16 



The Florists^ Review 



Fkbruaey 26, 1914. 



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 i ^ SUGGESTIONS I 



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Canterbury iBells. 



While Canterbury bells make beauti- 

 ful pot plants when well grown and 

 judiciously staked, they are impatient 

 of hard forcing, and, to have them at 

 their best, an average of 50 degrees for 

 a minimum temperature is ample. It 

 will be found that while there is a some- 

 what limited sale of these at Easter, 

 they produce vastly better plants in the 

 last half of April and through May, be- 

 ing grand for cutting for Memorial day 

 when not sold in pots. Do not give too 

 much water to Canterbury bells until 

 you are sure they have their pots full 

 of ^active roots; then there is little 

 probability of damage from excess. 

 Soihetimes thrips will attack the young 

 growths as they come up, especially 

 when the plants have been growing in 

 too warm a house. Spraying with nico- 

 tine, or, better still, dipping the plants 

 is the best remedy. 



Gardenias. 



If gardenia cuttings for next sea- 

 son's crop are not yet taken, get them 

 into the sand at once. Provided a close 

 case is used and there is a brisk bottom 

 heat, the cuttings should be rooted in 

 three weeks. They need an abundant 

 water supply all the time. Newly 

 potted cuttings do best if kept in a 

 case a few days, or in a house where 

 they can have plenty of heat and moist- 

 ure and be protected from sun and cur- 

 rents of air. 



Plants grown for winter blooming, 

 which may have proved somewhat dis- 

 appointing so far, should from this 

 time on give a nice, steady crop of cut 

 flowers. Do not allow the foliage to 

 become yellow; there is absolutely no 

 need of it. If the compost in pots or 

 benches is sufficiently porous, and some 

 high-grade fertilizer is used as an oc- 

 casional top-dressing, the foliage will 

 keep a dark green color. 



Camellias. 



The flowering period for camellias 

 will soon pass, and, with the increasing 

 interest being taken in these plants, it 

 is probable that a good many florists 

 have a few plants unsold. It pays to 

 carry these over. On the imported 

 plants the loss in flower buds is usually 

 heavy, while it is otherwise with home- 

 grown stock. Camellias love cool treat- 

 ment, but with the flower season over 

 it is a good plan to give the plants, if 

 space permits it, a warmer house where 

 they cSu be freely syringed. It will 

 be found that plants thus treated will 

 set buds earlier and more freely than if 

 kept in a cold house all the time. In 

 summer they can be planted out or, if 

 preferred, plunged over the pots where 

 they can be freely syringed and watered. 



Dutch Bulbous Flowers for Easter. 



At this season queries reach The 

 Beview almost daily, stating that hya- 

 cinths, tulips or narcissi, which are 

 buried outdoors and protected with 

 straw or leaves, or in a cold cellar, 



have sprouted considerably, and ask- 

 ing how they can best be retarded. For 

 Easter blooming no fire heat is needed 

 at all this season, since Easter comes 

 moderately late. If a good, close cold- 

 frame is at command, place a good 

 layer of coal ashes in the bottom before 

 setting in the pots, pans or flats of 

 bulbs, and, if they are left where they 

 are until a ■mouth before Easter, they 

 will be in ample time. Grown in frames 

 they are much stockier than when 

 placed in greenhouses, and in .such posi- 

 tions it is easy to retard thenJ'by shad- 

 ing the glass, or, better sti^by cover- 

 ing with mats during bright sunshine, 

 particularly in the case of tulips. 



Bhododendron Fink Fearl. 



Rhododendron Pink Peari is the 

 queen of forcing rhododendrons. Its 

 immense trusses of beautiful pink flow- 

 ers make it easily the most popular 



variety of the day. It cannot yet be 

 sold at a low price, and it will be sev- 

 eral years before it will become suffi- 

 ciently abundant to fully meet the de- 

 mand. For Easter flowering, allow six 

 to seven weeks. It is better to let it 

 come along moderately cool than to try 

 to force it. If heat is given, be sure 

 to open the flowers in a cool house, or 

 much of their delicate coloring will be 

 lost. Other rhododendrons can be flow- 

 ered a little earlier than Pink Pearl, 

 but it is well to allow all of them at 

 least six weeks. 



