The Florists' Manual | by William Scott

A Reference Book for Commercial Florists

Title	The Florists' Manual
Author	William Scott
Publisher	the Florists' Publishing Company
Year	1906
Copyright	1906, the Florists' Publishing Company
Amazon	The Florist's Manual

The Florists' Manual

Introduction: The author of the following pages would never have assumed to instruct his brother florists, however limited their experience might be, had not he received many flattering comments on his cultural n...

Introduction To Second Edition: The author has little to add and nothing to erase from the above. The reason and cause of my presuming to write this simple volume holds good today. It was well received, and what was gratifying was t...

Abutilon: Greenhouse shrubs with drooping, bell-shaped flowers, ranging in color from pure white to crimson and purple, mostly erect in growth. A few of the species will endure a few degrees of frost, but they ...

Acacia: A very large genus of shrubs or trees. Those of most commercial value are from temperate regions, South Australia and New South Wales. Some of the species, armata, for instance, make neat, compact pla...

Acalypha: A genus of tropical shrubs that are grown entirely for the attractiveness of the leaves excepting A. Sanderi, which has long, cylindrical,. pendulous flowers and is very ornamental. The acalypha is gr...

Acanthophoenix: A. crinita is a remarkably handsome warm house palm that has been in cultivation for the past thirty years, but is still rather an uncommon species. It has much the habit of growth of an areca, the le...

Acer Japonicum: The Japan maples are now grown in pots for conservatory decoration, and many are sold and forced for Easter. They are largely imported, but can also be obtained from American nurseries. Being perfectl...

Achillea: This is a large genus of hardy perennials, many of them suitable for the border and many are very valuable for the rockwork, but of little use to the florist. The one most useful to the florist and de...

Achimines: Hothouse herbaceous summer flowering plants growing from loose rhizomes held in high esteem in the gardens of Europe but seldom seen here. They are usually grown in pans from six to twelve inches acro...

Acrophyllum: A small evergreen shrub that is valuable for the private conservatory, flowering freely during the spring months. It is at home in a cool greenhouse but must not be exposed to frost. In summer it can ...

Adiantum: For the most useful commercial adi-antums see the article on Ferns, in which all the most important commercial ferns are treated collectively. The following adiantum notes are by Mr. W. H. Taplin: A....

Adiantum. Continued: The plant in question has been found in fern collections for many years past, and has produced an occasional variation in form from time to time, though it is not a notably prolific species, perhaps t...

Agapanthus: A genus of strong growing, handsome greenhouse plants which do well out of doors during summer, and when slightly protected will live through the winter where there is not more than 10 degrees of fros...

Agave: This noble genus includes a great number of species, one of them at least being known to every one - the well known century plant. All the species have one characteristic: when fully matured they send...

Ageratum: Since the wane of the carpet bedding and the return of the popular flowering plants to flower garden favor the ageratum has been in constant demand. A. Mexicanum is the only species in which we are in...

Allamanda: Few plants bring back childhood's days more vividly than the showy al-lamanda. Though not a commercial florist's flower it hardly has a rival as a hothouse climber. The leaves are sharp-pointed, oblon...

Alocasia: These beautiful stove plants are grown entirely for the beauty of their leaves. They delight in our hot summers under glass and must not be allowed to go below 60 degrees in the winter months. They re...

Aloysia Citriodora: This universally liked plant is commercially known the world over as lemon verbena. It is classed as a deciduous shrub and is the sole representative of the genus. Where hardy I doubt whether it is qu...

Alternanthera: It seems as though it would have been almost impossible to carry out the wonderful designs in carpet bedding had we not had these little plants to serve us. Carpet bedding came into its greatest popul...

Amaranthus: Strong growing tropical annuals having feathery spikes of flowers and highly colored leaves. They are very suitable for the mixed border or for large subtropical beds. It is on account of the showy ma...

Amaryllis: The Belladonna lily is the true ama-ryllis and the fine plants generally known as amaryllis are really hippe-astrums. Several other genera are closely allied and as their cultivation is the same the c...

Ampelopsis: Although more of a nurseryman's than a florist's plant, there is one species of this most useful genus of hardy climbers that enters largely into the plantsman's trade. We all handle, and some of us l...

Ananas: The beautiful variegated pineapple is a variegated form of the pineapple that is grown for its fruit, Ananas sativa. When well grown there is no variegated ornamental plant surpassing it in beauty. Pi...

Annuals: The title hardy annual as applied to many of our summer flowering plants is a misnomer, for those that can be sown out of doors and come to perfection before frost touches them are very few. Many plan...

Anthericum: The variegated species, A. variegatum, is a very useful plant, used largely for the margins of beds, also for veranda boxes and vases. It stands our hottest suns, and is as well a very desirable plant...

Anthurium: Remarkable plants that are grown for their curious flowers as well as their fine leaves. The flowers are often used in combination with orchids. Their cultivation is very similar to that of many of th...

Antirrhinum: Fine colors and forms of these well known garden perennials are now an important plant with the florist for cut flowers during winter. They are all varieties of A. majus, the old-fashioned snapdragon....

Aponogeton Distachyon: A few flowers of this beautiful plant occasionally appear as a novelty in the windows of some of the best flower stores. It is certainly a novelty, too, in the cut flower market, though far otherwise ...

Aquatics: These beautiful plants that are grown in the water garden are receiving more attention every year. Those who have never seen the two or three acres of lily ponds at Riverton, N. J., on the banks of th...

Nymphaea: Where and when the nymphaeas can be used as cut flowers for a vase or table decoration nothing can surpass them in elegance. The day flowering species are, however, available for use only in the day t...

Nelumbium: This stately aquatic is now generally known and largely grown. N. spe-ciosum, often called the Egyptian lotus, will do in any pond where the roots do not freeze and has taken possession of some of the...

Other Aquatics: To accompany the nymphaeas and ne-lumbiums in the artificial lake or water garden, and of smaller growth, you can have the following: Eichhornia crassipes major: Often called the water hyacinth. They...

Arucaria: Of this noble genus of conifers A. excelsa is the only one of commercial value to us. A. imbricata is a hardy tree in England and when twenty to thirty feet high, with branches sweeping the grass, its...

Ardisia: Dwarf, hard-wooded trees that flower and fruit when quite small; the best of the berried plants with handsome glossy foliage, and densely covered with bright red berries. Ardisia Japonica has white b...

Aristolochia: Nearly all hothouse climbers, several of them having most curious and remarkable flowers. They are best planted out in the houses where they grow freely. They are, however, of little value commerciall...

Asparagus: Of this genus there are three or four species that are very useful and ornamental plants. The one having the greatest commercial value is A. plumosus. There seems to be some confusion about th...

Aspidistra: The species lurida and its variegated forms are known to every cultivator of plants. It will bear more gas, heat and dust than most any other plant we grow. They are invaluable for vases in the cities...

