546 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



stems, good keeping qualities and fine colors make them ideal cut 

 flowers. Among the many good ones the following are just a few of 

 special merit: Gesneriana spathulata, brilliant scarlet; G. lutea 

 rich golden yellow; G. Orange Globe, a fine orange; and Bouton 

 d'Or, a clear yellow. 



If you have occasion to recommend late-flowering Tulips 

 to be planted in clumps in the hardy border, include some of these. 



Parrot Tulips 



This is another fine class of Tulips for border planting, most 

 effective when planted in clumps of from twenty to thirty bulbs 

 each. Among the most showy we have Cramoisie Brilliant, a scarlet 

 red; Gloriosa, yellow and red; Perfecta, spotted; and Margraaf, 

 orange. 



BiZARDS AND ByBLOOMS 



While these Tulips are not so desirable as the Darwin and Cot- 

 ,tage varieties for cutting, they are excellent for border planting 

 and come into bloom as late as any we have. Those who care es- 

 pecially for red, orange, and brown shades should plant these. 

 They are also desitable where a permanent effect is wanted. 



UMBRELLA PLANT 



See Cyperus 



VALERIANA OFFICINALIS (HARDY GARDEN HELIO- 

 TROPE) 



The Valerianas are perennials easily grown from seed. If you 

 sow in February under glass, you will get a few flowers the first 

 Summer, but it is in the following July that the plants wiU be loaded 

 with long stems and heavy heads of light rose-colored flowers with 

 a Heliotrope fragrance. They can be used as cut flowers but every 

 one of your patrons having a hardy border wiU want a few plants. 

 The name alone will appeal to them. 



VERBENA 



Verbenas are great bedders and will bloom all Summer. Some 

 excellent strains are grown from seed and they also are easily in- 

 creased through cuttings, but the average florist doesn't use enough 

 of them to justify carrying stock plants through the Winter months. 



In order to have, by the middle of May, heavy 3J^- and 4-in. 

 pot plants with four to six flowers and as many buds, sow seed in 

 early February and grow in a cool house; pinch several times and 

 keep shifted. There is but little call for two-inch stock which used 

 to be aU the go in years gone by. Your customers want more than 

 just one steip with a little flower head on top. They had rather 

 pay a quarter or more for a bushy specimen, and to grow such stock 



