44 



The Florists' Review 



April 2, 1914. 



In common with all hard-wooded plants, 

 acacias and ericas must never be al- 

 lowed to get dry at the roots; a bad 

 drying out may mean not only spoiled 

 flowers but dead plants. . Erica melan- 

 thefa still is to be seen in fine condi- 

 tion; then there are nice plants of E. 

 persoluta alba, persoluta rosea and 

 codonodes. The small sizes sell re- 

 markably well. E. melanthera is really 

 a wonderful variety. It was to be had 

 in fine flower for Thanksgiving and 

 Christmas, and yet plants kept cold are 

 in perfect condition for Easter, 



Bougaiuvilleas and Metrosideros. 



Bougainvilleas and metrosideros have 

 a fairly good Easter sale. Neither have 

 flowers of a particularly attractive form 

 or coloring, but there always is a sale 

 for a moderate number of odd shades 

 of color or fantastic form. Both have 

 splendid lasting properties and can be 

 depended on to give purchasers full 

 value for their money if intelligently 

 cared for. As specimen plants in win- 

 dows or stores, both these plants are 



be sold at a moderate price. It packs 

 up easily and there is little fear of in- 

 jury from careless handling. Queen 

 Alexandra, with its beautiful peach 

 pink spikes of flowers, is of a color 

 much in demand for Easter, and more 

 of it is to be seen this year than ever 

 before. Remember that these spiraeas 

 are decidedly thirsty subjects; one 

 watering a day is not suflicient, and it 

 is well to provide saucers for them. 

 Never mind if some water stands in the 

 saucers; there is not much danger of 

 the plants becoming stagnant and los- 

 ing foliage, as in the case of marguer- 

 ites or hydrangeas. 



Dutch Bulbous Plants. 



Usually it has been an easy matter to 

 flower Dutch bulbous plants for Easter 

 by simply standing them on a bed of 

 coal ashes in a good coldframe, laying 

 board shutters over such plants as are 

 well opened in order to retard thtm. 

 The weather last month, however, has 

 upset all such calculations, and fire 

 heat has been necessary in some sec- 



Tbe Spiraea Seems Lately to have Lost Some of its Popularity. 



desirable. Do not mix them with other 

 plants; keep them severely by them- 

 selves. Bougainvilleas will show up 

 well with a base of white flowers, and 

 so will metrosideros, but if they are as- 

 sociated with pink the clashing of colors 

 will be most distressing. 



The Spiraeas. 



Spiraea Gladstone is, perhaps, the best 

 of the white-flowered spirseas, or 

 astilbes, for Easter. It is an inexpen- 

 sive and easily grown plant, and can 



tions to have the plants in season. Of 

 course the cooler all these bulbous 

 plants are grown the stockier and more 

 salable they will be. Dutch bulbs, 

 whether they be in pots or pans, always 

 have an immanse sale, purchasable, as 

 they are, at a comparatively low price. 

 The leading favorites in narcissi still 

 are double Von Sion, Golden Spur and 

 Victoria, with smaller lots of the short 

 trumpet varieties. In tulips. Rose 

 Luisante, Murillo and Keizerskroon are 

 popular, the double Murillo being the 



greatest favorite of all. Hyacinths in 

 pans always meet with a good sale, the 

 pink, pale blue and white being more in 

 favor than the red and dark blue. None 

 of these bulbs, if grown cold, will need 

 any supports. Hyacinths, however, if 

 at all drawn, must have a short stake 

 to each spike or they are liable to bend 

 over and break. All Dutch bulbs can 

 be stood in a cool place. Outdoors is 

 all right if it is not too frosty. 



Bhododendrons. 



While there always has been a good 

 sale for rhododendrons at Easter, since 

 the coming of the large-flowered and 

 trussed Pink Pearl and its delicate pink 

 companion. White Pearl, which, by the 

 way, is not pure white, as might be 

 thought from the name, they have risen 

 surprisingly in favor. In fact, there 

 are not yet enough of these two varie- 

 ties to supply the demand. The trusses 

 are so immense that a Pink Pearl car- 

 rying six or eight makes a more im- 

 pressive show than one of the ordinary 

 hybrids with double that number. No 

 one who keeps an at all up-to-date store 

 can afford to be without these rhododen- 

 drons. The question is sometimes asked, 

 Can these be planted outdoors later and 

 are they hardy? They are not hardy, 

 and it would be necessary to lift and 

 store any leftovers in a cool cellar 

 through the winter. No matter how 

 well they may grow after forcing, they 

 will fail to set many flower buds the 

 first season. Most of the other 

 rhododendrons are fairly hardy varie- 

 ties, but, of course, need protection 

 during the coldest months. 



MECHANICS HALL IS HIBED. 



Following the meeting of the S. A. F. 

 board of directors at Boston March 17, 

 Mechanics building has been leased for 

 the August convention. This is the 

 largest building in Boston, with three 

 floors available, giving a ground area 

 equal to the needs of the largest trade 's 

 display in the history of the society. It 

 is the same building in which the sec- 

 ond National Flower Show was staged, 

 in 1911. 



BOSTONIANS BUSY. 



Since the board of directors of the 

 S. A. F. met in March the Bostonians 

 have been busy with their preparations 

 for entertaining the society in August. 

 Plans for the convention garden are 

 well under way and the prospect is that 

 this will be made an even more, con- 

 spicuous feature than was the case at 

 Minneapolis, although it cannot be lo- 

 cated adjoining the convention hall, as 

 was possible last year. 



The following are the committees on 



local arrangements for the convention, 



with the chairman of each: 



Executive, Patrick Welch. 

 Finance, Thos. Roland. 

 Exhibitions, J. B. Shea. 

 Entertainment, E. Allan Peirrc. 

 Publicity, J. K. M. L. Farquhar. 

 Sports, W. B. Nicholson. 

 Indies' reception, W. J. Kenned.v. 

 Bureau of information, A. P. Calder. 

 Hotels, Patrick Welch. 



Sioux City, la. — Rocklin & Lehman 

 find the new Butterfly sweet peas quite 

 popular with their patrons. 



New Castle, Ind. — Wm. Dittman, who 

 heretofore has grown nothing but Beau- 

 ties, is preparing to plant some of his 

 older and smaller houses to tea roses 

 for next season. 