Asplenium: The spleenworts, as the asplenium genus has been termed (from the supposed medicinal value that ancient practitioners believed them to possess), form one of the largest fern groups in cultivation, ove...

Aster: A large genus, mostly hardy perennials, widely spread throughout the world. Many of them belong to North America and are the flowers of our fields, and of these many are worthy a place in the hardy ga...

Astilbe Japonica: This plant was known for years as Spiraea Japonica, and by the commercial florist is still almost universally called spiraea. It is a perfectly hardy herbaceous plant, and there are few plants so hard...

Azalea: Of all the species of this beautiful genus, the Indian or Chinese are the most valuable. The growers of continental Europe have made such a specialty of growing azaleas that it is not likely that we s...

Balsam: In Europe, or the more northern parts of it, the balsams are often seen grown in pots. With us they do so well out of doors that they are not thought of enough importance to cultivate except for the b...

Basket Plants: There are quite a number of climbing or vine-like habit of plants that are useful for this purpose. Many that would be useless to use in vases make pretty basket plants because in the vase they are ex...

Bay Trees: The sweet bay, Laurus nobilis, has been imported from Belgium to this country in large numbers the past fifteen or twenty years. Although the rather stiff, formal shapes into which they are trimmed, a...

Bedding Plants: Although directions for the management of all our familiar bedding plants will be found under their respective heads, a few words on the general subject are in order. The earliest bedding that the wri...

Bedding Plants. Continued: It is the mission of the florist to suggest the most appropriate style of bedding to his customers where advice is asked for, and poor policy to crowd in more than is discreet when it is left to his j...

Begonia: There is no more interesting class of plants, either for the amateur or professional florist, than this large genus. It embraces hundreds of species, besides thousands of varieties. Begonias are rough...

Begonia. The Shrubby Section: The shrubby section is the most popular and the most useful to the florist, the winter flowering kinds being in good demand. They flower for months. They are propagated during winter and we find they ...

Begonia. Rex Type: These are grown entirely for their very handsome foliage. We have used them largely in veranda boxes in shady situation, but to see them at their best they should be in large pots or pans in a warm sh...

Begonia. Semperflorens Class: Some of these are tall, robust plants, others like the Vernon type are dwarf and very free flowering. The former is well represented by semperflorens gigantea rosea and it is in flower about the whole...

Begonia. Tuberous-rooted Section: The tuberous-rooted section comes from the cooler parts of South America and is very distinct from the shrubby sorts. They are entirely deciduous. They make fine bedding plants as well as splendid pot...

Begonia. Semi-tuberous Section: The popular Begonia Gloire de Lorraine belongs to this class, Socotrana being one of its parents. More care is needed to grow them well. Gloire de Lorraine is now a Christmas plant of the first import...

Bellis: The perennial daisy is a favorite garden plant with many and some of the improved varieties are grown under glass, in a cool house, for cutting. But we have so many better flowers for all purposes tha...

Bottom Heat: In all cultural notes there is more or less occasion to refer to bottom heat. There was a time when few cuttings were thought to root well without the aid of bottom heat, unless it were the cuttings o...

Bougainvillea: The most useful species of bougain-villea is the well known glabra, which makes a fine greenhouse climber in any house where the temperature does not go below 50 degrees at night. The flower is incons...

Bouvardia: The bouvardia can be classed as almost a tropical plant, most of the species coming from southern Mexico and South America. The hybrids of some of these species are what are of value to the florist. T...

Bromeliads: Except the variegated pineapple (see Ananas) there are few or none of these curious plants that are of any commercial value, though among them are some beautiful and interesting plants. The Buffalo Bo...

Browallia: The best known species is elata, of which there are two varieties. One has white flowers, but the variety grandi-flora is a fine blue. They are often used as flower garden plants, but are more suitabl...

Bulbs: Under this head, instead of under their respective names, is given the culture of those bulbs that are generally forced, especially those known as Dutch bulbs and which have been so important an item ...

Bulbs for Bedding: The hyacinth, tulip and hardy narcissus are usually planted in the open ground in October and November. They should always be planted a good six inches deep. The closer together the better the effect....

Bulbs for Forcing: Within thirty years, and with many more recently, the forcing of tulips, hyacinths and narcissi has become a most important part of our winter operations. About twenty years ago it was at its zenith, ...

Bulbs for Forcing. Continued: We always do our bulb boxing outside on a temporary bench where the soil can be brought to the men by the cart load. We fill the flats nearly full, very loosely, and squeeze the bulb into the soil til...

Cactus: You can walk through many a greenhouse establishment, large and small, without seeing a specimen of any of these curious plants, and unless you are a specialist you will be wise to leave them alone. T...

Caladium: A genus of most ornamental hothouse plants that are grown entirely for their beautiful leaves, which are of almost every hue. Although strictly a tropical plant, they are most useful for decorations i...

Caladium Esculentum: Caladium esculentum is an important plant with the florist and it enters largely into his spring business. Every one knows this caladium and some of our customers know it by the descriptive and artist...

Calamus: The rattan palms, or calamus, include twenty or more species of slender growing and very graceful palms that are found in a wild state in various parts of the tropics, chiefly in India or the East Ind...

Calceolaria: There are few more attractive and showy greenhouse flowers than the calceolaria, and although useless as a cut flower it is of great value as a greenhouse decorative plant, or as a window plant, lasti...

Camellia: This once universally cultivated plant has gone largely out of fashion and for the last twenty years is neither seen nor spoken of. The cause is not far to seek. Our largest and best tea roses are as ...

Canna: The canna was of old often called Indian shot, because the seed is excellent as a charge for the shotgun when a stray dog is the game in view. Few plants have undergone such a change and improvement ...

Carludovica: Though frequently considered among palms and grown with them, yet this handsome foliage plant, is not a palm, being more nearly related to the pan-danus family. C. atrovirens has been in cultivation f...

Carnation: If not the most important flower we grow, the carnation certainly stands next to the rose, both in area of glass devoted to its culture and value of the flowers sold. Of all our commercial flowers the...

Carnation Propagation: In cultural hints the proper place to begin is with the cutting. Let me repeat that the plants from which you take the cuttings have not been forced. They have been subjected to a lower temperature th...

Carnation Field Culture: Don't put off planting time. The carnation is not a tender plant; it is almost a truly hardy plant. In our latitude the end of April or very early in May is late enough. If you defer planting till end...

Carnation House Culture: The first week in the houses is the most critical time with the carnations. If you get them well established it will take a lot of brutal treatment to kill them, although continued skillful managemen...

Carnation Disbudding: Disbudding, which was practiced by few fifteen years ago, is now universally done by all growers. It seems a great labor, but when the expense is spread over every hundred carnations you pick, the cos...

