22 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



March 21, 1912. 



A HOUSE OF HYDRANGEAS. 



The Floracroft Greenhouses, erected 

 by Walter P. Stokes on the grounds ad- 

 joining his home at Moorestown, N. J., 

 are famous for lily of the valley, for 

 ferns and for hydrangeas. The hydran- 



geas for several years have been mar- 

 vels of cultural skill — dwarf, uniform, 

 many large flowers, finely colored. Ed- 

 ward Boss is justly proud of the stock 

 under his care, which is worth going 

 a long way to see. Phil. 



BAMBLEB BOSES. 



Kambler roses which are now showing 

 color will be all right for Easter. They 

 will stand a brisk, moist heat until the 

 flowers are expanding, but are, of 

 course, better not grown under these 

 conditions. Plants grown in a night 

 temperature of not over 55 degrees are 

 far better than such as are grown 5 

 to 10 degrees warmer. Tausendschon 

 flowers earlier than any of the other 

 ramblers and continues as popular as 

 ever. The demand for it the coming 

 Easter promises to be greater than ever. 

 Dorothy Perkins and Lady Gay produce 

 larger trusses of smaller flowers, but 

 somehow the larger flowers of the 

 Tausendschon seem to add to its popu- 

 larity. Crimson Eambler, which once 

 filled the center of the stage, is now 

 seen but little. How have the mighty 

 fallen! Who, a decade ago, could have 

 predicted that this popular rose would 

 be practically dropped commercially? 

 American Pillar is a coming rose. Those 

 who have not got it should secure stock 

 for another season, as it is the finest 

 single rose we have today for pot 

 culture. 



The present is an opportune time to 

 do some propagating of ramblers. Select 

 wood which is about half ripened; the 

 cuttings can have two eyes each. 

 Shorten back the leaves and insert the 

 cuttings in a cutting bench where a 

 bottom heat of 60 to 65 degrees is main- 

 tained. Keep the cuttings well watered 

 and shaded and keep indoors in pots 

 until the middle of June. If at that 

 time they are plunged in an old hotbed 

 up to the brims and can be watered and 

 syringed when necessary, they will 

 make a surprising growth before fall, 

 far better than if they were planted 

 outdoors, and furthermore, when kept 

 in pots, they are much better adapted 

 for early forcing than field-grown stock. 



SUNBUBST IN ENGLAND. 



M. Pernet-Ducher could not have en- 

 trusted the American rights for sell- 

 ing his new rose, Sunburst, to better 

 hands than those of E. G. Hill, of Rich- 

 mond, U. S. A., as this gentleman just 

 knows how to make a rose move, and, 

 from what I hear, its sale over there is 

 going strong. And can we wonder at 

 it? Why, those who have seen the | 



rose in its home at Lyons, and also as 

 exhibited by Messrs. G. Beckwith & 

 Sons, of Hoddesden, would not hesitate 

 to go in largely for it. It was quite 

 amusing, were there no other motive 

 behind it, to see some of the trade 

 growers trying to ban the rose by with- 

 holding the gold medal. As if such 

 petty jealousy could keep back such a 

 variety from popular favor! I say that 

 gold medal or no gold medal, if a rose 

 has real merit, it is bound to forge 

 ahead. Why, this gold medal business 

 is a farce, and the way the work is 

 scrambled through by the judges is any- 

 thing but creditable to the great soci- 

 ety, the National Eose Society of Eng- 

 land. — Rosarian in H. T. J. 



IN LIEU OF BBEDE AND MAID. 



The small grower sometimes finds it 

 necessary to grow a few roses on the 

 warmest bench in his carnation house. 

 Bride and Maid seem to be "playing 

 out. ' ' Will any of the newer roses 

 give as good results as these two va- 

 rieties in a carnation temperature? If 

 so, please name them and give any 

 special treatment they require. 



E. E. M. 



You will find Killarney and "WTiite 



Killarney splendid varieties to grow 

 instead of Bride and Bridesmaid. They 

 succeed best in a night temperature of 

 56 to 58 degrees, but will be more sat- 

 isfactory than the two older sorts you 

 now have at the warmer end of your 

 carnation house. C. W. 



TBAINED BOSES. 



The desire for novelty in Easter 

 plants has found effective expression in 

 the trained rose. Strong plants of the 

 Wichuraiana type readily adapt them- 

 selves to this purpose. The basket rose 

 has been more in demand this season 

 than ever before in Philadelphia. Its 

 success depends on the growers abso- 

 lutely, for the symmetrical shape de- 

 pends on propagating, selection and 

 pruning. The basket rose is trained so 

 that the basket is a reality, heavy shoots 

 forming the base in such a way as to 

 support a medium sized pot in the cen- 

 ter. This enables the use of a blooming 

 plant of some other variety in the rose 

 basket, so that the other flowers look 

 as though growing in a bed of roses. 

 The covered umbrella is an umbrella 

 trained rose with the stem or handle 

 garlanded or twined with roses. This 

 requires skill, and for these plants an 

 additional $2 is paid over that paid for 

 the plain umbrellas. I am indebted to 

 Robert A. Craig for the photographs of 

 named roses. They have proved ex- 

 tremely popular this season, all his 

 plants'being ordered by March 16, and 

 he had a good many of them. Phil. 



IMPEBFECT W. B. SMITH BXTOS. 



I have four beds of roses planted, 

 outside for cut flowers. The varieties 

 are Cochet, white and pink; Wm. E. 

 Smith and Rhea Reid. They were 

 planted last spring from B^^-inch pots. 

 The soil is good clay subsoil. Two 

 years ago I cleared the ground, which 

 had never b.een cultivated, and planted 

 it in potatoes. I had the ground well 

 cultivated and in fine shape before 

 planting the roses. Then 1 put them 

 in beds six feet wide and 200 feet long, 

 leaving three feet between the beds. 

 They were planted twelve inches apart 

 in the bed. I cultivated them until 



Hydrangeas at Floracroft Greenhouses. 



