18 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 2, 1912. 



Harp in drpet Bedding ^t Rosehill Cemettry, Chicago. 



about eighty plants. Next to this was 

 a border of red alternantheras, about 

 sixty-five of them, and then a border of 

 about sixty santolina, with one large 

 plant, an Echeveria metallica, at each 

 corner. The cross itself was bordered 

 by two rows of plants — an outer row of 

 ninety echeverias and an inner row of 

 ninety yellow alternantheras. The arms 

 of the cross were filled with about 100 

 red alternantheras. The circle in the 

 center of the cross was bordered with 

 yellow alternantheras and filled chiefly 

 with Echeveria secunda ^lauca, though 

 there were four echeverias of a larger 

 size, probably E. Californiea, and one 

 E. metallica in the center of all. The 

 four spaces between the arms of the 

 cross were filled with about sixty yellow 

 alternantheras. 



MEMOBIAL DAY CROPS. 



An adequate supply of cut flowers 

 at the end of May is a matter of su- 

 preme importance to every country flo- 

 rist and it means many dollars of addi- 

 tional revenue to be able to time all 

 crops correctly. This is not easy, as 

 vagaries of weather sometimes upset 

 all our calculations. Ten weeks' stocks, 

 if they are just beginning to show their 

 flower spikes, will be in good season. 

 These can be pushed a little, if late, 

 when the spikes are in sight, but it is 

 unwise to do this earlier and at no 

 time should they have too much heat. 

 Snapdragons are a crop which is quite 

 persistent, and these are spoiled by 

 forcing; 45 to 50 degrees at night should 

 not be exceeded. Feed well when thor- 

 oughly established. Candytuft, if it 

 seems at all late, should be given 5 

 degrees more heat, but when the flow- 

 ers start to open it should be grown 

 cooler. Double feverfew is a rather 

 commonplace and coarse but, neverthe- 

 less, a useful Memorial day flower. The 

 spikes on these should now be pushing 

 up. Grow it cool all the time for best 

 results. 



Astilbes, or spiraeas, as they are 

 still mostly called, are plants which 



will stand hard forcing, so any which 

 are at all late can be given as much 

 fire heat as is at your command. Al- 

 ways be sure, however, to give them 

 plenty of water and to go lightly on 

 fumigating where they are. The varie- 

 ties Gladstone and astilboides will take 

 eight or ten days longer to come into 

 bloom than the old Japonica. The beau- 

 tiful new pink. Queen Alexandra, needs 

 more time than any. Open its flowers 

 in a well shaded house, to preserve their 

 lovely peach pink color. In full sun- 

 light they will fade out almost white. 



Gladioli of the large flowered type are 

 useful at Memorial day. It is not possi- 

 ble to get a whole batch of these in on 

 time, as bulbs of large size will bloom 

 much earlier, as a rule, than the smaller 

 ones, but spikes can be retarded some 

 time in water in a cold room. Spanish 

 iris will need to be grown quite cool 

 to hold it back until the end of May. 

 The same applies to the smaller flow- 

 ered gladioli. 



While colored flowers have the great- 

 est call for Memorial day, lilies always 

 sell well. Longiflorums come on much 

 faster now than earlier in the season, 

 and any showing buds by May 1 will 

 be open by May 30 in an ordinary 

 greenhouse. In the case of candidums, 

 four weeks' time is also ample for 

 them to open in. 



CANNAS AND CALADroMS. 



I would like to get some information 

 on how to keep canna and caladium 

 bulbs through the winter. I have been 

 troubled a great deal this winter with 

 what I would call the dry rot. I will 

 give the conditions they have been han- 

 dled under and would be glad to find 

 out what causes the trouble. Last fall 

 after a heavy frost I cut my cannas 

 and caladiums off six inches above 

 the ground, in the morning before 

 the white frost was off the plants. 

 The plants were dug up the same day, 

 with a fair sized ball of soil left on 

 each clump of bulbs, and I stored them 

 under a bench in a greenhouse. The 

 bench they were stored under had no 

 pipes under it and I had chicken wire 

 stretched six inches above the ground, 

 so that they would not be on the damp 

 ground. The temperature was 50 de- 

 grees at night and 65 degrees during 

 the day. I did not clean the bulbs 

 up until February, and I did not start 

 to pot them until the first part of 

 March. After they were cleaned up I 

 put them back on the chicken wire 



Blanket Bed Covering Two Graves at Rosthill Qmetery, Chicago. 