Carnation Tying: The matter of tying is of the greatest importance and a considerable part of the expense of growing carnations. Thirty years ago and for many years thereafter nothing better was thought of than the pr...

Carnation Insects and Diseases: For many years we had no pests to contend with except our common enemies, the aphis and red spider. Some years ago the rust was imported and became a great scare. Several other diseases were lectured ...

Carnation Time of Planting: No feature in carnation growing has undergone such a change as the time of getting them from the field to the houses. From end of September twenty-five years ago the lifting time has been moved year b...

Carnation Sub-watering: This has been given an extensive trial. Mr. C. W. Ward, of Queens, N. Y., has most thoroughly tested the system. While it has been proved that good flowers can be produced, they do not surpass those g...

Carnation Soil: The foundation of all is the soil. Carnations are grown in different kinds of soil and often in a very indifferent kind. Whether it be a yellow loam or the dark, fat soil of the prairie, it should be ...

Carnation Varieties: The varieties of ten years ago are now scarcely mentioned and maybe in five years those I could name as our choicest of today will be back numbers. Our Lawson and Enchantress and Lady Bountiful and Ca...

Celosia: Celosia cristata (the cockscomb) is not as often or generally seen as its striking and novel appearance deserves. It is seldom seen in our greenhouses, perhaps because when at its best the glass struc...

Centaurea: The plants the florist grows under this name are both white and silvery leaved plants. C. candidissima (this I think should be ragusina) is a very fine, silvery leaved plant and was once more largely...

Cheiranthus (Wallflower): If it were not for seeing a plant of this old favorite perennial occasionally in our public markets we would forget them entirely. The Germans have raised some fine strains of these most fragrant flow...

Chorizema: This is one of the many hard-wooded plants or dwarf shrubs introduced to Europe in the early days of Australian discovery. They are very popular in British gardens, more so than with us. The chorizema...

Chrysanthemum: For a hundred years the chrysanthemums have had periods of great popularity and then of neglect. As a cut flower every fall the chrysanthemum is as welcome as ever. The Australian varieties have added...

Commercial Chrysanthemum Flowers - Care of Stock: Take notice of varieties that have done well with you, as well as individual plants that have produced the best flowers. Of some varieties you may only need a few, as they send up large quantities of ...

Chrysanthemum Propagation: Cuttings are propagated all winter, but end of February, March, April and May is the time best suited. Chrysanthemums root very easily, especially in February, March and April, when the sand is a trif...

Chrysanthemum Planting: A heavy, free loam that the water will pass through freely, with the addition of one-fifth of rotted cow manure and a liberal sprinkling of pure bone flour will be an excellent compost. A liberal sp...

Chrysanthemum Tying: Soon after the benches are planted it is very necessary that the young plants be supported with stakes or string. A wooden stake may do or an iron rose stake, but quicker applied and less expensive is...

Chrysanthemum Watering, etc: Be always very careful when watering, particularly with the early varieties, and a good look over the bench before you begin will make you aware of spots in the bed that may go another day or two. The...

Chrysanthemum Mulching, Fertilizers, etc: Mulching, if done before the buds appear, is mostly done to prevent the bed drying out too rapidly in July and August. After the buds are taken and they begin to swell is the time they need mulching. ...

Chrysanthemum Insects and Diseases: Chrysanthemums are troubled with several of our insect pests. The daily syringing which should be done every bright morning will effectually keep down the red spider. Thrips we are very seldom trouble...

Chrysanthemum Disbudding: Occasionally you see a bench of plants grown for sprays of cut flowers. They are usually free-flowering, compact growing kinds. The pompon varieties are beautiful as natural sprays and this is what th...

Chrysanthemum Cutting: All flowers should be cut and placed in water at least eighteen hours before being put on the counter or shipped to the retailer. Varieties that easily drop their petals, as some of the most beautiful...

Pot Chrysanthemums: I believe there is only one way to profitably grow a moderate-sized, healthy pot plant, that will keep its foliage and really be respectable in November. Choose healthy, young plants, that have been p...

Cineraria: What florists understand when we speak of cinerarias are those which have originated from C. cruenta. The hardy species, although acceptable plants for the herbaceous border, where hardy, are not of m...

Clematis: Although more properly belonging to the nurseryman than the florist we are continually asked to supply plants of several varieties and species of these free flowering hardy climbers. Clematis Panic...

Cobaea: The species best known and most useful is C. scandens and plants are annually raised in large quantities to be used as outdoor climbers. It is a perennial, but it is much better for us to treat it as ...

Coldframes: What we call a coldframe (low walls of wood or brick supporting some glazed sash) is a miniature greenhouse without any artificial heat. Every grower should know the great value of them and how much t...

Coleus: This handsome tropical foliage plant is not so largely used as it was ten years ago. A change of fashion in flower gardening will account for this. A return to less formal style and the larger use of ...

Cosmos: The annual varieties are now great favorites, not only for the flower border, but more especially for cutting. Its finely divided foliage and handsome flowers are now produced in various shades, there...

Cotyledon: These now include what we have so long known as the echeveria and sem-pervivum. They are dwarf succulents, a few of them forming stems, mostly perennials. Very few are of any value as flowering plants...

Crinum: These amarylhs-like plants are grand subjects for both outside decoration in large pots or tubs and for the conservatory. Some are evergreen, some deciduous, several species will thrive in our souther...

Crocus: This pretty little flower is alluded to in the article on bulbs. It is not really a bulb; it is a corm, but we always class it among the Dutch bulbs. We have never forced them profitably, but they are...

Croton: These highly ornamental leaved plants can best be described by calling them hothouse evergreen shrubs or trees, which they really are. As large decorative plants for the conservatory they have few equ...

Cycas: There is one species of this handsome palm-like plant that is known to all florists - the C. revolufa. It is not only one of the finest of our decorative plants, but its handsome leaves are largely us...

Cyclamen: Of all the winter-bloomnig greenhouse plants as well as a plant for a customer a well grown cyclamen takes the first rank. It is second to none. It is so pretty in leaf and beautiful in flower that fe...

Cytisus: These are often called genista, but cytisus is the correct name, of which the beautiful tree or shrub, laburnum, is one. They are profuse blooming, branching evergreens. Small plants in 4 and 5-inch p...

Dahlia: These magnificent herbaceous plants have long been favorites of the garden and were, I think, once more frequently seen than at present. They do not reward you with their grand flowers if just shoved ...

Decorations: Keeping step with our business in other lines, the decoration of the house, the hall and the church has evolved apace and is with many a florist a leading feature of his trade. Looking back twenty-fiv...

Wedding Decorations: At a wedding decoration there is often some particular color that we have to follow, and while in details we must use our taste and skill, in the general plan we must follow the wishes of our patrons,...

