1885. J 
We haw such a store (tf yood things this 
month that we are obliged to turn out a page 
full of them here as a sort of “overflow meeting " 
MahfOttr head serve your heels. 
SFBIKQ FIiOWEE FASHIONS. 
Fashions in flowers were never more pro¬ 
nounced than this spring. The best patrons 
of florists'in New York demand flowers that 
are fashionable, and no matter how beauti¬ 
ful are blossoms that are out of date or 
thrown aside by bouquet makers, there Is 
no sale for them among those who pay large 
prices and who purchase the cream of green¬ 
house growth. For this reason it i^ with 
trepidation that plantsmen invest largelj’ in 
newly imported or originated stock. They 
are not certain that the flowers will “ take” 
and become fashionable ; If they do not 
they lose heavily. 
CAMELLIAS. 
The revival of Camellias is a marked feat¬ 
ure of the latest floral fashions. Foi' many 
years these beautiful, but ordorless, blossoms 
have been antiquated, and rarely used. With 
the advance of English ideas in decoration 
in the metropolis, the Camellia has worked 
its way into high fame, especially when 
elaborate ornamentation with flowers and 
foliage is made in large apartments. 
. At one of the large balls given at Delmon- 
ico’s lately, several English guests of nobil¬ 
ity were entertained, and in their honor 
the Camellias were used profusely. The 
walls were frescoed with them, there were 
shields of them on the music balconies, and 
mirror frames were enameled with C. Donck- 
elari, which is a crimson and white variety. 
When the rage for large Eoses started in 
Jfew York a considerable number of Camellia 
plants were thrown out of greenhouses 
to make room for their rivals. For that 
reason the flower is not very plentiful, only 
a few growers having preserved their best 
specimens. The kinds most in use are 
O’lba plena, a double white ; Albertus, white 
pencilled with pink ; Caleb Cope, a blush 
color ; Chalmer’s Perfection, a bright tiink ; 
elata, dark crimson ; flmbriata, white equis- 
^*'®ly fringed ; imbricata, a deep carmine ; 
and Florida, a cherry and white mottled. 
Large hand bouquets of Camellias are ex- 
emely fashionable ; these always have a 
c uster of fragrant flowers fastened to the 
stems to give the bunch odor. A bouquet 
®ade of pure white C. flmbriata, had a clus- 
^Lite Violets tied with a white satin 
^es to the stem ; it was the first Camellia 
ouquet carried in this city for a decade, 
fashionable circles. 
JaSuosorTf'“\— 
fLoo])od nearly (. 
tilled wi h i r " “'•®-I’l‘‘®®s.'vhich were 
datoty : rr 
y. and biglily perlumed plant. 
J'OUOaiNVILLISA. 
od a novoltv^f'^” ^Poctabilia is always estcem- 
who will bu v°* ‘'“c^i-ttion by leading florists 
ed S it that is oilcr- 
handlod wi r must be 
ollcct of as it will destroy the 
lors and *'®®®Ption, the par- 
ainrfltoo , '”th ISoug- 
fe torn, the 
branches of Lilium 
long^lorwm and cream colored satin rosettes. 
SMIL AX AND IV^V. 
Smiiax is no longer the fashionable foliage. 
It became so common in markets and res¬ 
taurants, and was used so freely in cheap 
decorations that those who lead the fashion 
in flowers will not have a string of it in their 
decorations. 
Ivy leaves are now the staple foliage. 
Iliey are used in garlands, and with Hoses 
m all positions, when any beside their own 
foliage is demanded. A eluster of Ivy leaves 
is tied on the stems of all bouquets, their 
language “Friendship” making them fa¬ 
vorites. What is known as Heidelberg Ivy, 
the leaves of which are thickly veined and 
often of ruddy color, is made into fiingings 
for Eose and Violet designs. Table seaifs 
of Ivy are a spring novelty for luncheons. 
They are made the same shape as plush 
table scarfs, being wider at the ends. Ivy 
leaves are sewed on to dark green silesia 
thickly and the ends are fringed with sprays 
of the young foliage or Lily of the Valley. Af¬ 
ter placing the scarf over the table, clnsters 
of Violets, Lilies, or Daffodils are laid on 
the bed of polished leaves. 
nouQUETS 
Bouquet maidng is now one of the fine 
arts with the florist. The custom of sending 
a bouquet to the hostess on the evening of 
her entertainment, and of ordering this from 
her florist, who strives to make each one 
different, has started the energies of those 
in this department of flower weaving. 
