ordinary type or else they have 

 been grown too cool to flower. The one 

 type from the other can be easily dis- 

 tinguished. One kind breaks at the 

 bottom; the other breaks up the stem 

 of the plant. William Sim. 



Answering the letter of C. E. Y., 

 appearing in The Review for January 

 5, 1912, would say that the early flow- 

 ering or Christmas sweet peas, grown 

 in California, give perfectly satisfac- 

 tory results providing the seed is prop- 

 erly grown; they can not, however, 

 be grown in the ordinary manner in 

 which grandiflora and Spencers are 

 grown. C. C. Morse & Co. 



Answering the letter from C. E. Y. 

 concerning winter sweet peas, I would 

 say that there are now many so-called 

 winter sweet peas in the market. Al- 

 post ninety per cent of the world's 

 jsupply of sweet pea seed is grown in 

 California and there is not any danger 

 that they shall run back to the late 

 varieties, providing they are cultivated 

 by an expert grower who always se- 

 lects his stock seed during the winter 

 in the east under glass, where there is 



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