Christmas Decorations: Christmas decorations are of many kinds. Many good society people prefer to rent a public hall or assembly room when they are going to give a dance to 500 people, rather than turn their home upside do...

Church Decorations: Church decorations are sometimes very elaborate, palms being of the greatest service, and many times the flowers used must be only white. There is where our Lilium Harrisii and L. longiflorum are of s...

Other Decorations: I have made mention of the leading events at which the florist and his material are called for to make the home, the hall or the church radiant with flowers and foliage. Any little social event, from ...

Decorative Material (Wild): The great use of our wild or native plants for decorations dates from about twenty years ago and is ever on the increase. An incentive to it was the much greater observance of Christmas day as a churc...

Decorative Plants: Besides the plants that are grown and kept for decorative purposes for special occasions, much of our glass, and acres of glass in large establishments, are devoted to the growing of plants used in a ...

Decorative Palms: Palms are pre-eminently ahead of all others for this purpose. Of the species or varieties adapted to the purpose there is at present not a great number. They must be of fairly quick growth, not easily...

Dracaenas: Next to the palms the dracaenas are most useful and effective. On mantels, sideboards or tables perfect specimens of D. terminalis tricta, D. amabilis, or any of the beautiful hybrids, can't be equale...

Crotons: On all occasions except during cold weather crotons are gorgeous and grand plants for decorations, but they must not be chilled. My experience is that if a croton is exposed to a temperature of 40 deg...

Adiantum Fern: Several species of ferns are among the leading articles of our decorative stuff. It must depend upon how elaborate and expensive the decoration is whether you can use the very choicest ferns. Sometime...

Asparagus Sprengeri: The Asparagus Sprengeri is a great acquisition, and is and will be largely used. Its pendent growths make it just the plant to hang from mantels or bookcases, or to cover unsightly pots. Some plants i...

Nephrolepis: Most of our ornamental ferns are too tender for decorative purposes except that splendid genus, the nephrolepis. N. tuberosa is now superseded for indoor use by N. exaltata and Bostonien-sis. The latt...

Flowering Plants: Unless you are well paid for the decoration you cannot afford to loan many flowering plants. For a church decoration we are never asked, but for a private function we have to, and must make out our bi...

Conclusion: I can't be expected to exhaust the full list of the many plants, both foliage and flowering, that are useful in decorating. There are few plants but what have a distinct beauty if well grown. And you ...

Deutzia: Several of the species are among our earliest and best known flowering shrubs, and gracilis, the smaller growing pure white species, is largely forced as an Easter plant. It is sold in pots or used fo...

Dianthus: To this genus belongs our divine flower, the carnation, which has been treated at length as its value deserves. D. barbatus is the well known sweet william, a splendid border plant while in bloom but ...

Dracaena: In garden nomenclature the names dracaena and cordyline are interchangeable, but I prefer to call them dracaenas, by which name they are commonly known, although botanical authorities class some of ou...

Drainage: There is nothing much more puzzling to the beginner in floriculture than the word drainage when applied to potted plants, especially as some authors of recent years have ignored the theory of drain...

Easter Plants: Easter day is undoubtedly the greatest floral festival of the entire year. For many years it has been the custom to trim and decorate our churches of all denominations with plants and flowers, but, ap...

Easter Plants. Part 2: The delivery of plants at Easter, should the weather be cold, as it too often is, makes it the most trying day of the whole year. At Christmas we are prepared for cold weather and expect it. and most ...

Easter Plants. Part 3: Lilacs need about five weeks in the greenhouse and always sell well and are good for cutting if not sold. Metrosideros (bottle brush) is very odd and finds favor with a few, but the sale is limited. ...

Epacris: These beautiful heathlike plants are not much seen in our greenhouses, although much grown as a winter and spring flowering plant in the gardens of Europe. The same general treatment as that given the...

Epiphyllum Truncatum: There are several species of this South American cactus, but the above is much the most useful and attractive and wherever good pot plants are grown it should be in the collection. It grows as cluster...

Erica: This is a large genus of hard-wooded evergreen shrubs, often called Cape heaths because they are largely from the Cape of Good Hope. Few greenhouse plants are finer as specimens than a hard-wooded hea...

Eriostemon: This beautiful plant belongs to that class of Australian shrubs that for years were called New Holland plants, of which the pimelia is another well-known member, and there are many more. With us they ...

Euchaeis: Hothouse evergreen bulbs bearing beautiful, fragrant flowers, which either cut as stalks bearing four or five flowers or as single flowers, are invaluable to the florist. Their white, star-shaped, ele...

Eupatorium: A large genus of herbaceous or shrubby plants. A few of them are native, hardy plants, but not of any value to the florist, although some years ago, in the absence of better flowers, some of the speci...

Euphorbia: In almost every private collection of greenhouse plants of years ago you would be sure to see a plant of E. splendens and E. fulgens, generally known as E. jacquiniaeflora. The poin-settia also belong...

Ferns: This large and ancient order of plants is known botanically as Filices. They are found throughout the globe in every land, and what is remarkable is that not only is a single genus widely spread in ma...

Ferns. Continued: No. 2. Gigantic Non-Arborescent Ferns This includes many of the ferns that are most useful to the commercial florist. Though many ferns of this class are classed as tropical, there are only a few tha...

No. 7. Climbing, Trailing and Drooping Ferns: In this large class will be found many of our most useful decorative ferns. We use them for cutting, in veranda boxes, as window plants, and for the hanging baskets. Many of these have been mentioned ...

Class 8. Filmy or Transparent Ferns: To embrace all the classes it is necessary not to neglect the above, although even if of interest to the florist they cannot be any source of profit. Yet they are considered the gems of the whole fami...

Class 9. Viviparous and Proliferous Ferns: This peculiar class includes many species of many different genera. While in some genera of this class only two or three species are represented, in others they predominate. The large genus asplenium ...

Class 10. Curious Ferns: This last division includes only what is strange, striking, peculiar, or a species that is very unlike the great majority of ferns, but the author I have so liberally quoted does not include any of th...

Fern Propagation: Those that have surface rhizomes such as the davallias and some of the adiantums (Capillus-Veneris is one), are easily and quickly divided. A rhizome that has run out and thrown up a few fronds will h...

Fern Cultivation: It would be impossible to give any special instructions for any particular class of ferns, and there is no need of it. Those that make strong roots, such as the pteris, want root room and must be well...

Ferneries: The filling of small ferneries for the table is now an important branch of business. We should endeavor to make these as satisfactory as possible, for they are short lived at best. We get them returne...

Fertilizers And Manures: As we use the words in gardening operations, they include any substance, animal or mineral, that will add quantity, weight, vigor and size to our crops. I shall not attempt to give you any learned dis...

