60 
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA 

CLARKIAS AND GODETIAS 
To bring out the beauty of both these flowers you must 
grow them in rather poor soil. Clay or good soil mixed with 
lots of sand or sifted ashes is the thing. They also do well 
in partly shaded position. A successful grower says: Grow 
both these flowers in 3 in. flats, disbudding to one stem and 
keeping them wilted must of the time through lack of mois- 
ture. Both Clarkias and Godetias are flowers of striking 
beauty, but if supplied with plenty of water and grown in 
deep soil they are worthless. 
GROW NEW FLOWERS 
because it pays to do so. Where will you get these new 
flowers? You can get them from us. We offer the seed of 
many good ones, absolutely new and very superior. See our 
nevelty pages. 
MUST HAVE 
perfect drainage when it comes to cactus. Poor to medium 
rich soil when it comes to Amaranthus. Godetias and Clarkias 
must have poor soil and kept thirsty, Blue Lace Flower must 
have some sand and a little of peat does it much good. 
Gypsophyla must have sunlight, never any shade, etc. There 
are many must haves, all are mentioned in cultural direc- 
tions referring to each flower group. It is important to pay 
attention to these directions to avoid disappointment. 
Seeds with HARD SHELL like canna, sweet peas, will 
sprout quickly if placed in ice cold water for 3 hours the 
water drained, the seeds dropped in boiling water for 3 to 10 
seconds. Bring the water to boiling point, take off the fire, 
drop the ice cold seeds in, stir up the seeds with a spoon and 
immediately drain the hot water off. That cracks the shells. 
FLORAL WORK of distinction. Use dyed fresh double 
gypsophyla. Select sprays on which not all the blooms have 
developed. The shorter the stems the quicker will the dye 
be absorbed. “Make slanting cuts at the end of stems, place 
in the dye solution and when the color has been absorbed 
transfer into clear water. The most effective colors are blue, 
pink and orange. 
HOW TO DYE FLOWERS 
As an answer to numerous inquiries will say that, you use special 
dyes that you can get from firms advertising in the Florists’ Dx- 
change or Florists’ Review. For further information write to: Mc- 
Clenahan Greenhouses, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Aljo Mfg. Co., New 
York, N. Y., 130 West 21st Street. 
WET SOIL—Never put seed into wet soil. See to it that your 
flats and benches are well drained. In tight flats and benches the 
water cannot run off quickly, all the air in the soil is forced out, 
seeds suffocate and do NOT “come” up. 
MR. FLORIST: Pentstemon Grfl. will make extra money for 
you. Potted and placed before the public when in bloom (May 
and June) will sell and advertise you far and wide, because new, 
never before seen by many, possessing rare beauty, exactly what 
lovers of flowers are looking for. 
FORCING PERENNIALS—Use strong clumps, grow cool not 
over 45-50 degrees at night. Withhold water for the first 10-14 
days. That gives your plants a chance to set their buds instead of 
making rampant growth of foliage. 
FLORISTS will profit by growing perennials in places where now 
weeds are allowed to grow. In partly shaded places try: Achillea 
Perry’s White, Violas, Hardy Sweet Violets, Veronica Gentianoides, 
Campanula Rutundifolia, Aconitum, Aquillegia Flabellata. In full 
sun: Anthemis, Campanula, Carpatica, Coreopsis, Dianthus Deltoides 
and Caesius, Gallardia Grfl., Gailardia Beautiful Star. This is an 
annual but seeds itself, is as good as a perennial. Pentstemon, 
Platycodon, Pyrethrum, Scabiosa Caucasica, Statice Dumosa and Lat- 
ifolia, Thalicrum, Nepeta, Verbena Venosa, Achillea Tomentosa. Not 
one of the named needs any ‘“babying”’ once planted will stay for 
years without care. From some you will be able to cut flowers; 
others will be of interest to visitors, you will have flowers inside 
as well as outside of your greenhouses. Your place will become 
TWICE the place of flowers that it is at present. 
Cultural Directions for Ferns 
Place in a flat, pieces of sod 2-3 inches thick. To kill weed seeds 
that may be contained in the sod, pour over the sod three or four 
times, boiling hot water. Then sow the spores THINLY. The pieces 
of sod must stand at all times in water so that moisture will reach 
the spores from below. You must not water overhead. Before and 
after the spores have germinated, the sowing must be kept in a 
warm greenhouse in shade. In a few days the sod will be covered 
with a thick mass of dark green and a few weeks after that seedlings 
will appear with fully developed leaflets, which must be transplanted 
into flats at first and when the seedlings are fairly strong and well 
developed, they are pores off singly. The soil to use is rich black 
soil th one-third of sharp sand mixed in. To avoid failure you must 
never permit the young ferns to suffer from lack of moisture. They 
bas 8 os kept in a warm greenhouse and at all times protected from 
et sun. 
