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rSBBUABT 23, 1911. 



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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



THE RETAIL 



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FLORIST 



THE EOMAN FOBUM. 



Every lover of classic architecture 

 admires the ruins of the Forum, in 

 Borne. Their noble proportions, their 

 strong lines, suggestive of strength and 

 beauty, are perfect even in ruin. They 

 are copied the world over. When 

 Charles Henry Fox saw the Forum 

 while on his tour abroad three years 

 ago, he had the columns photographed 

 without any definite idea of exactly 

 what use he would make of the pic- 

 tures. After Mr. Fox returned to 

 Philadelphia he had models made from 

 the photographs, reproducing the col- 

 umns to nerfection in miniature. These 

 columns, perhaps two feet in height, 

 were beautify] in themselves. To meet 

 the popular taste for novelty in flow- 

 ers and floral arrangement, Mr. Fox ex- 

 perimented with his model. The stone 

 surmounting the columns was hollowed 

 to hold flowers; the loose stones at the 

 base were likewise hollowed, convert- 

 ing them into vases. Later Mr. Fox im- 

 proved his model by making the re- 

 ceptacles at the base larger and filling 

 them at times with plants, the idea be- 

 ing that the classic beauty of the col- 

 umns would be strengthened rather 

 than hidden by a freer use of foliage 

 and flower. Mr. Fox believes that 

 the flowers surmounting the columns 

 should never hide them; in other 

 words, that the use of ferns or droop- 

 ing sprays uf flower or foliage is not 

 permissible here; at the base, on the 

 contrary, such arrangement adds to 

 the beauty of the whole. Ardisias may 

 here be used effectively at Christmas, 

 the arrangement being varied to suit 

 the season of the year and the taste of 

 those interested. The Forum, Mr. Fox 

 said, has been much admired by peo- 

 ple whose taste enabled them to ap- 

 preciate such work. When used as a 

 gift, the columns can be easily re- 

 filled as desired and kept as a table 

 ornament. Phil. 



PLANTS IN DESIGN WOBK. 



A Base of Blooming Plants. 



There can be no more graceful and 

 thoroughly correct base for a standing 

 design than one composed of blooming 

 plants alone, and of one kind at that. 

 The farther we get from miscellaneous 

 collections, the more refined has our 

 tadte been shown to be. Select, rather 

 than collect, the kinds of material to 

 be used in any piece of design work. 

 Scores of designs at a funeral, sent 

 from one place, will be found to be 

 each made of the same motley of odds 

 and ends, while if these same odds and 

 ends had been classified before the 

 work was begun, each piece might have 

 been a classic as to color and union of 

 similar forms of flowers and foliage. It 

 is wonderful what a distinctive air may 

 be given to one piece among many, by 

 a catchy or striking bit of color or 

 break in the lines. 



Although unable to analyze the 

 charm about a growing plant, or too 

 heedless to study or reproduce its fas- 

 cinating lines in that creative work 

 called arrangement, a florist can at 

 least transplant bodily a plant or a 

 group of plants into a design and be 

 fairly well assured that there is some 

 correct designing about it, anyhow. It 

 must be careless habits rather than a 

 real inability to see — a seeing without 

 perceiving — with which so many allow 

 themselves to slouch along. Study to 

 understand the plan, architecturally 

 speaking, upon which a plant is buil(, 

 and then, in using its flowers and 



soil, as many primulas of the obconica 

 variety as will fill the base when the 

 roots are firmly packed between the 

 wires with damp sphagnum. Cover any 

 exposed places with green moss or fern 

 leaves and you have a base which is 

 artistic, cheap, and quickly done. It 

 is neither too showy to detract from 

 the more important parts of the design, 

 as we have planned it, nor too modest 

 to develop them properly. 



For the coloring of the piece it will 

 be best to select the more delicately 

 tinted primulas, but not the white ones. 

 Wrap the standard wire with green 

 foil or thin smilax. Fill the crescent 

 freely, as to arrangement, with white 

 flowers. Cover the star solidly with 

 violets, and you have a distinct design, 

 well colored and well set. 



In Centerpieces. 



In using plants in this way, one finds 

 opportunities for that much wanted in- 

 expensive table centerpiece. How many 

 customers have remarked that they 

 would never entertain without center- 

 pieces, but they are so expensive! Here 

 is your chance. A centerpiece of sev- 









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The Roman Forum. 



foliage in designing, reproduce the gen- 

 eral form and grouping of lines. 



A Base for a Star and Crescent. 



Suppose you have an order to con- 

 struct a star and crescent on a base, 

 and you would like a new way to make 

 it with the same kind of flowers on 

 hand as is usual at this time of the year. 

 If the base has already been mossed, re- 

 move the bulk of the moss, leaving a 

 thick layer on the bottom. Remove 

 from the pots, shaking out most of the 



eral obconica plants, cinerarias, small 

 azaleas or cyclamens is as showy as 

 need be and inexpensive enough for 

 anybody. Treat the plants the same 

 as in the base for the star and crescent, 

 already described. Have the bottom 

 of the centerpiece well protected and 

 all the vacant patches covered. In the 

 case of azaleas, where the foliage is 

 all well above the ground, cover the 

 soil or moss with a green and scatter 

 a few pansies or violets if the correct 

 coloring can be had, considering the 