Ficus: A large genus of trees or shrubs cultivated for their ornamental leaves, F. elastica, familiarly known as the rubber tree, is the species we are interested in above all others, although for private co...

Fittonia: Very pretty little trailing plants that require a good heat at all times. They are easily propagated in the spring in warm sand. A few plants in a 6-inch or 8-incb pan will soon cover it and make very...

Floral Arrangements: Within twenty years there has been a great change in our floral arrangements and designs. This has been partly brougnt about by the innovations of the more enlightened florists and partly by the more ...

Freesia: These graceful, fragrant flowers are of the easiest culture. The bulbs are now sold remarkably cheap, cheaper in fact than you can save them. The species called refracta and refracta alba are mostly g...

Fuchsia: Plants that have been grown in greenhouses for more than a century, and a favorite with all. There are a great many species, mostly all from South America, but the true species are now seldom seen. Th...

Fungicides And Insecticides: If it were not for our enemies the aphides, spider, thrips, mealy bug and many other minute animals, with the low plant organisms, the mildews, rusts, etc., our calling would be comparatively easy, an...

Hydrocyanic Acid Gas: There has been for years a prejudice against the use of this gas, both from the danger to the plants and to the person using it. In the quantities we used it seven or eight years ago it was dangerous ...

Sulphur: Sulphur in different forms is the great antidote for fungus, and our chief rose enemy, the mildew, is a fungus. The flour of sulphur is often dusted on the plants. This is perhaps the least useful met...

Tobacco: What could we do in the absence of this wonderful weed? As a luxury it is possibly dispensable, and so are tea and coffee, but as an insecticide it is a great essential. Till we find something better ...

Tobacco Extracts: The nicotine extracts are now largely used and save the florist the trouble of making his own solution out of the stems, and it is doubtless better. They can be used greatly diluted and will rid plant...

Fir Tree Oil: This is an article largely used to kill the brown and white scale. The latter is much the worst to contend with. To ten gallons of water add a half pint of the oil. If the water is at a temperature of...

Water: There are many compounds and mixtures advertised and sold for fungicides and insecticides, but those quoted will about fill the bill. And finally there is a plain pure water, properly applied. The use...

Gardenia: In the days when short-stemmed flowers were used, the flowers of Gardenia florida were much prized. Flowers are often sent from the southern states, but by the time they reach our northern cities they...

Geranium: All the geraniums that are so popular with us - the show, fancy, ivy-leaved, tricolor, zonal, etc., are botanically known as pelargoniums, but the name geranium is so firmly and popularly associated w...

Geranium Propagation: When planting out for your own stock give the plants plenty of room to grow and do not crowd or the growths will be soft and unsuitable for cuttings. Unless the season is very dry geraniums seldom wan...

Geranium Pot Culture: An early Easter is always a blessing to a man who grows bedding plants, for just before Easter he is fearfully crowded, and has to exercise all his wits to keep things from spoiling, and one of the pr...

Semi-double Zonal Geranium Varieties: S. A. Nutt, crimson. Alphonse Ricard, orange scarlet. J. J. Harrison, fine scarlet. W. P. Simmons, orange scarlet. Beaute Poitevine, clear Salmon. Frances Perkins, clear pure pink; the best pink we kn...

Gesnera: These were very popular some thirty or forty years ago. They are bulbous or tuberous-rooted, and are allied to the gloxinia and achimines. Being natives of central and south tropical America they must...

Gladiolus: The varieties we grow are hybrids from some of the many species of which the large genus is composed. The handsome spikes of the gladiolus are known to all, and for the flower border the gladiolus is ...

Glazing: A most important part of greenhouse construction. Poor putty, if the glass is lapped and poorly laid, is a source of constant annoyance, waste of coal and injury to the plants. When the glass is butte...

Lapped or Puttied: Where the modern, iron-framed houses are built the bar used is usually very light, but well supported by a number of purlins. On these houses the glass is usually lapped and there are only one or two ...

Butted Glass: The unfavorable reports and condemnation of this system are largely from two sources, mostly by men who never tried in the right way, or perhaps tried it on an old house that was formerly glazed with ...

Glechoma: The species that is useful to the florist is called by many names. Ground ivy is one, and the Germans apply the elegant name of louse krout. The variegated form of this little weed is one of our best ...

Gloxinia: These tropical American plants are well adapted to house culture. I have seen plants with fifteen perfect flowers in the window of a humble cottage. We seldom get complaints about their failure. They ...

Grasses: Several grasses should be prominent in all mixed borders of hardy plants, or make beautiful clumps on the lawn, either singly or in groups. They will thrive in any ordinary good soil and those named a...

Greenhouse Building: In step with the growth of our business, the demand for flowers and their rapid production, and the high quality now demanded, the science of building our greenhouse structures has kept well to the fr...

Greenhouse Shape and Aspect: Plant houses, i. e., houses for raising palms, pandanus or ferns, or flowering lilies and azaleas, or growing the bulk of our bedding plants, in fact for any purpose except for roses and carnations, c...

Greenhouse Benches: There is no part of the greenhouse structure that has received more experimenting of late years than the benches or beds. The quick and continual rotting of the ordinary hemlock or pine benches is the...

Greenhouse Ventilation. Continued: As stated early in this article, greenhouse architecture and construction has become of such importance that it is now specialized, and no matter how well posted and experienced a florist may be - and...

Greenhouse Posts: Some men with sufficient capital can afford to build brick walls on stone foundations, and when the stonework is two feet six inches or three feet in the ground and dry work to near the surface of the...

Greenhouse Gutters: Many a good dollar has been thrown away in the days gone by in the wonderful construction of the gutter. Good pine boards nailed in all sorts of complicated ways and then covered with zinc, tin or gal...

The Greenhouse Ridge: This was formerly a very heavy piece of lumber casting a lot of shade. Modern builders realize this, and it is now only four or five inches by one and one-half inches. If you hinge at the ridge the hi...

Greenhouse Cypress: It is a great pleasure to build houses nowadays. You know you are putting them up to stay. It is quickly done and much of the pleasure arises from the fact that you are building with a material that i...

Greenhouse Painting: When you contemplate building get the woodwork on the ground at the earliest possible moment, and get a priming coat of paint, mostly linseed oil, applied at once. And as soon as the plates, ridge and...

Greenhouse General Notes: The length of a house is largely your own choice. If for plants there is a continual running backwards and forwards to a shed at the end, carrying often heavy flats of plants, and I think 150 feet is ...

Greenhouses for Producing Flowers: I have at some length given the directions for building, and the same will apply precisely to houses that are built to grow roses and carnations, except the shape, size and aspect. The object sought i...

Greenhouses for Producing Flowers. Continued: Now, happening to know several of these houses, I can vouch for the excellent quality of the flowers that are grown in them, and having two of them myself, I am ready to accord to them the several adv...