A florists lately made forty bouquets for a 
lady who gave a cotillion. They were every 
one made in perfect taste ; one was com¬ 
posed of five hundred sprays of Lily of the 
Valley. In one side were perched three 
Japanese sparrows—pure white little birds 
with pink bills—stuffed. The bunch was 
bound at the stems with white satin ribbon, 
ou which was stamped with gold the lady’s 
name, and a large frond of Adiantum Farley- 
ense. Stuffed birds are frequently placed in 
OOLDEN WEDDING ELOWEES. 
gg Pubescens is used with splendid 
WedV *** decoration. For a golden 
W ®®lebration lately, where only yel- 
^ were placed in the drawing I’oom, 
'pjj Pabescens, made a superb show, 
the w u®'® Canary Bird Tulips on 
Alls and the mantels were banked with 
bouquets, only bumming birds and Japanese 
sparrows, however. The latter cost five 
dollars each, adding considerably to the ex¬ 
pense of the bunch. 
Bouquets of La France Eoses and pale 
Lilacs are very handsome. Jacqueminots 
are combined with Mignonette,and Catherine 
Mermet bunches are sprinkled with Lily of 
the Valiev. Cornelia Cook Eoses have super- 
_ — , . _ bunches. The 
bridal 
nd . 
A spray of Orange 
seded Niphetos in -- - _ 
and exquisite in tint 
Cooks are grand in size 
and foliage this spring, 
blossoms is fastened in one side. 
Natural flowers are again used for orna¬ 
menting gowns and the coiffure. Camellias 
have been placed upon satin skirte to hold 
lace drapery and are handsome additions. 
The little Pofycmtoa Eose “ Migonette ” is 
in lively demand for trimming children’s 
frocks. A little girl wore a dress of pink 
silk tulle, the skirt drapery being caught 
with Migonotto Hoses. She wore a wreath 
of the.'samo flower. These tiny blush Hoses 
are very scarce, few of them being forced 
this season by plantsmen. 
Pink and blue Larkspur are among the 
spring novelties besides single Poppies, 
Sweet Pea, and Bluets. Tlie latter fringy 
Com Flowers are snatched up at any price 
as soon as displayed by the florist. 
__ Floka. 
PEOTIHG SHEUBS, 
Shrubbery which has just been devastated 
by the shears of the amateur trimmer, terse¬ 
ly remarks a correspondent of the Philadel¬ 
phia Pies.s, calls forth a good deal of com¬ 
miseration at this season. When the mania 
for cutting seizes the owner of uneducated 
shears he begins to set them at work to re¬ 
duce every shrub to one form. The tops 
may all be shorn off level, or they may be 
clipped into globes or all the branches 
shortened in to give length. The one un¬ 
varying rule of procedure is to treat every 
plant in exactly the same way, and- inas¬ 
much as every plant has individual peculiari¬ 
ties and all the species have verified habits 
of growth, and are used for different pur¬ 
poses, the cast-iron rule of uniformity is 
fatal. No universal law can be laid down, but 
for shrubs grown for their flowers there are 
a few simple directions which no one should 
neglect. 
The shrubs which bloom early in the 
spring should, of course, never have their 
pruning in the autumn. The flower buds 
of such varieties are formed on the wood 
made during the summer, and when those 
branches are cut off there can be no bloom, 
for no buds are left to open. Early 
flowering spirieas, for example, like the 
Spiraia Thunbergii, have buds almost ready 
to open uow. lu the warm days of early 
December some of them did open. But they 
will pass safely through the winter and be 
ready to burst into bloom under the influ¬ 
ence of the earliest genial spring days. Wait 
till after they have bloomed and then cut 
them sharply in. This will encoui-age the 
growth of new wood—just the- wood which 
will bear flowers the following year, and the 
yield will be abundant. 
Late blooming flowers appear upon the • 
growth made during the same year. Such 
shrubs can be pruned very early in the 
spring. Take the Hydrangea paniculata 
grandyiora, for example. Cut back the wood 
of last year to a couple of eyes. Then, dur¬ 
ing the next summer cut out the weakest 
shoots, and the result in September will be 
immense blooms at the extremity of every 
strong branch. The Late Flowering Tamarisk 
which, by the way, is much better than the 
other one in ordinary cultivation which 
flowers in June, when cut back on this plan 
makes amazing growth, and -with waving 
plumes of the most delicate foion and color. 
But shrubs are not grown for flowers 
alone, and the time and method of pruning 
must be varied to suit the purpose intended. 
Study the habit of each shrub, and never 
lift the knife against one until you can give 
an intelligent reason for so doing. Consider 
the wild shrubs of the field. Many of them 
are invested -with a rare charm, and yet no 
fussy gardener has ever “taimmed them in¬ 
to shape.” 
