Huge azalea plants liKe this may be grown without artificial heat by wintering them in a pit. This one is taller than a man 



Easter Plants and Flowers— By Harold Clarke, 



New 

 York 



WHICH ONES MAY BE KEPT OVER TILL NEXT YEAR AND HOW TO TREAT THEM AFTER EASTER— ALSO HOW TO 

 GROW PLANTS FOR THE GREAT FLORAL FESTIVAL OF THE YEAR AND PUT PERSONALITY INTO EASTER GIFTS 



EASTER is the great floral festival of the 

 year. No other holiday is so intimate- 

 ly connected with flowers. There are two 

 reasons for this: The return of flowers in 

 springtime after the dead of winter sym- 

 bolizes the Resurrection. Moreover, long 

 centuries before the Christian era the nec- 

 essity of a spring flower-festival was felt by 

 humanity, simply because the return of spring 

 is so joyous an event that a day must be set 

 apart so that we may all celebrate it, rich 

 and poor alike. 



The practical lesson, then, that comes 

 home to every individual is this: we ought to 

 give flowers to some one on Easter. The very 

 best thing we can do is to give plants that 

 we have grown ourselves, because these 

 have our personality in them and therefore 

 mean more to the recipient. The next best 

 thing is to buy flowering plants for some 

 one, because plants last longer than cut 

 flowers, and because the person who receives 

 them must do something for their welfare 

 daily and think of the giver when this slight 



service is performed. The third best thing 

 to do is to give cut flowers. 



But the essential thing is the giving; every 

 year when you give flowers to someone at 

 Easter, you are privileged to receive a. certain 

 spiritual experience which becomes richer 

 year by year. To omit this giving for a 

 single year is to miss something out of one's 

 life that is very precious. One cannot grow 

 without giving, and of all forms of gifts, 

 flowers are the least tainted with commer- 

 cialism, because flowers are symbolical; and 

 of all flower-giving on holidays, Easter- 

 giving has, or may have, the highest and best 

 significance. 



The favorite color at Easter is white, just 

 as red is the dominant color for Christmas 

 flowers. Red stands for warmth and happi- 

 ness in the dead of winter; white stands for 

 purity and for the Resurrection. 



IMPORTANT GENERAL DIRECTIONS 



To keep plants or flowers that come from 

 the florists is more or less of a problem, 



72 



because they have been grown in a much more 

 humid atmosphere than the living room 

 where the flowers must be kept 'to be en- 

 joyed. This can be overcome, however, by 

 having a large bowl of water in every 

 room, a practice which should usually be 

 adopted whether we grow plants or not. 



Most of the cut flowers which one may 

 buy at Easter will last from four days to a 

 week if the florist who grew them has grown 

 them as cool as possible, has cut them in 

 the early morning while they are full of sap 

 and given the different kinds any little at- 

 tention which they particularly need to 

 prolong their life for a few days. 



The first thing to do with cut flowers is to 

 put them in water without delay. Use a 

 deep receptacle like a water-pail, deep pitcher 

 or wash bowl, so that the entire stem clear 

 up to the flower may be under water. Let 

 the flowers soak for several hours before you 

 arrange them in vases. 



Be sure the vase or other receptacle is 

 clean ; the water also must be clean and fresh. 