Grevillea Robusta: There are many species of these small trees or shrubs, some of them very ornamental, but G. robusta is the easiest to grow and most useful to the florist. It is often called the Australian silk oak. W...

Gypsophila Paniculata: There are many species of gypsophila, but paniculata is certainly the most valuable for the florist. It is a perennial herb, with much divided flower stalk, about two feet high in finely divided panic...

Hardy Climbers: There is no feature of ornamental gardening that adds more to the beauty of our modest but picturesque homes than the hardy climbers trained on the porches and verandas of our houses. All florists who...

Hardy Perennial Plants: This term is usually meant to apply to our long list of herbaceous plants, a few of which are useful to the florist as cut flowers. The demand of late has greatly increased for hardy plants, and where...

Hardy Shrubs: Some years ago I was asked to reply at one of our annual conventions to the query, Is it advisable for the florist to be in a position to supply to his customers hardy shrubs and trees The question ...

Hardy Shrubs. Part 2: To revert once more to planting. Many of our hardy shrubs will exist in any soil, but a quick and thrifty growth is what our customers want and expect, and when planting a group or bed of shrubs the s...

Hardy Shrubs. Part 3: A bed of shrubs that pleased me very much this summer was very gay near the entrance of our Forest Lawn cemetery. The center was the common purple barberry with an edging of the golden philadelphus. A...

Greenhouse Heating: There are only two recognized methods of heating our glass structures, steam and hot water. Brick flues have gone and electricity has not come, but it may. Some fifteen years ago heating greenhouses b...

Greenhouse Heating. Continued: There are two very different systems of using steam in greenhouses. One may be called the gravity system, and the other the high pressure system. Both have their advocates, but circumstances will ofte...

Greenhouse High Pressure Heating System: In this system it makes no difference whether the floor of your boiler-house is on the same level as the greenhouses or two feet below or two feet above. It will make no difference in the working of t...

Greenhouse Heating by Hot Water: I must preface this very important subject by a confession. Some fifteen years ago I made the acquaintance of a steam-fitter, a clever workman, who had been quite successful in heating dwelling houses...

Greenhouse Heating by Hot Water. Continued: This grand book should be in the hands of every one thinking of doing his own heating. My good father sent me a copy thirty-seven years ago, but I loaned it to a plumber and steam-fitter who has long ...

Hedera - Ivy: Until the introduction of galax leaves, the ivy was of much importance, and large quantities are still used, and possibly always will be. H. Helix is the common English and Irish ivy, and it has innum...

Hedge Plants: If you supply shrubs you will be sure to be asked to plant hedges. Some of our American cities have distinctly beautiful residence streets and the uncommon feature always noticeable to Rudyard Kipling...

Heliotrope: This old favorite has possibly been grown as long as there has been any greenhouse to protect it in winter. All we grow are varieties of H. Peruvianum. It always was a favorite for our summer flower g...

Hibiscus: The species we see in the greenhouses is H. Rosa-Sinensis and its varieties. It is hardly a florist's plant, yet its bright, shining leaves and showy, brilliant flowers make it desirable for the priva...

Hollyhock: This stately plant is seen in the large grounds of the millionaire and in the small piece of garden that the farmer or his wife devote to posies. It is handsome anywhere, and it is particularly suit...

Hotbeds: These primitive greenhouses may never be seen at many establishments, and where only cut flowers are grown there is no occasion for them, but to the florist who grows an assortment of bedding plants t...

Hoya: These hothouse climbers are seldom seen now. The days of short-stemmed flowers are gone, and hoyas are only found in the private collection. H. car-nosa was once a very common plant in our greenhouses...

Hydrangea: These are among the most important of our decorative flowering plants. Large quantities are sold for Easter church decorations, and later on large plants are in demand for outside decoration. The hard...

Impatiens Sultani: This little perennial flowering balsam is not so much seen as it was a dozen years ago. Nearly all the year it is covered with bright scarlet flowers and is chiefly valuable as a bright flower for the...

Iresine - Achyranthes: These are known almost entirely under the name of achyranthes, but iresine is correct. They, with the coleus, are the principal plants used to furnish color to the tropical and foliage beds. Their cu...

Jasminum: Of the several species of these sweet-scented shrubs there is only one that florists cultivate, and that now is most often conspicuous by its absence. But we all know J. grandiflorum. A plant that I c...

Kalmia: This is known among us as the mountain laurel, and is the plant that furnishes the fine glossy sprays that make such admirable wreathing for our winter festivities. This is a truly broad-leaved evergr...

Koeniga - Sweet Alyssum: The double form of this little plant is quite important to the florist whose business includes flower gardening, and particularly for the edges of veranda-boxes and vases. Sprays of its small white fl...

Lantana: A genus of tropical evergreen shrubs having very pretty flowers, mostly white, pink and orange. They are sometimes used as greenhouse plants for summer decoration, but it is as flower garden plants th...

Lapageria: This is one of the handsomest greenhouse climbers. The pendent flowers are so rich looking that when a long spray of the plant is cut with its flowers attached nothing can surpass it in beauty. Such s...

Lawn Making and Lawn Care: A fine, well-kept lawn is a source of pleasure and pride to the owner, and how unseemly it would be to see a fifty-thousand-dollar mansion surrounded by a weedy, ill-kept lawn. I have remarked some ye...

Lawn Making and Lawn Care. Continued: In fall sowing, which is the best, there is no need of sowing anything with the grass seeds. Sometimes in spring sowing a sprinkling of oats or rye is sown, which germinates quickly, and by its growth...

Libonia: This is a very pretty little free-flowing plant that has been largely crowded out by other perhaps more showy plants. It makes in one season a compact little plant from eight inches to a foot in heigh...

Lilium: This large and handsome genus of bulbous plants gives us a few species that are of first importance to the florist. All are beautiful and where there is an opportunity for their cultivation in the gar...

Lilium. Part 2: It is not only at Easter or Christmas or Decoration day that we want the lilies. From November on till June there is use for them. At weddings they are often a leading feature and at funerals they are...

Lilium. Part 3: The Japan bulbs are now almost entirely used for Easter. They arrive later than the Bermuda bulbs and sometimes require more forcing to get them in good shape for Easter. There should be no delay in g...

Lily Of The Valley - Convallaria Majalis: We can remember pots of lily of the valley being grown in our greenhouses in March and April many years ago. These pots (a 5-inch or 6-inch) contained a solid mass of roots and were not disturbed or s...

Lily Of The Valley - Convallaria Majalis. Continued: There have been many ways of forcing the pip into flower. The English growers use ordinary loam as we use sand, and Mr. Simpson asserts that they (the English) produce larger spikes and finer flowers ...

Linum Trigynum: Some of the species of this genus are used in flower gardening. L. grandi-florum is a pretty, deep rose-colored, summer annual. L. trigynum is the species that is sold for a winter blooming plant. It ...

