14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



April 27, 1911. 



matter, any other foliage plant, is 

 more graceful and desirable for hall 

 or room decorations when it can be 

 given a position fairly well raised, so 

 that the fronds will not be brushed 

 against. 



SAMSBUBO'S NEW ANTIBSHINUM. 



The National Flower Show at Boston 

 was so enormous in its extent that 

 many good things shown there failed to 

 attract the attention they would have 

 received in a less extensive exhibition. 

 But one of the novelties that caught 

 the eye of everyone was the Silver Pink 

 snapdragon shown by G. S. Ramsburg, 

 Somersworth, N. H. Speaking of it, 



Mr. Ramsburg said: "This is a great 

 snapdragon, having originated here and 

 having circulated as a stray sheep in 

 my part of New England for four years. 

 We took it up three years ago and 

 have tried many experiments with it, 

 until we have a strong plant with 

 closely set head, running ten inches up, 

 with flowers only a half inch apart." 

 The accompanying illustration shows a 

 section of a bench at Mr. Ramsburg 's, 

 photographed just before Easter. He 

 has this season devoted to it a bench 

 4x60 feet and cut 1,200 spikes for 

 Easter. The illustration shows a yard- 

 stick in the center, indicating tha 

 height of the plants. 



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Hardy Perennials. 



Any winter mulch will by now have 

 been removed from hardy perennials 

 and many of them will have made con- 

 siderable growth. It will have been 

 noticed that a heavy covering of straw 

 or leaves does more harm than good to 

 many plants. Bulbous plants send their 

 tops into the mulch and are badly 

 broken in its removal. Foxgloves simply 

 rot away when heavily covered and 

 about all the herbaceous plants making 

 an early growth are seriously hurt by 

 a thick mulch, especially when, as often 

 happens, the ground below the mulch is 

 soft. If it is hard frozen the damage 

 will be miK5h less. Loosen up the sur- 

 face soil with the cultivator, hoe or 

 fork. This, besides helping the plants, 

 serves to kill many little weed seed- 

 lings just starting. 



While autumn is the best time for 

 transplanting the bulk of perennials, 

 the work can also be done in spring, 

 and where plants in pots are to be had, 

 planting may be done at almost any 

 time. Any varieties of somewhat doubt- 

 ful hardiness, such as Japanese anem- 

 ones, incarvilleas, rehmannias, tritomas 

 (kniphofias), digitalis and pompon 

 chrysanthemums, should now go out at 

 once. In some latitudes these are all 

 hardy; in others they are not. Sweet 

 Williams, rockets, Canterbury bells. 

 Coreopsis grandiflora and other vari- 

 eties which are biennials, or usually 

 treated as such, should also go out, as 

 well as double daisies, aubrietias, myo- 

 sotis, violas, pansies and other low- 

 growing spring-flowering subjects. These 

 latter make useful borderings and are 

 also fine for carpeting bulb beds. 



Keep the shoots of eremuri protected 

 by some evergreen boughs until late 

 spring frosts have gone, as they are 

 easily injured. If cuttings of perennial 

 phlox have not yet been taken, it is 

 not too late to root a good batch in 

 a cool propagating house, or even cold- 

 frame. These root in a few weeks and 

 during cool, moist weather can be 

 planted out direct from the sand. They 

 make one large head of flowers in late 

 summer when the older clumps are on 

 the wane. Pentstemons are better 

 treated as annuals. These should now 

 be of sufficient strength to plant out. 



They do not mind a little frost. Cut- 

 tings taken in late autumn also make 

 excellent plants. Keep young growths 

 on lilies covered with a light mulch. 

 The late spring frosts scorch them and 

 cause what myny believe to be a dis- 

 ease. L. auratum, tigrinum, speciosum 

 and Henryi, to say nothing of other 

 varieties, are easily injured in this way, 

 and even the hardy L. candidum is 

 better not exposed to biting, frosty 

 winds once its flower spikes are push- 

 ing. 



Where a batch of seeds of such sub- 

 jects as delphiniums, aquilegias, Shasta 

 daisies, lupines and other varieties»were 

 sown under glass in February and have 

 been pricked oflf in flats, these will now 

 be all right lo set out in nursery rows, 

 and any fall seedlings wintered in cold- 

 frames should also be set out. Many 

 of these will flower nicely this season 

 and all will make strong stock for 

 planting in permanent beds in the fall. 

 They are just the class of plants 

 wanted for your customers who want 

 a few perennials, and it is noticed that 

 the number growing these hardy plants 

 increases every year. 



Peonies are now starting to grow. If 

 they had a winter mulch of rotted ma- 



nure and this has been forked in about 

 them, they should render a good ac- 

 count of themselves. They can be still 

 further improved by a top-dressing of 

 nitrate of soda or dried blood when 

 they are making their growth. Take 

 care not to scatter the nitrate of soda 

 on the foliaga Do not feed too heavily. 

 The assumption that because a little is 

 good, a larger quantity will prove even 

 better, is utterly wrong. A fair quan- 

 tity will prove ^a good, but the heavier 

 dose is liable to act as a poison. 



Canterbury Bells. 



As pot plants Canterbury bells are 

 beautiful. Some of the earlier ones 

 flowered for Easter, but it is later in 

 the season, near Memorial day, when 

 they are to be had of really grand 

 quality. Pot plants are away ahead of 

 outdoor grown plants in every way. 

 They must be securely staked, and to 

 insure fine specimens, no pots less than 

 eight and ten inches in diameter should 

 I be used. For Memorial day trade they 

 are not half appreciated. Any enter- 

 prising grower, who would winter a lot 

 of plants in a coldframe and bench them 

 in a house kept at 50 degrees at night 

 seven or eight weeks before Easter, 

 would get a grand lot of flowers. 



This reminds one that the present is 

 a good time to sow a batch of seed in 

 order to get lusty plants for next fall. 

 Sow the seeds thinly and, as they are 

 Somali, cover lightly. A coldframe is 

 the ideal place for them. Keep shaded 

 until the seeds germinate. Then air 

 freely and gradually harden them. If 

 set out in nursery rows a foot be- 

 tween the plants and kept well culti- 

 vated all summer, they will make heavy 

 plants by October, which is a suitable 

 month in which to lift and pot all 

 needed for indoor flowering. The popu- 

 lar colors are pink and white. A smaller 

 proportion of lavender will sell, espe- 

 cially at Memorial day. The singles and 

 hose-in-hose or calycanthema varieties 

 are much more desirable than the 

 doubles. The flowers of the latter are 

 so heavy that they will not hold up as 

 the singles do. 



Fuchsias. 



While hardly to be classed as bedding 

 plants, fuchsias will flower in fairly 

 satisfactory manner all summer if 

 planted in partial shade. They will not 

 succeed here as in the great London 

 parks, but are graceful and, dotted 



Silver Pink Snapdragon at G. S. Ramsbure's, Somersworth, N. H. 



