Decembeii 15, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



31 





•%'(*X- .)<.A..i^i^ 



Two Unique Plant Arrangements for the Christmas Sales. 



holiday stocks, or adding them only 

 where called for. 



With the araucaria a variety of pot 

 covers and receptacles comes in handy. 

 You cannot do much to modify the 

 sameness of your plants, but you can 

 add all kinds of variety by simply 

 planting each one in a different recep- 

 tacle. The not too bright red Porto 

 Eican and so-called chiffon mats are 

 fine where the selling price cannot be 

 greatly increased, but where the trade 

 will pay for odd pieces of pottery, etc., 

 these may be made a means of landing 

 many a sale. The araucaria on page 34 

 was planted directly into a uniquely 

 shaped spun copper tub, with brass 

 feet, hoops and handles. 



MODERATE PRICED NOVELTIES. 



More and more each year the holiday 

 business makes a call for novelties. The 

 time was when the trade was almost 

 wholly on the staple articles. Now- 

 adays the bulk of the holiday trade is 

 done with something out of the ordi- 

 nary. Where retail florists have 

 equipped themselves with holiday stock 

 different from that offered their custom- 

 ers week after week the year around, 

 they have found the Christmas sales 

 jumped in a most satisfactory manner. 

 The Christmas shopper is not looking 

 for everyday articles; what is wanted 

 for gift purposes is something out of 

 the ordinary. 



The Christmas novelties need not be 

 expensive; indeed, in the great major- 

 ity of flower stores there is no sale for 

 the high-priced affairs, and in even the 

 best of stores the bulk of the sales will 

 be articles of moderate value. 



While it is not the easiest thing to 

 pick up cut flower or plant novelties, 

 with the aid of the supply houses noth- 

 ing is easier than to diversify the stock 

 through the use of plant receptacles. 

 These may be of any material, from the 

 ordinary red pot, with its crepe paper 

 cover, to an imported decorated china 

 art novelty that has a value many 

 times greater than that of the plant it 



contains. Any florist can supply him- 

 self with a stock in variety by taking 

 poinsettias, Christmas cherries, tulips, 

 hyacinths, primulas, cyclamens, and 

 ferns of various kinds and planting 

 them in these different receptacles. 

 These novelties can be made up to sell 

 anywhere from 50 cents to $5 or more, 

 depending largely on the price of the 

 receptacle and the tone of the store 

 that is making the sale; a fashionable 

 store in a big city cannot sell 50-cent 

 articles at holiday time, rents and the 

 cost of delivery necessitating sales that 

 give greater profit. 



The illustration on page 35 gives an 

 idea of the variety of small receptacles 

 and planting used in a Chicago store 

 last Christmas. 



The forehanded florist keeps an eye 

 open for pleasing novelties and buys 

 them a few at a time as he finds them, 

 but any who have neglected to prepare 

 themselves for Christmas can stock up 

 bv wire. One of the developments, of 

 the supply business of recent years has 

 been the sale of what the supply people 

 call assortments, by which they mean 

 that if the buyer gives an idea of what 

 he wants, mentioning either price, size 

 or style as well as purpose of the arti- 

 cle, the supply man will pick out and 

 ship a selection, one or two pieces of 

 each style. So well do the supply peo- 

 ple know the tastes and needs of the 

 various communities that these assort- 

 ments seldom fail to give complete 

 satisfaction and many stores in small 

 towns buy all their supply stock in that 

 way. 



TULIPS IN PANS. 



Tulips are not Christmas flowers, but 

 nevertheless a few pans of these in- 

 variably sell well at the holi'ditys. Long 

 stems cannot be had, and the only way 

 the tulips can be used is in some sort 

 of a low receptacle, like the gold box 

 shown in the illustration on page 32. 

 The La Reine color, with the green 

 moss over the soil and the gold of the 

 box, makes a pleasing combination, and 



one of the advantages is that no high- 

 priced "floral artist" is required to 

 get it ready for delivery; the planting 

 is as simple as any operation in the 

 preparation of the Christmas stock. 



BIG BASKETS BRING BUSINESS. 



There are few stores that can sell the 

 big and expensive plant combinations 

 in any quantity; in even the best of 

 stores the bulk of the sales are made 

 on articles that range around $5 in 

 I)rice, for when it gets to be $15 or $25 

 the number of sales is limited. But it 

 always pays to make up a few plant 

 combinations of larger size and better 

 quality than those ordinarily called for. 

 8uch large baskets and hampers not 

 only make excellent display pieces for 

 window and store, but their presence 

 seems to help the sale of the better 

 class of articles in the general stock. 

 The customer enters the store intend- 

 ing to buy something for about $5, ad- 

 mires the basket at $20, and ends by 

 making a selection at $7.50. 



The big basket illustrated on page 37 

 may be cited as a symposium of the 

 Christmas stock; it contains a great 

 variety and it takes a man of consider- 

 able skill to plant these with the rieht 

 effect. ^ 



KEEPING POINSETTIAS FRESH. 



I have learned so much from the ex- 

 perience of others, as told in The Re- 

 view, that I should like to add my 

 mite, if I can. So I offer my expe- 

 rience with poinsettias. 



Last year I bought a few plants, but 

 they did not do much, producing only 

 fair bracts. When I cut them for sale, 

 however, I dipped the stems, as I cut 

 them, in hot water, and let them stand 

 until all were cut. Then I got some 

 parafline wax and dipped the stems, 

 fresh from the water, in the wax. My 

 customers told me they kept finely for 

 four to five weeks. 



I saved the old stumps and raised 

 my own cuttings this year. They came 