Lobelia: This extensive genus includes some very handsome hardy perennial plants. L. cardinalis, the cardinal flower, is one. They are best raised from seed sown in August and wintered in a coldframe and place...

Lysimachia: There is one species, nummularia, the creeping, little, yellow-flowered money vine, or moneywort, that besides being one of our best hardy rockwork plants is with us a standard so-called vine for bask...

Manettia: All the species are climbers, and used on trellises they make good summer vines in situations that have a sheltered, sunny exposure. They are not prominent commercial plants, but we occasionally are a...

Maranta: These very ornamental-leaved hothouse plants are now known botanically as calathea, but it is not likely that we shall ever know them commercially as anything but marantas. There are many species, all...

Martinezia: M. caryotaefolia, a young plant of which is illustrated, is one of a small family of rather slender growing South American palms, the species in question having been found in parts of Peru and also Ne...

Maurandya: These are useful to us for summer climbers and thrive in our hottest suns. M. Barclayana is best sown in early March in a heat of about 55 to 60 degrees. When large enough to handle pot into 2-inch. I...

Metrosideros - Bottle Brush: This is one of the many hard-wooded evergreen shrubs that we get from the Southern Pacific islands. The species we import is M. robusta, and its peculiar, terminal, densely flowered spike is so like i...

Mignonette - Reseda Odorata: It is doubtful if there is any plant so universally known or better liked than the mignonette. The florist sows it in his garden as soon as the ground is dry, and makes another sowing later, in shall...

Mimulus: As a boy I thought there were very few plants so beautiful as M. luteus (monkey flower). I don't think so now, but its yellow and spotted flower is very attractive. Our hot summers do not suit it plan...

Moonflower - Ipomoea Bona Nox or Noctiflora: This is one of the many evergreen ipomoeas that make us a splendid summer climber. We have seen pictures of windmills in Georgia where the moonflower had grown to a height of seventy-five feet. There ...

Mulching: This garden term may be new to some beginners, but it represents some very important operations in our business. In plants in pots it means with those plunged outside in summer, such as azaleas, acac...

Musa: The banana plant is of the easiest possible culture; a rough, rich loam, an abundance of water, heat and room to grow, are all that are required. Occasionally we see a bunch of M. Cavendishii in our n...

Mushrooms: This word is used by some to include all the edible fungi, while many take it to apply only to the well known Agaricus campestris, all the rest being classed as toadstools. There are many edible fungi...

Mushrooms. Continued: The horse droppings should be collected daily. If you have the facility to collect quantity enough to put in your desired bed all on one day so much the better. Keep it in a dry shed and turn the whol...

Myosotis: We are always asked for some plants of these in early spring. They do not last long in our hot, dry summers. M. alpestris makes a compact little tuft, full of flowers in the spring. You can sow the s...

Narcissus: Some allusion to these will be found under the head of Bulbs, but they are entitled to some special remarks. The narcissus, especially of the trumpet type, is now quite as important a forcing flower a...

Nierembergia: The species of most use to the florist is gracilis, which has slender growth with pretty white and light purple flowers. They were formerly used sometimes for flower beds or long ribbon borders, but a...

Nepenthes: These remarkable plants are little handled by the commercial florist, but are so striking and curious that all are interested in a knowledge of them. They are an important genus in that family of plan...

Oleander - Nerium: There is a marked inclination among our patrons the past year or two to decorate their grounds, particularly where the grounds are confined to a city lot, with palms, sweet bays, tubs of hydrangeas an...

Orange: The writer's first experience in gardening, or that for which there was any pay, was in an old-fashioned conservatory in the curious roof of which there was enough lead to make sinkers for all the f...

Orchids: There is no class of plants at which the great majority of our commercial men look with greater apprehension than the orchids. To grow them successfully is something they may dream of but never achiev...

Best Orchids for Commercial Purposes: All baskets or racks should be made of red cedar, or hardwood, and should be put together with copper wire or copper nails, to prevent rusting. Aerides This beautiful genus is a native of India and ...

Best Orchids for Commercial Purposes. Part 2: Cattleya labiata, one of the very best, from Brazil, with beautiful rose and crimson flowers, which come in November and December. This variety grows best in a pot. Cattleya Mendelii, a beautiful spe...

Best Orchids for Commercial Purposes. Part 3: Dendrobium formosum giganteum, a beautiful variety, differs somewhat from the preceding, as it is evergreen and produces its beautiful, large flowers of pure white, with yellow blotched lip on the top...

Best Orchids for Commercial Purposes. Part 4: Coelogyne Cristata. Odontoglossum citrosmum, a truly beautiful species that comes from Guatemala, and differs materially from the preceding. It is best grown in a basket, suspended in the cattleya ho...

Othonna: The species crassifolia is worthy of notice. Because of its succulent, fleshy leaves it is one of our very best basket plants. It withstands the heat and drying-out process which our hanging baskets u...

Oxalis: A very large genus, of which a few are very familiar plants. 0. rosea (floribunda) and O. lutea (yellow) are grown as pot plants and sold in the spring, and they make excellent basket plants, but not ...

Packing Flowers: The author might have called upon one whose business it is daily, and perhaps all day, to pack flowers, but since he received a letter from Chicago a year or so ago which acknowledged the receipt of a...

Packing Flowers. Continued: This principle we found a good plan when carrying lilies to town at Easter time. If you loaded up a hundred plants in the wagon and let them stand up singly, however mild and quiet the day, they would...

Packing Plants: Among the large commercial houses of this country the packing of plants of every kind and at all seasons is reduced to a science and most admirably done; and still better, the purchaser has nothing to...

Palms: These are our chief ornaments in the conservatory of the wealthy, or the room or veranda of the more humble home. As fine ornamental plants they stand preeminently at the head. For many years they hav...

Palm Temperature: All the palms we grow, either for sale or for decorative purposes, are natives of a warm climate, and although submitting for weeks to a lower temperature than they would ever be subject to in their n...

Palm Watering and Syringing: This same old advice must be given with emphasis about drainage. A crock and piece of green moss are enough for plants in a 5-inch or 6-inch pot, but when in larger, and more especially when in very l...

Palm Soil and Potting: I have within a few years heard of several of our leading palms being planted out in spring on a bench in six inches of soil and grown there during the summer and lifted in the fall. You can doubtless...

Palm Insects: If a proper degree of moisture is maintained and syringing properly done, red spider and thrips are seldom seen. If thrips are very persistent, then vaporize with tobacco several successive nights. Me...

Palm Propagation: Palms are always raised from seed. Of our commercial species the cham-aerops and rhapis can be propagated by suckers, but all our leading palms grow easily from seed, which is now imported in large qu...

