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Apkil 20, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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THE EASTER 

 TRADE REPORTS 



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SUMMARY OF THE SEASON. 



Weather Favors the Florists. 



Easter is, indeed, the great floral 

 festival. This year it was greater than 

 ever — especially in the quantity of 

 stock offered to the jjublic. 



Weather conditions this year were 

 extren^elX favorable, and in marked 

 contrastJi* what the trade had to con- 

 tend with one year ago, when Easter 

 was three weeks earlier. March in 

 1910 was an extremely warm mo^th 

 and as a consequence growers' calcula- 

 tions were upset, the quality of stock 

 falling below what was anticipated. 

 This year the latter part of March and 

 the first part of April were cool. The 

 season is backward throughout the 

 greater part of the United States. The 

 result was that the quality of the stock 

 was incomparably better than a year 

 ago, while the lateness of the date still 

 made it possible to have everything 

 ready in time. It is safe to say that no 

 previous Easter ever afforded a better 

 average run of stock than was avail- 

 able this year. 



The days preceding Easter were warm 

 and pleasant almost everywhere that 

 flowers are sold in quantity. It was 

 an immense help in the marketing of 

 an enormous quantity of stock. The 

 weather is one of the most important 

 factors insuring the success of the re- 

 tail trade. Hardly ever does it hap- 

 pen that there is better weather, taking 

 the country as a whole. To this pro- 

 pitious circumstance the florists owe 

 very many thousands of dollars, and 

 they also were saved, by the mildness 

 of temperature, a great deal of work in 

 preparing for deliveries. 



Supplies Enormous. 



Though the last week in March and 

 first week in April afforded little sun 

 and much cold over large sections of 

 the country, crops were in such a stage 

 that practically everything planned for 

 Easter was ready. Bulbous stock, a 

 large part of which had been expected 

 to be gone, proved abundant. Also, 

 violets, which are at the end of their 

 season, were prolonged so as to afford 

 extremely large quantities for Easter. 

 Roses and carnations were in full crop 

 everywhere and even the shortage of 

 Beauties, which has been general since 

 Christmas, began to be overcome by the 

 approach of spring. Each year increas- 

 ingly large quantities of pot plants 

 are grown for the Easter trade, so that 

 on the whole this year's Easter supply 

 of salable material was much greater 

 than ever has been offered before, while 

 the quality was unusually good. 



The combination of good quality, 

 large supplies and consequent moderate 

 prices, coupled with favorable weather 

 conditions, could not otherwise than 

 give a splendid total of business. Year 

 after year increases have been reported 

 so steadily that the unthinking regard 



them with incredulity, but everyone 

 recognizes that the flower business is 

 expanding steadily, and pretty nearly 

 all who are engaged in it will agree 

 that at no season does it take a longer 

 leap ahead than at Easter. This year 

 the greater quantities of stock avail- 

 able and marketed must have produced 

 a splendid increase in the total of re- 

 tail sales, though the lower average 

 prices of cut flowers at wholesale make 

 the results somewhat less favorable for 

 growers and wholesalers than they were 

 for the retailers. 



The Plant Trade. 



The plant growers have been so suc- 

 cessful in recent years that their num- 

 ber is increasing rapidly and this sea- 

 son the average quality of their output 

 was exceptionally high. Lilies have 

 never been more abundant and there 

 never has been a year when roses in 

 pots were so plentiful, so varied or so 

 well flowered. As to azaleas the report 

 is mixed. In some sections of the 

 country they were abundant, in others 

 scarce. Everywhere there were in- 

 creased quantities of acacias, genistas, 

 bougainvilleas and hydrangeas. The 



latter proved about the poorest seller 

 of the lot and where any plants were 

 left it almost invariably was the 

 hydrangeas. The largest plants were 

 the slowest sale. The demand is for 

 small and medium sized plants and 

 made up plant arrangements. 



Cut Flowers. 



if there was any place where cut 

 flowers were scarce, the shortage might 

 easily have been made up by recourse 

 to any of the wholesale markets. There 

 never has been an Easter when cut 

 flower supplies have been so large; 

 there seldom has been one when qual- 

 ity was so good, and no one remembers 

 an Easter when good cut flowers sold 

 more cheaply. There not only was lit- 

 tle advance in prices for the holiday, 

 but in some cases the holiday prices 

 actually were lower than those which 

 had been prevailing a few days previ- 

 ously. When retail stores have bought 

 in advance big stocks of flowering 

 plants, it is natural for them to push 

 the sale of the plants until they are 

 sure of a clearrance; then cut flowers, 

 which can be had on shorj notice, be- 

 gin to receive attention. But not a 

 few retailers noted an increased de- 

 mand for cut stock, since fine flowers 

 were to be had at customary prices. 



A great many retailers, and especially 

 those located downtown in the cities, 

 found their greatest trouble was in 

 waiting on the would-be buyers. It was 

 fairly well demonstrated that no mat- 

 ter how much stock is produced, if qual- 

 ity is right and prices reasonable there 

 are plenty of people ready and anxious 

 to buy it the day before Easter. 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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MORE ABOUT COLOR. 



General Suggestions. 



Following the previous color studies, 

 a number of suggestions and questions 

 naturally arise and new combinations 

 suggest theniselve-s. A few of these 

 have *been jotted down at random and 

 will be considered in the same way. 



In reading or analyzing color, get into 

 a good, clear light — not necessarily di- 

 rect sunlight. Artificial lights change 

 color. Under their influence pinks are 

 more intense, violet becomes redder and 

 yellow is softened. In planning decora- 

 tions consider the color of electric 

 lights and candle shades. Scarlet flow- 

 ers will be a little dulled in a general 

 re<l light, losing some of the yellow 

 cast. 



One color kills another when the 

 greater strength of one dulls the other. 

 When this happens you may be sure that 

 you cannot develop any harmony be- 

 tween them. 



The Omnipresent Yellows. 



Yellow is the most widely distributed 

 color in the floral world. I h^ve yet to 

 find a flower which contains no yellow, 

 either a'.s a dominant color or in compo- 



sition. It does not follow that a yel- 

 low can be readily found that will har- 

 monize with these tones of universal yel- 

 low. On the contrary, the yellow is 

 often so obscure that it is not worth 

 while to try to develop it with the as- 

 sortment of flowers ordinarily at hand. 



Yellow contains more warm light 

 than any othor color. It is the best to 

 illumine a dark corner, in case it har- 

 monizes with the permanent decorations 

 of this dark corner. A bunch of coreop- 

 sis is a summer sun in a dark hall, but 

 beware lest the dark hall be a crimson 

 red. 



Do not divide colors equally in a com- 

 bination. Always have one in excess of 

 the other or others. I was almost ready 

 to say, the greater the excess of one 

 color the better. Anyhow, do not bal* 

 ance or nearly balance the quantities of 

 color. 



Tints in So-called "Whites. 



All so-called white flowers are tintstd- 

 with some other color — sometimes al- 

 most imperceptibly, it is true, but to a 

 good color eye the tint will appear, and 

 may be developed by experimenting 

 with some flower which contains the 

 color which you can detect in the white 

 flower. If vou find traces of lavender 