SEED GERMINATES SLOWLY 
Whenever this mention is made, it means that you need not look 
for a stand before 6 to 12 months, Sow all such seeds in a flat, after 
sowing, fill up with spaghnum moss, place the flat in a shady spot, 
keep moderately moist. If you find that the seed is sprouted late in 
the fall, with freezing weather on the way, place the flat in a cold 
frame. Sprouted seed or very young and tender seedlings even of 
the hardiest perennials cannot go through freezing weather un- 
harmed. Because it takes so long for the seed to “come up” is NOT 
a reason to abandon the idea of growing the plants. On the con- 
trary it is a reason TO GROW such perennials because MANY will 
not bother with slowly germinating seed, there will be no overproduc- 
tion and when the plants are finally finished you’ll find it a paying 
proposition. It will pay you to wait for the results and whatever 
PAYS is worth doing. 
ACONITUM, Dictamnus, Perennial Phlox, Hardy Primulas and Sweet 
Violet and Trollius should be sown late in November to get a full 
stand. The action of freezing and thawing greatly facilitates the 
germination of these seeds. 
PLANTS IN FLATS 
To get healthy, strong and deep green looking vegetable plants 
in flats for spring sales, lay on the bottom of each flat about an inch 
of rotted manure and soil on top. That will make your plants of 
even height, stocky, in a word, superior and better prices and more 
sales will be your reward. Do not pack the soil hard as that inter- 
rae SE eee, Healthy plants can be grown only in well- 
rained soil. 
THE BEST SOIL for growing seedling plants is soil containing 
a good portion of sand or leaf mould. You can lift the peocungs 
from such soil without the loss of roots and your seedlings will 
grow after transplanting, without check. 
WHAT IS A FLAT—When the word “flat” is mentioned in this 
eatalog it means a shallow box, 18 inches long, 12 inches wide and 
3 inches deep. 
IN JULY seeds of cool weather plants (pansy especially) come 
up poorly or not at all in spite of generous watering. Avoid sow- 
ings in July as much as possible. 
PANSY—To get neat plants full of bloom in May, sow the seed 
in our locality by the end of August, transplant October 1st. Many 
growers sow the seed earlier, their plants get too big and are hard 
to handle. 
“Bad luck” excepted one ounce of Pansy seed will produce at 
least 10,000 seedlings and as high as 18,000. 
VERY FINE seed such as begonia, etc., is easily germinated if the 
seed is placed on an earthen pan, the pan placed on a brick, the brick 
Places in a pan of water, the brick about half submerged in water and 
he whole thing placed under a bench. Cover the pan with a pane of 
glass and keep shaded. The brick acts as a wick carrying the water 
up to the earthenware pan, no overhead watering and no chance to 
lose the seed by washing out. 
What is a Rock Garden? 
To add ‘‘finishing touches” to large grounds, parks, drives, etc., 
rock gardens are laid out by placing rocks of irregular outline fairly 
close together, the spaces between filled with dirt, where rock 
plants are sowed or planted. On level ground place a boulder in 
the middle and group smaller recks around it, on sloping ground 
arrange rocks so that the soil between will not get washed out in 
heavy rains. No “style” to be followed, the arrangement of the 
whole thing is a matter of individual taste. 
TO MAKE GLADIOLI PAY 
you must have them in bloom before and after the outdoor crop. 
Start planting January 15th and keep on planting at intervals of 15 
days up to March 1st. You may plant in benches or beds and to save 
space. in pots, which you will place under the benches and on benches 
when well rooted and with about 6 inches of growth, about 30 to 40 
davs after potting. Plant again March 15th in pots, place the potr 
under the benches, when well rooted place the pots on the benches 
and transfer them to cold frames towards the end of April to get 
bleom towards the end of June or you may plant March 15th in solia 
beds in the greenhouse. Again you can start bulbs in April in pots 
and plant in the open when danger of frost is past. Also plant about 
April 1st and again April 15th in cold frames. You will have them 
in bloom long before the outdoor crop. Plant lightly for a crop of 
bloom to come in August and September and if short, you can alway» 
buy, as a rule, for less than the cost of production. For a crop of 
bloom in the late fall when outdoor crop is gone, asters about played 
out and mums not counting for much, plant early varieties from 
July 1st to 10th or even two or three weeks later in a sheltered spot 
PERENNIALS for ground covering: Abronia, Acanea, Aren- 
aria, Dianthus Deltoides, Cerastium, Eriophyllym, Euphorbia, 
Myrsinites, Gypsophyla Repens, Herniaria, Lotus Corniculatus, 
Nepeta, Saxifraga, Shamrock, Spergula, Sweet Violet, Thymus, 
Verbena Venosa, Vicia Snowdrift. 
For covering bare spots in the rock garden, banks, and 
any spot where because of heat and lack of moisture, hardly 
any plant would grow, try Thymus Serpyllum, a neat, low- 
growing plant that never becomes shabby looking and fills 
the atmosphere with highly pleasant spicy fragrance. Basy 
to grow from seed. Once started will stay for years. 
HARDY CHRYSANTHEMUM especially such varieties as Mrs. C. L. 
Bell, Mayfield Giant, Shasta Daisy, any of the Leucanthemum 
branch, must be divided every other year and lined out in the field. 
Most of these Chrysanthemum when the clumps are over 2 years old 
die out. (They rot out). Dividing and lining them out, renews the 
life of the plants. 
