FREESIAS 371 



FOXGLOVE 



See Digitalis 



FREESIAS 



npHERE is hardly any other flower that the florist, particularly 

 * the retafl grower, handles during the Winter and early Spring 

 months as useful as the Freesia. Whether you have to fifl an 

 order for a bride's shower bouquet, a corsage, a funeral design, a 

 spray, a basket for the table or a box to go to the sick room, Freesias 

 are most appropriate; nor can you mention any flower that they 

 won't go with. They can be had in flower from Christmas to Easter, 

 and among the crops it pays even the small grower to handle, they 

 hold first place. 



Your patrons may object to Paperwhite Narcissi, but I have 

 to find one yet who didn't like Freesias. Their beautiful, sweet- 

 scented flowers will last for days in water, especially if cut when only 

 partly open. 



Most retail growers who force Paperwhites and Roman Hya- 

 cinths are usually pretty well through with them by Christmas and 

 there is a shortage of bulb stock from that time until perhaps the 

 end of January. It is during this period that Freesias pay best. 

 Their culture is as simple as can be, nor do they want a house over 

 50 deg. at any time. This fact alone should cause them to be far 

 more appreciated than they are at present. While there are men 

 who have made their culture a specialty for many years and grow 

 them on a large scale, the average florist, who caters to a retail 

 trade and who could use them to best advantage for practically five 

 months in the year, usuaUy plants just a few bulbs, say about 

 September or October, and lets it go at that. 



With Freesias, as with so many other of the florist's flowers, 

 great improvements have been made. While we had practically 

 only one sort in all the years we depended on the other side for our 

 supply of bulbs, as soon as California took up Freesia growing we 

 graduaUy broke away from the old yellow-throated sort. Fischer 

 and others have since given us some wonderful hybrids, which no 

 doubt, more than anything else, will help to make the florist recog- 

 nize and appreciate the flowers to the extent they deserve. 



For December and Early January Flowering 



Experience has taught us that for the extra early flowering of 

 Freesias nothing but the largest bulbs should be used. No mat- 

 ter how early you plant small bulbs nor how you treat them, they 

 are apt to run into leaves, and while a few may bloom, nine-tenths 

 won't. However, these same bulbs used for late forcing wiU most 

 likely all flower. 



