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14 



ThcWcckly Florists' Review. 



Septemrek 28, 1011. 



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I SEASONABLE 



1^=^^=^ SUGGESTIONS 



1 



Gardenias. 



Great care must now be taken of 

 gardenias, especially where they are 

 being grown for winter blooming. 

 While they will endure considerable 

 cold and still look fresh and green, it 

 is a great mistake to allow the tem- 

 perature to run down in the house 

 where they are grown so that the 

 atmosphere feels cold and clammy. The. 

 minimum should never be lower than 

 6.5 degrees and a little fire heat to 

 maintain a buoj'ant atmosphere will 

 now be a necessity. If the benches 

 are well drained and the compost light 

 and porous, the benches will need a 

 thorough soaking of water once in five 

 or six days now. The soil must never 

 become either pasty or at all dust-dry; 

 either condition will cause loss of buds 

 and yellow foliage. 



Let the thermometer reach 75 degrees 

 l:efore ventilating; then air a little at 

 a time, reducing it in the same way. 

 The plants, on every clear day, should 

 have a thorough spraying to keep the 

 arch enemy of gardenias — mealy bug — 

 in check. Keep the plants tied up and 

 discontinue pinching where winter 

 flowers are wanted. If, on the other 

 hand, a spring crop is desired, pinch 

 back the runaway shoots for three 

 weeks longer. Go slowly on feeding. 

 A good plan is to give occasional light 

 top-dressings of fine cow manure, in 

 preference to using manure water. The 

 latter will be all right early in the new 

 year, but a little overplus of it now 

 may cause a wholesale dropping of 

 buds. The night temperature should 

 now be 68 to 70 degrees and the at- 

 mosphere should be moist. 



Foinsettias. 



With the arrival of colder nights, it 

 is no longer safe to leave the poinset- 

 tias in coldframes, or they will lose 

 many of their leaves. They do not yet 

 need a high night temperature; 50 to 55 

 degrees will sufiSce until the bracts 

 show, when 10 degrees higher should be 

 given, keeping them somewhat cooler 

 when the bracts are well developed. 

 Now is the time to make up a good 

 number of pans for the holidays. If 

 these are filled about the last of Sep- 

 tember, the plants are not likely to 

 become drawn and leggy. Use a light, 

 moderately rich and sandy soil, and 

 work in some small ferns. Asparagus 

 Sprengeri or other green plants among 

 the poinsettias. Use a watering can 

 for some time, in preference to the 

 hose. In fact, it would pay to restrict 

 oneself to the watering pot all the time 

 and there would then be less dead and 

 yellowing foliage in evidence. 



Summer Bulbous Plants. 

 As the tuberous-rooted begonias, 

 gloxinias, gesneras, achimenes and other 

 summer-flowering plants pass, they 

 should be placed in a coldframe or pit, 

 where they can have glass protection 

 and be gradually dried off. Do not let 



the drying be sudden, as it too often 

 is, or a large part of the bulbs are sure 

 to die. After the bulbs are thoroughly 

 dried, lay the pots or pans on their 

 sides in a dry shed or cellar where 

 there are suitable shelves. While 

 begonias will keep perfectly well in 

 any place where potatoes are stored, 

 just clear of frost, the gloxinias should 

 not have a lower temperature than 50 

 degrees. Do not lay them under the 

 greenhouse benches, to be the prey of 

 sowbugs and other insects. They look 

 untidy and in many cases the drip 

 from the benches will wet them and 

 start them into premature growth. 

 Later in the season, when the rush 

 work slackens somewhat, the various 

 tubers can be shaken out, cleaned, 

 labeled and stored in boxes in readi- 

 ness for potting. 



Callas. 

 If any callas are still standing out- 

 doors, they should be got inside with- 

 out delay. They are now well started 

 and when placed under glass, with a 

 little genial warmth, will make quick 

 headway. Be careful not to overwater 

 them until the pots are nicely filled 

 with roots. This applies as much to 

 bench-grown as to pot-grown plants. 

 Callas want copious waterings and lots 

 of 'feeding when in active growth, but 

 in the early stages of growth an excess 

 is liable to start decay of the tubers. 

 A night temperature of 55 to 60 de- 

 grees suits callas. They can be grown 

 cooler, but flower more freely in a 

 warmer house. Do not lose sight of 

 the Godfrey calla. It is one of the 

 best things sent out in late years. 



Nerines. 



The brilliant nerines, or Guernsey 

 liRes, as they are popularly called, us- 

 ually flower from the end of September 

 until November. They propagate rather 

 slowly, and for this reason they are 

 not by any means abundant. Some day 

 I expect to see them a standard flo- 

 rists' pot plant. The bulbs which have 



1 een baking under coldframe sashes 

 or on a sunny shelf since early summer, 

 will now be pushing up their s^Hkes 

 and should be taken out and watered. 

 Any with the bulbs much crowded can 

 now be pulled apart and repotted. Such 

 varieties as Fothergilli major and 

 Sarniensis can go half a dozen to a 

 6-inch pot and four to a 5-inch pot. 

 Use a compost of fibrous loam, broken 

 charcoal, coarse sand and about bne- 

 fourth well dried cow manure. Give 

 them a cool house to grow and flower 

 in. Any repotted will not flower iwell 

 for a couple of years. Nerines must 

 be a perfect mat of roots to bloom 

 freely. . ' 



Hydrangeas. 

 Pot-grown hydrangeas will now have 

 their growths firm and fairly bard. 

 To assist in further ripening them, run 

 them drier at the root now, not to the 

 extejit of actual wilting, but «onsider- 

 ably reducing the water supply. Keep 

 in the sunniest possible spot outdoors 

 until threatened with frost of sufficient 

 severity to injure them. Plants in the 

 field have made a fine growth of late. 

 There is no need to wait any longer 

 before potting these up. AU will lift 

 with nice balls. Shake off the soil, so 

 that they will not need too large pots; 

 6-inch and 8-inch are convenient sizes. 

 Use a tolerably rich soil. After pot- 

 ting, keep them outdoors as long as 

 weather permits. The advantage of 

 lifting now is that the plants get quite 

 nicely rooted in the pots before cold 

 weather sets in. 



AN* ACOEN. 



"Great oaks from little acorns 

 grow," and it is interesting to note 

 the beginnings of some of what are 

 now the largest greenhouse establish 

 meats in the country. A good many of 

 them started even smaller than has 

 Mrs. A. R. Scharf, at Mancos, Colo., 

 whose greenhouse is shown in the ac- 

 companying illustration. Mancos .is 

 forty miles in one direction and 150 

 miles in the other direction from any 

 other greenhouse. It is twenty miles 

 from any other town, and there were 

 only four deaths in it in the last year. 

 Perhaps one would say it is not the 

 best of locations for a florist, but Mrs. 

 Scharf finds business growing steadilj. 

 Last summer she replaced her original 

 house, 14x20, with the present struc- 

 ture, 15x60, heated with a hot air flue. 

 Trade is good in the winter, but there 

 is scarcely any call for cut flowers dur- 

 ing summer. 



Greenhouse of Mri. A. R. Scharf, Mao cos, Colo. 



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