8 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



September 8, 1010. 



i SEASONABLE 



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Gardenias. 



This is the season of rapid growth 

 with the gardenias. Plants growing in 

 benches since May should by this time 

 have quadrupled in size, and be quite 

 shapely if the necessary pinching has 

 been attended to. It is easy to have a 

 crop of flowers through the summer. 

 Gardenias are almost perpetual bloom- 

 ing, but, unless you are located where 

 wealthy residents want the flowers and 

 are willing to pay a fair price for 

 them, it is better to keep the buds 

 picked oft" until the arrival of colder 

 weather. If syringing has been prop- 

 erly done, there should be no mealy bug 

 on the plants. There is absolutely no 

 excuse for this where there is an ade- 

 quate water supply. Use a spray noz- 

 zle and direct the force from below the 

 foliage. A minimum night temperature 

 of 65 to 70 degrees should be main- 

 tained. As the benches will now -be 

 filling up with roots, water can be sup- 

 plied more freely. If your drainage 

 is good and the soil sufficiently porous, 

 there will be little danger of stagna- 

 tion and consequent yellowing of the 

 foliage. Scratch the surface over oc- 

 casionally and avoid watering any wet 

 ])laces in the benches until they dry out 

 well. Anything approaching sourness 

 will cause yellow leaves and falling 

 buds. 



Plants in pots, if well rooted, will be 

 benefited by an occasional dose of weak 

 liquid manure. Clay's fertilizer has 

 been found excellent to apply as a toji- 

 dressing. It helps to keep the foliage 

 that dark green, glossy hue which one 

 delights to see. It hardly pays to carry 

 plants after a second year, as they in- 

 variably go off with canker near the 

 surface soil. Late rooted stock should 

 be given its final shift. If they can be 

 plunged in a close frame, or on a bench 

 in a small span house, they will quickly 

 fill the pots with roots. Gardenias like 

 bottom heat, and if more of it were 

 used we should have fewer complaints 

 of yellow foliage and dropping buds. 



Hollyhocks. 



In order to get strong hollyhock 

 plants, the seedlings, instead of being 

 allowed to crowd one another in the 

 nursery rows, should be transplanted, 

 always, of course, selecting showery 

 weather for the work. Hollyhocks are 

 among the most popular of hardy plants. 

 While usually treated as biennials, they 

 are really perennials and in good soil 

 will live several years. It is not too 

 late now to make a sowing for next 

 season. Possibly you may have seeds 

 on some of your own plants, which, if 

 collected and sown, will germinate 

 quickly, giving just as fine plants and 

 as good a strain as any you could buy. 

 Do not be afraid to grow a good stock 

 of liollyhocks and all other biennials 

 and perennials. The call for them is 

 continually on the increase. They need 

 no greenhouse to winter them and thou- 



sands of people prefer them to tender 

 bedding plants. 



Transplanting Evergreens. 



The last half of August and first half 

 of September is perhaps the best in the 

 whole year for the successful trans- 

 planting of evergreens of all kinds. The 

 ideal planting weather is, of course, when 

 the ground is moist and the sky overcast. 

 These conditions, unfortunately, do not 

 prevail to any great extent iintil later. 

 Still, where this work requires to be done, 

 the present month, when other duties are 

 less numerous and strenuous, is the best 

 in the year. Nurseries can now dig, 

 burlap and ship plants more expeditious- 

 ly and carefully than in spring, when 

 they are swamped with orders, and the 

 growers of nursery stock should en- 

 courage late summer planting more. 



All holes should be carefully pre- 

 pared, and when the tree or shrub is 

 in position and has had some soil filled 



in about its roots, let it have a thor- 

 ough soaking of water. Allow an hour 

 or two to elapse before filling up the 

 hole. Be sure that the soil is worked 

 in among all the roots and remember 

 that you cannot firm the soil too much. 

 Mulch after the planting is done and. 

 if you have a hose within reach, give 

 the plants a wetting over each evening 

 for a few days. Use no manure about 

 the roots, as it will do more harm than 

 good. 



Rhododendrons, kalmias, andromedas, 

 coniferous evergreens of all kinds, 

 Euonymus radicans and, in fact, ev- 

 erything of an evergreen nature will 

 move well now, if care is taken that 

 they have a nice ball, that the roots 

 are not exposed to sun and drying 

 winds and that they are well watered 

 when planted. 



INSECTS ON ALTEBNANTHEBAS. 



An insect ate all the leaves of our 

 Alternanthera brilliantissima. I no- 

 ticed on the plants a small fly, not like 

 any fly I have ever seen before; also a 

 small worm, and a small, long, dark 

 bug. We send a sample of the eaten 

 leaves. S. F. C. 



Try dusting the alternantheras with 

 Slug Shot, and if this does not prove 

 effective, then I would try spraying 

 with a solution of Paris green; but the 

 latter must not be used too strong, else 

 it may burn the foliage. W. H. T. 



HOME-SAVED SWEET PEA SEED. 



Please let me know whether I am 

 likely to get good results from my own 

 home-grown sweet pea seed. I have 

 heard that they do not do well here, in 

 southern Oklahoma. S. F. C. 



You will have much better results 

 with seed raised in a cooler climate, 

 where large quantities of the various 

 kinds are grown and where roguing is 

 carefully done. If you grow a number 

 of varieties in a limited space, it is 

 about impossible to save seed from 

 them and have them come true to name. 

 In addition, plants in your climate are 

 entirely lacking in vitality as compared 

 with those grown in the states where 

 the weather conditions are better for 

 sweot pea culture and seed saving. I 

 would most certainly advise against 

 home-saved seed. C. W. 



WINTER CAKE OF SWEET PEAS. 



There have been several articles in 

 The Review lately about the culture of 

 winter flowering sweet peas, giving 

 directions about planting, etc., but 

 none of the articles dwelt much on the 

 care of the peas after they are nearing 



the flowering stage. 1 am at a loss to 

 know just how closely the peas should 

 be kept suckered — that is, how many 

 shoots should be left to come on each 

 individual plant. My aim is to have 

 peas for Christmas and then on, as long 

 as they can be kept in flower. What is 

 the best temperature for night and day, 

 and should they be well aired? 



S. F. C. 



Sweet peas do not require any sucker- 

 ing at all. All shoots which appear 

 should be left; the removal of any 

 would only mean a reduction in your 

 cut of flowers. If your plants are set 

 out four to six inches apart in rows, 

 they will be sufficiently thick. There 

 are good growers who allow them 

 double that space. It is a common 

 error to sow or plant too thickly, but 

 it never pays in the long run. A mini- 

 mum temperature of 46 to 50 degrees in 

 winter will suit sweet peas; hold it as 

 near 48 degrees as possible and try 

 not to go beyond 50 degrees. The 

 plants like all the fresh air you can 

 give them. Of course, avoid cold 

 drafts, which might cause mildew to 

 break out. If the latter should appear, 

 dust with flowers of sulphur at once. 



