•"►•TPS*' 



APBIL 20, 1011. 



The Weekly Florists" Review. 



15 



Miltonia Vexillaria Exhibited at a Boston Flower Show. 



terrestrial orchid, is only occasionally 

 met with in good condition. A good 

 specimen, carrying a number of spikes 

 fully expanded, is quite effective. Small- 

 er plants also, in 6-inch or 8-inch pots, 

 . carrying tWo or three spikes apiece, 

 are useful and a large vase of stalks 

 makes a striking appearance in a room. 

 The plants are now starting to grow 

 and repotting is seasonable. They do 

 well in fibrous loam, with the addition 

 of a little fern fiber, lumpy cow manure 

 and coarse sand, allowing an ample 

 space for drainage. While they enjoy 

 a brisk heat when growing, the house 

 should not be close and stuffy, or black 

 spot will soon disfigure the leaves. 

 When well potbound and in active 

 growth, they appreciate a watering 

 once a week with liquid manure. A 

 winter minimum of 55 degrees is right. 

 Fhalsenopsis. 



It is unwise to allow the flower spikes 

 on phaleenopsis to remain too long, as 

 they severely tax the constitutions of 

 the plants. When the flowers are cut 

 is a good time to do any needful top- 

 dressing or repotting. Phaleenopsis make 

 thick roots, which cling stubbornly to 

 the receptacles in which they are grow- 

 ing. To remove those intact is diffi- 

 cult and often impossible. When in 

 pots and pans, or even small circular 

 baskets, a good plan is to stand these 

 within one of the deep, cylindrical bas- 

 kets. A good size is nine inches deep 

 and six inches across the top. The 

 compost must be coarse; lump char- 

 coal, with fern fiber and some fresh 

 sphagnum, will be found suitable. The 

 moss does especially well as a surfac- 

 ing. Plants not in need of rebasketing 

 can be given a top-dressing. 



As phalffinopsis leaves are easily 

 scorched, some shade is now necessary 

 when the sun shines. Roller or lath 

 blinds are best, but white lead and 

 kerosene will answer where there are 

 no blinds. The latter have a decided 

 advantage, as they can be kept up dur- 

 ing dull, gloomy weather. Phalsenopsis 

 grandiflora and P. Schilleriana are the 

 two best commercial varieties, and the 

 importations of these two kinds alone, 

 from the Philippines via San Francisco, 

 now amount to many thousands a year. 

 A night temperature at this season of 

 65 to 68 degrees will be found right for 

 phalsenopsis. , 



Shading. 



Cattleyas, laelias and the touglieir 

 leaxMli^rcI^ids want little shade until 

 the sun gets strong. Any applied should 

 be light. On the other hand, odonto- 

 glossums, masdevallias, phalsenopsis, 

 cypripediums, miltonias, and other ot- 



chids whose foliage is readily suscep- 

 tible, should have had shade from the 

 early part of March. If this shade is 

 movable, it is, of course, much to be 

 preferred early in the season. As a 

 general ruj«, orchids get too much 

 shade. Tbfe deep green bulbs and leaves 

 produced under these conditions are 

 pleasing to the eye, but are never so 

 satisfactory when the time comes for 

 flowers. 



PLANTING TREES AND SHRUBS. 



This is a late season and planting in 

 more northerly latitudes has only just 

 started. Vegetation is unusually dor- 

 mant for the season, and this is an ad- 

 vantage. Nearly all retail florists are 

 called upon to do some planting of 

 trees, shrubs or hardy perennials for 

 their customers. This is an important 

 branch, with wonderful possibilities in 

 it, and is worth developing as much as 

 possible. Any country florist who fails 

 to take advantage of this line of work 

 is away behind the times. There is 

 more money at this season in planting 

 hardy stock than in the floricultural 

 end of the business. Of course, we do 

 not mean that the latter should be 

 neglected, but the hardy end should be 

 encouraged in every way, and one good 

 way is to have a little tasteful plant- 

 ing about your own place, only a few 

 in number, where prospective customers 

 can see them. 



In planting large shrubs, cut them back 

 quite hard, and if you get shrubs of 



any kind which may have been stored 

 in some nurseryman 's shed over win- 

 ter, remember that they are likely to 

 go back in many cases when set out- 

 doors. Three or four months in a dark 

 cellar and then exposure to sun and 

 wind is a hard ordeal for any shrub, 

 deciduous or evergreen, to withstand. 

 In buying shrubs and trees, insist on 

 having such as have been outdoors over 

 winter, even if only heeled in; they 

 will give you much greater satisfaction. 



In planting trees and shrubs, advise 

 your customers to spend ten times as 

 much in proper preparation of the 

 ground as on the shrubs or trees, if 

 they want permanently satisfactory re- 

 sults. Of course, you may claim that 

 this would reduce sales. Not at all. 

 Any man who gets shrubs and plants 

 them thus, finding that they do well, 

 will want more, and his neighbors will 

 find his garden and its preparation 

 something which they will want to 

 copy. 



Always dig holes of ample size. Al- 

 ways have roots moistened, if dry, 

 before planting. In the case of ever- 

 greens, puddling the roots well after 

 planting, before filling in, will make 

 chances of failure less. Never use 

 manure in direct contact with the roots. 

 Use it on the surface as a mulch. 

 Tramp the soil firmly. No loosely 

 planted tree or shrub will thrive, and 

 remember that the larger the trees or 

 shrubs, the greater the necessity for 

 heading back to insure their living. 



Gdanthe Veitchii. 



