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14 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



March 2, 1911. 



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SUGGESTIONS 



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Azalea Mollis. 



The pale yellow and pink shades of 

 Azalea mollis are in good demand at 

 Easter; in fact, none of these azaleas 

 are of the sour, unsalable shades. A 

 period of six to seven weeks, in a 

 temperature averaging 50 degrees at 

 night, is ample to flower Azalea mollis. 

 Its treatment differs little from that of 

 the lilacs. As the flowers start to ex- 

 pand, give them protection from the 

 direct rays of the sun and be careful 

 never to allow them to become dry. 

 One drying out will completely spoil 

 the flowers. 



Acacias. 



Acacia paradoxa, or A. armata, as it 

 is commonly called, merely requires a 

 cool house to flower it for Easter; 45 

 degrees at night from this time on will 

 suffice. None of the acacias will tol- 

 erate forcing. It is also a mistake to 

 get such varieties as A. armata in 

 flower before Easter, unless there are 

 special calls for it, as the little, cir- 

 cular, pale yellow flowers soon turn 

 brown and, when once they have turned 

 this shade, it is quite a task to pick 

 them over and make them salable. 

 Acacias are among the most beautiful 

 of Easter plants. Particularly charm- 

 ing is the graceful A. pubescens, while 

 heterophylla, Drummondii, Kiceana and 

 others are all lovely. 



Amaryllis. 



As the amaryllis spikes advance, 

 some liquid manure may advantage- 

 ously be given to the plants, using it 

 in moderate doses only, at intervals of 

 four or five days. Amaryllis, when 

 either growing or developing their 

 flower spikes, enjoy a little bottom heat 

 and always seem to thrive better where 

 they can be plunged in leaves, cocoanut 

 fiber or some other material. In the 

 case of seedlings that are flowering for 

 the first time, it is not good policy to 

 allow more than one spike to develop. 

 The bulbs frequently throw two spikes, 

 the flowering of which would be a 

 severe strain upon them. Leave a 

 single spike and the flowers will be of 

 much finer quality. Where the spikes 

 are to be cut, it is better to do this 

 before the first flower becomes fully 

 expanded. Amaryllis are not easily 

 packed without damage to the flowers, 

 when fully opened. Seedlings sown 

 early in the year should be potted off 

 singly into 2V:.-inch pots when they 

 show their second leaves. Use a light 

 compost, containing two-thirds leaf- 

 mold, at the first potting. 



Show Pelargoniums. 



Show pelargoniums should, where re- 

 quired, now receive their final potting. 

 Use a compost containing two-thirds 

 fibrous loam,' one-third dry cow manure, 

 also a dash each of sand and fine bone. 

 Drain the pots efficiently and pot firmly, 

 leaving a good margin for water. Con- 

 tinue to grow the plants cool and airy 



and they will pay for it when they 

 flower; 45 degrees is as high a night 

 temperature as they need. Of course, 

 they can be grown warmer, but are 

 never so good. Green aphis is the arch 

 enemy of the show pelargonium and 

 must never be allowed even to show 

 itself. We often see batches of these 

 beautiful plants simply alive with 

 aphis. The growers then give them a 

 heavy smoking, which is likely to re- 

 move the pests and flowers at the same 

 time. Fumigate often in light doses. 

 Keep the plants spread out and as 

 light as possible, and on warm days 

 give them a syringing. If they are 

 treated thus, you will get nice, stocky 

 plants, which will be creditable to you 

 and satisfactory to your customers. 



Stevias. 



Of course you remembered to save a 

 few old plants of stevia. If not, get 

 some cuttings at once and place them 

 in the cutting bench. There is, of 

 course, still ample time in which to 

 propagate them, but you can throw 

 away the old plants when your cuttings 



are in, and get all the additional cut- 

 tings you will need from them. The 

 stevia is an old-fashioned flower, per- 

 haps, and one which can be grown 

 easily and inexpensively. It remains, 

 nevertheless, one of the most useful of 

 winter flowers, and no florist who has 

 any local trade or design work can 

 afford to be without it. 



Gardenias. 



Gardenia cuttings put in after Christ- 

 mas should be well rooted and potted 

 off before now. Use a moderately 

 heavy loam for them and give small 

 shifts at a time. A prime cause of 

 the yellows, so often seen, is overpot- 

 ting and overwatering. In benches the 

 trouble is even more general than in 

 the case of pot plants. Any growing 

 in pots should be fed with chemical 

 fertilizers, such as Clay's or Bon Ar- 

 bor, in preference to liquid manure. It 

 is the same with benches. If the soil is 

 shallow and porous, there is little dan- 

 ger of their getting sour at the root. 

 Judicious top-dressings from this time 

 on will keep a veritable network of 

 active roots on the surface. The spray 

 nozzle must be used twice a week to 

 keep down mealy bug. Avoid drench- 

 ing syringings directly out of the open 

 hose. This soddens the soil and does 

 more harm than good. Plants intended 

 for late winter and early spring flower- 

 ing will now be carrying a heavy crop 

 of buds. There is now little danger 

 of these falling. Chilly and too damp 

 root conditions will, however, cause 

 them to fall in showers. 



^^^m 



PEOPAGATma QEEANIUMS. 



My place is heated with a hot water 

 system and the pipes are all under the 

 benches. ^.Under 'ordinary conditions 

 how long does it take a geranium cut- 

 ting, put in a 2-inch pot, to root ^d 

 be in a good condition to sell? How 

 many stock plants should a person have 

 to provide cuttings for a bench that 

 will hold 10,000 2-inch pots, and keep it 

 full? I have a good market, so can 

 move them as soon as they have nice 

 roots. Are stock plants best grown out- 

 side or under glass in benches, or in 

 pots? If in ^ots, what size? Also state 

 what treatment I should give them 

 through the summer. G. L. E. 



Under ordinary conditions geranium 

 cuttings in 2-inch pots will make roots 

 within four weeks and be fit to sell in 

 six to seven weeks. They should have 

 a little bottom heat; 60 degrees is suffi- 

 cient, with a night temperature of 50 to 

 55 degrees, and they should receive full 

 sun all the time. 



Some specialists make extravagant 

 claims about the quantity of cuttings 

 they can secure from a single stock 

 plant. Much, of course, depends on the 

 kind of stock plant, its size and 

 whether bench or pot grown. If you 

 can spare bench room it is better to 



plant them out in four inches of soil. 

 Then, again, some geraniums produce 

 many more cuttings than others. I 

 should say you would need 500 to l,00O 

 stock plants; the smaller number would 

 suffice if they were strong and in a 

 sunny house. 



Plants grown under glass all the time 

 are decidedly the best, but if you need 

 the bench space in summer for other 

 purposes you can grow in 7-inch or 

 8-inch pots outdoors, plunging them to 

 the brims in a bed of ashes. I would, 

 however, much prefer indoor culture all 

 the time. Cuttings produced under 

 glass are harder and less liable to damp 

 off than those taken from outdoor 

 plants. 



If you are intending to start in the 

 business another fall, I would recom- 

 mend planting a bench with young 

 plants about the time your bedding-out 

 would be finishing. Use fibrous loam, 

 fine bone and some well-spent old ma- 

 nure. Too much animal manure pro- 

 duces a soft, sappy growth. When 

 propagating time arrives in early fall, 

 you would have a splendid lot of cut- 

 tings ready. The plants would need no 

 sun, but should have plenty of air. It: 

 is also better not to water as freely as 

 vou would chrysanthemums or carna- 

 tions. C. W. 



