8 



TheWcekly Florists' Review. 



January 5, 1911. 



If a small desk with cards and en- 

 velopes is kept for customers' use, al- 

 ways have a dainty vase or basket of 

 flowers on it. 



A few little counter pieces often sell 

 themselves as well as the other flowers. 

 Small baskets, that have never before 

 seen the outside of the case, may be 

 gradually sold out if tastefully dis- 

 played in this way on the counter or 

 desk. 



Airangement of the Iiights. 



The kind of lights and their arrange- 

 ment in the store, and especially in the 

 window, may of themselves be either 

 helps or hindrances. In the average 

 window a chandelier is a nuisance. It 

 occupies space often needed for high 

 decorations; it interferes with the re- 

 flecting space of the mirror, and, when 

 lighted, is more conspicuous than the 

 display itself. Ceiling light, or reflected 

 and subdued light, is much the best for 

 the window and, in fact, for the whole 

 store. 



Some outside decoration for a store 

 shows a public spirit in a shop keeper, 

 and also one who is wide-awake to his 

 own advantage. Many florists are al- 

 lowing department stores, hotels and 

 restaurants to go far ahead of them in 

 this respect. 



It is possible to have an outside 

 decoration of some kind nearly all the 

 j'ear around, either with window boxes, 

 hanging baskets, bay trees and box- 

 woods, or decorated pergola and bal- 

 cony entrances. In fall and winter, 

 when the growing plants are out of 

 commission, branches of autumn foliage, 

 wild smilax, pine trees, garlands and 

 wreaths, or cone decorations could be 

 maintained most of the time. There are 

 many fancy conifers which could be 

 set in the window boxes, and at holi- 

 day times these outside points will be 

 good display places for Christmas trees, 

 samples of wreathing and garlands. In 

 the late fall, fill them with blooming 

 chrysanthemum plants. In summer the 

 number of pretty decorative plants is 

 legion. According to the climate, one 

 can have a wide range of bedding 

 plants to choose from, which will keep 

 up a continual round of bloom from 

 early spring till the first hard frost. 



In Separate Windows. 



Many stores arc arranged with two 

 small or medium sized windows, instead 

 of one large Avindow. There is at least 

 one advantage to bo gained by this 

 arrangement; a larger variety of 

 flowers and colors can be displayed at 

 one time. Colors which would jar each 

 other in close quarters in one window, 

 could thus be displayed separately to 

 each one's advantage. 



A good point for display in the stor6 

 is one directly opposite the front en- 

 trance, as already described in the in- 

 stance of the decorated partition. Ar- 

 range a group of specimen plants at 

 such a point, or :i tall vase with some 

 choice, large flowers, and several good 

 ferns grouped about it on the floor. 

 If convenient, hang a basket about this 

 point and fill the inside pan with sprays 

 of asparagus or smilax, letting part 

 of the strands iiang, while others are 

 caught to either side or trained up- 

 ward. 



Sometimes we are inclined to be dis- 

 satisfied with our store rooms, as being 

 unfit for our purposes, but we need at 

 such moments to recall the story about 

 the desert and what it did with the 

 aid of a certain well-known flower. 



Gertrude Blair. 



ANNUALS FOE CUT FLOWERS. 



Please publish a list of the best an- 

 nuals for cut flowers, which may be 

 grown from spring-sown seed. 



W. J. B. 



The two most valuable annuals for 

 cutting are sweet peas and asters. 

 Quite a long suceession may be had of 

 each. A few excellent asters are: Queen 

 of the Market, very early; Scrapie's, 

 Victoria, American Branching and 

 Comet. A short selection of excellent 

 sweet peas is as follows: Dorothy Eck- 

 ford, pure white; Countess of Spencer, 

 clear pink; Helen Lewis, orange pink; 

 King Edwarfi VII., scarlet; Frank 

 Dolby, lavender; Mrs. Routzahn Spen- 

 cer, delicate pink. Of course, mixed 

 seed can be used, but bunches of sepa- 

 rate colors are more pleasing. 



Some other useful annuals are: Zin- 

 nia elegans, ten weeks' stocks, lark- 



spurs, lupines, salpiglossis, candytuft^, 

 mignonette (should be sown early), 

 Hunnemannia fumariaefolia, Shirley 

 poppies, nasturtiums, Gypsophila ele- 

 gans, cosmos, Centaurea Cyanus, Cen- 

 taurea moschata, coreopsis and scabious. 

 Some of the foregoing should be started 

 under glass to insure an early crop, but 

 all can be sown outdoors if preferred. 

 C. W. 



COLEUS SHED THEIR LEAVES. 



I wish you would let me know what 

 is the reason my coleus leaves wilt and 

 drop off. They are in 6-inch pots, in. 

 a temperature of from 65 to 75 degrees. 

 They seem to do well for a while and 

 then go back in a day. J. G. 



Either dryness at the root or an ex- 

 cess of water will cause the coleus tO' 

 shed leaves at this season of the year. 

 The temperature mentioned should 

 be sufliciently high to keep them in 

 good shape. It hardly pays to carry 

 old plants along in the size of pots, 

 named. Better get in a good batch 

 of cuttings and let the old stock break 

 away with another crop, which in turn 

 can be taken off, after which the old 

 plants are as well discarded, as you 

 can get plenty of tops from the young; 

 plants to work up the needed stock. 

 ^__ C: W. 



BOOMING BAY TREES. 



Under separate cover, same mail to- 

 day, we are sending our booklet, "Just 

 Bays," which goes to about 3,000 of 

 our customers. Our business in bay 

 trees is increasing annually in rapid 

 strides. They are being used more and 

 more for formal gardens, roof gardensi; 

 and for decoration around florists' and 

 nurserymen's offices. We of course get 

 this trade annually through wholesale 

 houses and our object in sending this 

 booklet is to induce these wholesale 

 houses to push the sale of bay trees 

 more through their salesmen, travelers 

 and catalogues. We suggest that you 

 note the receipt of this booklet in your 

 reading columns, as our trade with 

 wholesale houses stimulates advertising 

 in your columns by them. 



McHutchison & Co. 



A Dinner Table Centerpiece of Pink Roses and White Lilac. 



