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Al'Kll. G, lull. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



27 



The Selaginella Gives the Finishing; Touch on These Admirable Baskets of Tulipi. 



bo, in every Kaster display, some big, 

 show}' baskets and there should be a 

 number of things that can be sold for 

 50 cents to $1, but the l;ulk of the 

 Easter business is to be done with plant 

 arrangements that i-au l)e sold at from 

 $3 to $5. They must look to be worth 

 the money, so it is well to guard against 

 the use of too high priced accessories. 

 Don't use baskets that cost so much 

 you cannot add the cost and at least 

 half as much more to tlie selling i)rice 

 of the plants you use for filling. Also, 

 buy a few of many styles of basket 

 pot cover, rather than many of a few 

 styles. 



A COLLAR OF SELAGINELLAS. 



Those who play to win will tell you 

 that "the game's the thing," and, of 

 course, the plant 's the thing in an 

 Easter arrangement. Still, the effec- 

 tiveness and salability of an Easter 

 basket of plants is largely the result 

 of good taste in the selection of an 

 appropriate receptacle for the particu- 

 lar plant to be used, with such a finish- 

 ing touch as is given by the selaginel 

 las in the tulip pans shown on this page. 

 The small ferns used to finish off the 

 baskets improved the appearance of the 

 arrangements out of all proportion to 

 the small cost of the stock used. The 

 basket on the left of the illustration 

 was finished in silver. It contained six- 

 teen La Reine tulips, and, with the 

 selaginellas planted around the edge to 

 conceal the soil, the nakedness between 

 the basket and the blooms was effec- 

 tively done away with. The baskfet on 

 the right contained twenty-four red 

 tulips, the color combining effectively 

 with the gold finish of the pot cover, 

 liere, too, the selaginellas were just the 

 touch to give an artistic finish. 



Anyone can plant tulips in a pan, but 

 there are no great number of the stores 



handling bulb pans at Easter that sto;> 

 to cover the soil from sight. Sonu» use 

 green moss, which is a great deal better 

 than nothing, but the small ferns are 

 the best of all. it is to the plant ar 

 raiigement what the lace collar is to 

 miladv's costume. 



THE VARIEGATED PINEAPPLE. 



Ananas sativus variegatus is an all 

 the year-round plant, but it is an espe 

 cially good Easter subject. The illustra 

 tion on page 30 shows the variegated 

 pineapple in a gold basket. The ]dint v.as 

 removed from the pot in which it was 

 grown and planted directly into the 

 glass dish within the basket. The re- 

 tailer who showed these in his Easter 

 display last year sold his entire stock in 

 short order, though he was wise enough 

 to have not more than two of tlie plants 

 on view at any one time; each one as 

 sold was tagged in the customer's ))res 

 ence and set away for delivery, this 

 retailer having found that it is much 

 easier to sell a novelty when only a 

 few are shown, creating the impression, 

 without saying to, that not many cus 

 tomers will be fortunate enough to be 

 supplied. 



GERANIUMS AT EASTER. 



If you never have tried it, it will 

 surprise you how many i)eople will buy 

 geraniums at Easter. Of course, they 

 <lo not want the plant in a red pot — 

 they want small sizes carrying fair 

 trusses of bloom planted in some snrtll 

 oddity in the way of a receptacle, such 

 as are shown in the two illustrations 

 on page 35. In one of these illus 

 trations the receptacle was one of the 

 small so-called Roman boxes, while the 

 other was in a green glazed basket 

 shaped dish. In the latter case the re 

 ceptacle represented $3 of the selling 



price and the geraniums $1.50, at which 

 both turned the retailer a good profit. 



Shown in the same illustrations are 

 some small ericas in one of the white 

 waterway affars, and in the other are 

 some crocuses in one of the green enam- 

 eled tin receptacles, this one containing 

 three of the little white square china 

 jars that these latticework affairs are 

 made to hold. 



POPULAR PRICED PLANTS. 



Jt was a good many years ago that 

 the retailers catering to the high class 

 trade in big cities began to offer com- 

 binations of flowering plants, arranged 

 iu , baskets or hampers. At the start 

 the ten<lency was toward large arrange- 

 .nuMjts, containing a groat variety of 

 stock, aiKi perhaps it was for this rea- 

 so'i that the custom made little progress 

 outsid(> the larger cities — t was a num- 

 ber of years before the retailers in 

 towns of 50,000 ]ioi)ulation or less be- 

 gan to offer plant arrangements, employ- 

 ing the accessories used in the largo 

 cities. For a long time the retailers in 

 (he i)rovincial cities thought their trade 

 (lid not care for the embellishment of 

 l>lants; they sa'd their people would 

 not pay a price which would meet the 

 cost of the accessories, let alone turning 

 a i)rofit on them. Now all this is 

 changed. Within the last few years 

 florists in the smaller cities, and even 

 in the country towns, have found that 

 an appropriate combination of plant 

 and receptacle doubles salability; scarce- 

 ly anyone will buy even a single pot of 

 Kaster lilies unless the pot is covered 

 with crej)e pa{)er, if nothing more. 



The tendency of late years has been 

 away from the big combinations of 

 plants; now the majority of plants of- 

 fered for Easter sale are shown simply 

 one variety planted in an appropriate 

 receptacle. The illustrations on pages 



