8 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 13, 1909. 



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SUGGESTIONS 



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Bedding Plants. 



In more southerly sections, planting 

 out of bedding stock will already be in 

 progress, but in the northern states it is 

 hardly safe to commence this work before 

 the latter part of May, more of it being 

 done after than before Memorial day. 



Attention should now be given to hard- 

 ening off the plants gradually. Space re- 

 quired in greenhouses for growing on 

 plants for Memorial day sales can be con- 

 siderably increased by removing gera- 

 niums, verbenas, asters, ageratums and 

 many other varieties to coldframes, 

 where the sashes can be gradually re- 

 moved, taking care to run them down on 

 cold nights. The more tender sorts, such 

 as alternantheras, coleus, cannas, etc., will 

 be better in the greenhouses a few days 

 longer, unless you can give them a gentle 

 bottom heat from fermenting material in 

 the frames. 



If you can partially plunge vour pots 

 in the frames, they will require Iocs water 

 and keep a much better color. Keep the 

 tops pinched out of coleus, achyranthes. 

 etc., to give them a bushier habit, and 

 pot off kny late cuttings of these or any 

 other bedding plants still in the propa- 

 gating bench. Endeavor, as far as pos- 

 sible, to keep each variety of bedding 

 stock together. It Avill save considerable 

 running around later, and you can more 

 readily tell the size of your stock. Get 

 dahlias in a frame and keep them well 

 aired to make them sturdy. It is now 

 too late to do any propagating or seed 

 sowing for the present season. 



Hardy Bulbous Plants. 



The sales of Dutch bulbous stock for 

 outdoor uses show a steady increase each 

 year. They are being more and more 

 used, not only on private estates, but 

 in parks, cemeteries, etc. The up-to- 

 date florist who has an attractive bed 

 of tulips or narcissi on his own lawn 

 will find it an excellent advertisement, 

 for many customers each year select what 

 they want planted in the fall from the 

 flowering plants. Each season shows a 

 growth in the numbers of those who 

 want a bed of, or, at least, a few dozen 

 tulips, and anyone who has had the en- 

 terprise to plant a few bulbs each of the 

 best kinds in a prominent position will 

 have invested his money to good ad- 

 vantage. Now is the time to take a walk 

 in the park or nearby public grounds 

 to see these bulb displays and select those 

 which may strike you as desirable bed- 

 ders. 



Primulas. 



Primulas will now demand a little at- 

 tention. The greenhouses are getting 

 warm for them, and a coldframe with a 

 north aspect will suit them much better 

 from now until October. Spread a layer 

 of coal ashes on the bottoms of the 

 frames and furnish a little shade during 

 the warm part of the day. Do not white- 

 wash the glass. This only helps to draw 

 up the plants. Use muslin or lath shades. 

 After June 1 the sashes can be removed 



entirely, except in case of heavy rains. 

 P. obconica should now be in 2^4 -inch or 

 3-inch pots, and P. Sinensis and P. 

 Kewensis should be about ready for the 

 same size pots. Let the soil be light, 

 plenty of leaf-mold and a small propor- 

 tion of loam and sand. Seedlings of any 

 late sowings should be pricked off as soon 

 as possible. Do not use the hose at any 

 time on these primulas. The watering 

 pot is laughed at by some growers, but 

 if you want first-class pot plants, its use 

 is still necessary. 



Winter-floweting Geraniums. 



There is a good field for the develop- 

 ment of the ever popular geranium as a 

 winter blooming subject. Specially valu- 

 able and cheery is it when mums are on 

 the wane and liefore bulbous stock is in 

 season. As a Christmas plant it is 

 splendid, yet how seldom do we see even 

 an ordinarily well grown one at that holi- 

 day ! 



Plants to flower in" 6-inch pots next D - 

 cember should now be nicely establisht? l' 

 in 21/^ -inch pots, and soon will need \. 

 shift into 4-inch. Grow them along in i 

 light house without shade, apd keep a'l 

 flower trusses carefully removed. 



Geraniums for winter blooming a) ' 

 much better grown under glass all tb 

 time, affording them a light shade durin/ 

 the hottest part of the summer. Scarlet - 

 and crimsons are the popular selling co! 

 ors, but a few pinks, salmons and puri 

 whites will find customers. Do not run 

 too much on doubles. You should tr\ 

 some of the better singles, which an^ 

 much more beautiful than doubles, am! 

 will sell on sight. 



Berried Solanums. 



The little plants of solanum, if hard- 

 ened off, can be planted outdoors at any 

 time. Much heavier berried stock can be 

 had from those grown in the field than 

 when kept in pots. The plants need no 

 watering when outside, and are remark- 

 ably free from insect attacks. Yet many 

 persist in growing them in pots all sum- 

 mer, which entails much more labor and 

 gives fifty per cent poorer plants. 



Cutworms. 



Cutworms are now making their ap- 

 pearance, and will be specially bad where 

 stock is adjacent to grass land or land 

 that was but lately broken up. They get 

 in their work at night, and can only be 

 rConcluded on paae 45.1 



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WINDOW AND 



PIAZZA BOXES 



SOME HELPFUL HINTS. 



Becoming Popular Everywhere. 



It is pleasing to note each year the 

 increased use of window and piazza 

 boxes of flowering and foliage plants in 

 our great cities. It is but a few years 

 ago that window boxes were something 

 of a novelty, but now we see them in al- 

 most any city we visit. Even in small 

 towns they are being made more use of, 

 particularly on piazzas, and certainly 

 nothing adds more to the beauty and pic- 

 turesqueness of a residential district 

 than a free use of these boxes. Not only 

 are window boxes now being made a 

 feature on the fronts of dwelling houses, 

 but quite a few of the up-to-date depart- 

 ment stores are using them, and there 

 would seem to be an almost boundless 

 field for future development. Both grow- 

 ers and retailers are in the habit of fill- 

 ing a certain number of boxes each year. 

 The retailers particularly, if of a pro- 

 gressive nature, should strive to greatly 

 increase this special branch of their 

 trade, and there can be no better way 

 of advertising it than by displaying at 

 their stores one or two tastefully planted 

 boxes which will give prospective cus- 

 tomers an idea of how properly planted 

 boxes will look and what their cost will 

 be. 



A Feature in European Cities. 



In European cities, window boxes are 



a feature which always rivets the atten- 

 tion of American visitors. In somber 

 London, where many thousands are used 

 and filled with geraniums, musks, lobe- 

 lias, fuchsias, calceolarias, marguerites, 

 b<^gonias and other popular box plants, 

 they simply transform the residentifil 

 sections. In Paris, Berlin and other con- 

 tinental cities they are also largely used, 

 and the annual filling of these forms an 

 important branch of the florists' busi- 

 ness. It is true that our greater summer 

 heat makes it impossible to grow some 

 of the plants which thrive there, and it 

 is equally true that more watering is 

 necessary to keep the plants in good 

 condition, but there is a large array of 

 plants suitable for window box use, and 

 the watering, if carefully done once a 

 day, will usually keep the plants in good 

 shape. 



Cared for by Contract 



There are some places where the 

 florists who fill the boxes also contract to 

 water and care for them through the 

 summer at so much per box, as is not 

 infrequently done with cemetery vases. 

 The price to be charged per box will de- 

 pend so much on their location, on the 

 number used, on whether plants are to 

 be changed from time to time, and on 

 the class of plants used, that it is diffi- 

 cult to give an average estimate. 



In some of the large cities, notably at 

 swell hotels and clubs, arrangements are 



