80 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



What better ad could you have than such a show ground, or 

 what better setting for a "Say it with Flowers" sign? Such signs 

 don't belong on the side of stables or barns, where we see them some- 

 times displayed, or in an empty lot with weeds of every description 

 growing all around them. How much more impressive and attractive 

 with a background of conifers or evergreens and a foreground of 

 flowers! 



Making Use of Hardy Stock 



Though it is important for the florist to have a show ground, 

 it is stiU more so for those who handle hardy stock and do landscape 

 work. Here a formal layout isn't as appropriate as an open sweep 

 of lawn, with perhaps a small fountain or sundial in the center and 

 the lawn running into an irregular perennial border with a back- 

 ground of shrubs and conifers. This does not mean that a small 

 formal garden may not be used to advantage when surrounded by 

 irregular borders of hardy stock, with at least three sides giving 

 an open view from the street. A perennial or hardy plant border, 

 even one of shrubs, usually looks best when a sweep of open lawn 

 leads to it. These irregular borders don't need to be filled with 

 perennials alone. Annuals may be used to great advantage in con- 

 nection with them as long as you obtain a show, for that is the object 

 sought. 



Again, there are occasions when it isn't always possible to obtain 

 an ideal piece of land to be used for a show ground. In such a case 

 even a narrow strip of ground or sometimes a parkway wiU be all 

 that is avaUable. But even here, with just a Uttle figuring and 

 planning, an attractive showing can be made. You owe it to your 

 business to help make this possible. You should have on hand a fair 

 sample of what can be done with flowers and plants for the beautifi- 

 cation of the home ground. You should be able to have a display 

 of Geraniums, Cannas, Begonias and other bedding stock for the 

 passerby to admire. Nothing will help you more to take orders, 

 or do more to make people appreciate flowers, or to create a wish 

 to possess the plants in their homes and on their grounds than the 

 chance to admire them as displayed to best advantage by you. 



THE RETAIL GROWER'S BENCHES 



I 



WISH I were able to recommend to the retail grower something 

 in the way of a bench to replace wood, of a more permanent 

 nature, and not too expensive, but I cannot. 



A lot of concrete benches built during the past ten years have 

 since been replaced with wood, with the exception, perhaps, of the 

 legs, which, when made of concrete and heavy enough, will remain 

 forever; but a thin layer of concrete, even reinforced, for the hot- 