Genistas. 



No forcing is needed to flower ge- 

 nistas for Easter. They should never 

 have any more fire heat than is abso- 

 lutely necessary; the cooler they are 

 grown the better they will be. For 

 Easter, move the plants into a cool 

 house about the end of February. 

 Cytisus Andreanus and C. scoparius 

 need about a month in a temperature 

 of 45 to 50 degrees at night to be in 

 condition for Easter. They are not 

 much seen nowadays, but, if well 

 grown, are charming subjects. By the 

 way, if genista cuttings are not yet put 

 in, now is a good time to start them. A 

 cutting bench such as suits carnations 

 will be all right for them. 



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TIIE BEDDING STOCK. 



The bedding geraniums are now 

 growing fast and will need frequent 

 spacing apart. Keep the plants potted 

 on from the cutting bench to 2-inch 

 pots, from 2-inch to 3-inch and from 

 3-inch to 4-inch, as occasion requires. 

 Always avoid letting the balls become 

 matted with roots before giving any 

 shift. If they do become potbound from 

 any cause, loosen the roots around the 

 ball with a pointed stick before repot- 

 ting. Do not use anything in the na- 

 ture of fresh manure in the soil. Some 

 old cow or horse manure, well pulver- 

 ized or screened, is all right, and add a 

 4-inch potful of fine bone to each bar- 

 row load of loam. Geraniums want all 

 the sun and light possible, with plenty 

 of fresh air, and they must not be kept 

 too moist at the root. Any plants show- 

 ing diseased foliage should be regularly 

 picked over; also remove decaying 

 leaves at least once a week. 



SOIL FOE GERANIUMS. 



We are about to shift our geraniums 

 from 2%-inch pots to 4-inch pots. The 

 soil is taken from the mum benches. In 

 what proportion should we use bone 

 meal. In the first place, the soil for the 

 mums consisted of loam and cow ma- 

 nure; then in the 2i,{>-inch pots we used 

 mum soil with about a 4-inch pot of 

 bone meal to a wheelbarrow of sifted 

 mum soil. F. & F. 



Use a 4-inch potful of fine bone to 

 each bushel of the chrvsanthemum com- 



post. As you probably used a good pro- 

 portion of cow or horse manure in the 

 compost, this bone should provide suffi- 

 cient additional food. If the plants, a 

 little later, do not appear to make as 

 much growth as you could wish, give 

 the pots a light top-dressing of fine 

 bone mixed with finely sifted loam. 

 C. W. 



GERANIUMS FOR MEMORIAL DAY. 



When must we cease pinching 21/4- 

 inch, 314-inch and 4-inch geraniums in 

 order to have blooms for Memorial day? 

 How many weeks are required for buds 

 to show after pinching? Then, how 

 much time is required for the buds to 

 be in full bloom? H. & C. 



Stop pinching the geraniums by March 

 1. It will take six to eight weeks for 

 the buds to show after pinching, as a 

 rule, but a good deal depends on the 

 soil your plants are growing in. If the 

 soil contains much animal manure, the 

 buds will be slower in showing than 

 where a small quantity only has been 

 used and more bone has been added. 

 The ranker the plant growth, the slower 

 will be the production of buds. From 

 the time the buds show to the time they 

 are in bloom, you should allow a month, 

 as we have many vagaries of weather 

 even in May. A temperature of 45 to 

 50 degrees at night is sufficient. Do not 

 exceed the latter figure if stocky plants 

 are wanted. Air freely, give all possi- 

 ble sunlight and keep the atmosphere 

 (Irv rather than moist at all times. 



C. W. 



