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The Florists' Review 



March 27, 1913. 



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^ SUGGESTIONS ^ 



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Perennial Phlox. 



The best way to propagate perennial 

 phlox is from cuttings. These, taken 

 oflE when about three inches long, will 

 root easily in the propagating bench 

 of a cool house or even in a close cold- 

 frame. Keep the sun from them and 

 keep the sand moist and few will fail 

 to root. There is no need to pot off the 

 cuttings before planting out, for if a 

 cool, moist spell of weather is selected 

 they can be planted directly from the 

 cutting bench to the open ground, and 

 if placed six inches apart in the rows 

 they will produce fine heads of flowers 

 and make nice roots for planting out 

 or selling in the fall. In order to get 

 an early crop of cuttings, it is a good 

 idea to dig up a few clumps of such 

 sorts as it is intended to propagate 

 and place them in a cool greenhouse, 

 but cuttings can be taken from outdoors 

 in April and these will make nice plants 

 the first season. 



Pansies. 



Where pansies and violas have been 

 wintered in coldframes, the leaves or 

 other protection should now be removed 

 and the plants should receive a soak- 

 ing watering and be kept freely ven- 

 tilated. It would be well to leave the 

 sashes on for some time, in order to 

 get the plants into flower earlier. Lit- 

 tle baskets of well flowered plants will 

 be found to be good sellers and the 

 grower who gets them in a little earlier 

 than his neighbors is sure to "make 

 good" with them. The covering on 

 outdoor pansies should not be removed 

 too soon. In the northern states we 

 frequently get biting winds and keen 

 frosts in the first half of April and 

 it is always safe to leave at least a 

 thin mulch about them. The winter 

 now passing has been a comparatively 

 open one, but for unmulched plants it 

 has not been at all satisfactory. 



Memorial Bench Crops. 



With the passing of Easter there will 

 be considerable bench space at disposal, 

 and such crops as candytuft, ten weeks' 

 stocks and double feverfew, most of 

 which are probably in pots and in need 

 of a shift, should be planted out as 

 soon as benches are in readiness for 

 them. In the case of stocks, if the 

 plants are not yet of sufficient size to 

 plant out there is no need to worry 

 about it, as this year we have a longer 

 gap between Easter and Memorial day 

 than will again happen for many years. 

 Gladioli, which are now a few inches 

 above ground, in the benches, should 

 be along in time for Memorial day. 

 Keep the soil well stirred about them 

 and let the temperature average about 

 50 degrees at night. 



Left-OTsr Easter Plants. 



It hardly pays to carry over some 

 Easter plants, but there are others 

 which should not be thrown on the rub- 

 bish heap. Azalea Indica should not 

 be discarded. Pick off the flowers and 

 seed pods, and about the middle of 



May plant all the left-overs out in 

 good soil in a coldframe, from which 

 the sasl(bars are removed and where 

 they can be readily reached with the 

 hose and given an abundant water sup- 

 ply. Camellias and ericas will do well 

 if similarly treated. Genistas can be 

 carried over if larger sizes are wanted. 

 If not, throw them away. They should 

 not be planted out, as they lift badly, 

 but should be kept in pots plunged to 

 their brims. The same ic true of aca- 

 cias and metrosideros. Eambler roses 

 will be of no value for forcing an- 

 other season, but can be cut back hard, 

 started up and planted out in May. 

 They will make useful plants for sale 

 in the fall. Spiraeas (astilbes) are so 

 cheap that it hardly pays to plant them 

 out. 



Calceolarias. 



Calceolarias are now sending up their 

 flower spikes and should be neatly 

 staked, using sticks painted green for 

 this purpose. As the plants will now 

 be well rooted in their blooming pots, 

 apply liquid manure once in four or 

 five days. As the flowers start to ex- 

 pand, it may be necessary to give them 

 a light shading from the sun's direct 

 rays. The large herbaceous varieties 

 are quite easily scorched. Be sure the 

 plants are kept clear of green aphis 



by fumigation, as this pest will rapidly 

 cripple them if once it is allowed to 

 get a foothold. , ■ v. 



'> i Fancy CaladiumB,' |» > 



If caladiums are still dormant they 

 should be started up. If they have ; 

 been stored in a tolerably warm, dry 

 storehouse they should be sound, but 

 if, as sometimes happens, they are 

 placed with tuberous begonias a large 

 proportion are sure to be found de- 

 cayed. Start the tubers in flats of 

 sand and leaf-mold and do not water 

 too freely at first. Pot up before the 

 roots have started too much and give 

 the plants a warm, moist house to 

 grow in. In summer they will do well 

 in an ordinary greenhouse, but at this 

 early season they should Aot have less 

 than 60 degrees at night. 



Starting Vegetable Plants. 



Many country florists do. quite a lit- 

 tle business with vegetable plants, such 

 as tomatoes, celery, pepper^, eggplants, 

 lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower. Prob- 

 ably some of these are alrejady started. 

 If not, a sowing of all can' be made at 

 once. The varieties will; depend to 

 some extent on location, but as a gen- 

 eral rule the following are good sorts 

 to grow: Paris Golden celery for early. 

 Winter Queen for midseason, Paschal 

 or Boston Market for late; Bull Nose, 

 Squash and Kuby King peppers; New 

 York Improved and Black Beauty egg- 

 plants; Jersey Wakefield and Danish 

 Ball Head cabbage; Early Erfurt and 

 Snowball cauliflowers; Big Boston and 

 Tennis Ball lettuce. These vegetables 

 are most salable in small flats or bas- 

 kets, twelve or twenty-four plants in 

 each. All like a light but rich soil. 



THETONVENTIOMCrD; 



INNOVATIONS. 



The August convention of the S. A. 

 F. at Minneapolis will afford a number 

 of novelties, in addition to its being 

 the first time that the society has met 

 in the northwest. The most radical 

 change is the lengthening of the con- 

 vention one day, the S. A. F. directors 

 having decided to use Friday for con- 

 vention purposes rather than turning 

 the fourth day over to the local organ- 

 izations, as has been done in the past. 

 The result is that the local hospitali- 

 ties will be postponed until Saturday, 

 making the convention virtually a five- 

 day affair, for the opening will be on 

 Tuesday, as usual. 



Another important change is in the 

 matter of the local hospitalities. The 

 S. A. F. directors have taken cogni- 

 zance of the general view that too 

 many distractions have been provided 

 .at recent conventions, making the 

 meeting an outing rather than a busi- 



ness affair. At the request of the new 

 directors the Twin City florists will 

 not provide entertainments of a char- 

 acter that will draw the visitors away 

 from the convention hall during the 

 four days of the business sessions. The 

 entertainment features for the ladies 

 will be made a feature of, and the gen- 

 tlemen who wish to visit points of spe- 

 cial interest on short individual trips 

 will be taken care of, but the effort 

 will be to center the interest in the 

 business meetings and the trades' dis- 

 play. 



It is figured that the Minneapolis 

 convention will attract an unusually 

 good trades' display. The trade in 

 the northwest has developed amazingly 

 in recent years and there is a large 

 body of good buyers there who have not 

 been reached at any of the recent con- 

 ventions; it affords the exhibitors a 

 splendid opportunity to extend their 

 acquaintance and there already are in- 

 dications that the trades' display will 