Palm Shading: In this place I might say what 1 should have said sooner, a few words about shading. I believe Mr. W. K. Harris tried French plate glass, and with clear glass the sun did not burn the palms. We are no...

Palm Varieties: To attempt to give a long list of palms is quite unnecessary. There are so many genera and species that even encyclopedias don't attempt to name them. The commercial kinds are rather limited and famil...

Palm Varieties. Continued: The above palms include the principal species recommended to our patrons for conservatory or house culture and used in decorating. There may be other palms equalling them in beauty and grandeur (Pritc...

Pancratium Or Hymenocallis: I have taken the liberty to confuse these two genera because there is only a slight botanical difference and pancratium is an old world genus, while hymenocallis belongs to the new world. They are oft...

Pandanus: For many years past some few species of pandanus have occupied quite a prominent place among decorative plants, and this is deservedly so, from the fact that the members of this genus in general are n...

Panicum Variegatum: A very pretty free growing, creeping plant with white and pink striped, pointed leaves. It requires heat in winter and does not like the hot suns of summer, or anything like dryness. Warmth and moistu...

Pansy - Viola Tricolor: Next to the geranium perhaps the pansy is more universally known among rich and poor than any flower we grow. It is a favorite with all children. My little boy wants some pansies, we hear continuall...

Pansy - Viola Tricolor. Continued: At the middle of September transplant into a coldframe four or five inches apart, and after one good watering seldom anything more is needed till the first of December, or even later if winter keeps o...

Pelargonium: All the familiar plants we know as geraniums are pelargoniums, but they have been treated under the name by which they are so well known. Under Pelargonium we include only the show and fancy section, ...

Pelargonium Propagation: From the end of August to the end of September is the best time for this country. The cuttings should be from plants that flowered the previous spring, and if the plants had been kept the previous two...

Pennisetum: Within a few years these free flowering dwarf grasses have become very popular. There are many species, but only a few are used in our summer flower gardening, where they are a great addition to our s...

Peonies: While there are many species of this popular genus there are only three that have come into popular favor. These are Paeonia albiflora, P. Moutan and P. tenuifolia. Paeonia albiflora, the Chinese hard...

Peperomia: This is a very large genus containing hundreds of species. Those best known and most useful to the florist are P. maculosa, P. marmorata, P. pubifolia and P. Saundersii (often known as P. arifolia arg...

Perilla Nankinensis: This strong-growing foliage plant is useful for subtropical flower gardening. It has dark bronze leaves and will grow fast in a lower temperature than the coleus, which makes it useful in cooler summe...

Petunia: These are very popular plants. In flower gardening they are one of the leading flowers. It appears that the garden varieties are raised from the species P. nyctaginiflora and P. viola-cea, a white and...

Phlox Drummondil: This is one of the very best of our summer annuals. There are now magnificent strains of distinct colors, and where large masses of brilliant color are desired there are few plants equal to this dwarf...

Phlox - Herbaceous: These have been included under herbaceous plants, but they are worthy of special mention, for they are among the best of our hardy border plants. These fine varieties are obtained from several species...

Pinks: We are often asked for the hardy garden pinks and are often unable to supply them. There is now a great variety of almost all shades of color, and their flowers are as large as our carnations were twe...

Poinsettias: The showy Poinsettia pulcherrima is now botanically classed with the euphorbias, but is still far better known to the trade as poinsettia. It is a native of Mexico and that infers that at no time shou...

Poinsettia Potting: There is no chapter in this book that I have started into with such a relish as this one. It is a treat. It is better than falling off a log. It is an icecream soda and a 15-cent cigar. It is more tha...

Primula: A very large genus of pretty, dwarf, stemless plants that are all from temperate climates or high elevations. Those of us who have crossed the Atlantic will remember the fields and banks and hedge ro...

Rhododendron: Where these broad-leaved evergreen shrubs will flourish out of doors there is no hardy shrub that equals them for color and massive beauty. We have seen acres of them growing as freely as a weigelia o...

Richardia Africana: This plant is often called arum lily, but with us is universally called the calla lily. For many years it was a most important plant with us and today there are a number of people who prefer them to t...

Ricinus - Castor Bean: Our warm summers suit this tropical plant well, and in very large beds or borders where a tropical effect is wanted it has a fine appearance. It is easily raised by sowing the seeds in March. either s...

Roses: Volumes have been devoted to the rose. It is known as the queen of flowers. Whole books have dealt with merely the diseases of the rose. A great church dignitary of England gives all his leisure ̶...

Noisette Roses: These were much oftener seen in our northern greenhouses thirty years ago. Since the introduction of the beautiful tea varieties little attention is paid to them, but in the private conservatory they ...

Moss Roses: Every one is fond of a moss rose. There are now many fine varieties, and being hardy they will thrive wherever the hybrid perpetual class will do well. For propagation refer to the hybrid per-petuals....

Lord Penzance's Sweet Briar: This is a new section, but they have proved themselves the past winter perfectly hardy. They are as sweet scented as the old English sweet briar and have showy flowers. They are a great addition to ou...

Rosa Rugosa: Rosa rugosa is a distinct species (from Japan) that is perfectly hardy. They have thick wrinkled or curly foliage, very distinct, with large, showy, single flowers of white and pink, and are covered i...

Hardy Climbing Roses: While in the more temperate parts of our country the Noisette roses cannot be planted, we must confine ourselves to the hardy varieties. They are too well known to need any comment. They propagate eas...

Wichuraiana Roses: This is a very new and distinct strain, and produced by crossing the Wichuraiana with many of our cultivated roses, including some of the well-known teas. Some of them will take high rank as climbers...

Other Rose Classes: The Austrian briar roses are a small class with bright yellow flowers, which cover the bush when in bloom. They don't last long but are very gay and beautiful, and the plant is perfectly hardy. There...

Bedding Roses: Where a bed or border of roses is wanted by our customers, and the situation gets light and air, and the soil is not a worn-out garden (if it is you must supply good fresh loam and manure) then I beli...

Hybrid Perpetuals: These are the roses that are mostly planted to make a permanent bed. Many thousands of the budded stock are annually sold. Our department stores are now selling the imported stock at ten plants for a ...

Hybrid Perpetuals. Continued: I shall bother you with no more details, but simply say that from the end of June, and lasting a full month, these beds were a sight that I hardly expect ever to see again. As a pleasant recollection ...

Forcing Hybrid Perpetuals: Since the American Beauty has been grown in such quantity there are much fewer of the hybrid perpetual roses grown for their flowers, but they are wanted in pots, and such sorts as Jacqueminot, Brunne...

Forcing Hybrid Roses on a Bench: Jacqueminot, Brunner and other hybrid perpetuals that are planted on a bench are put in four or five inches of soil in March or April. They should be good, strong plants when first benched. If budded ...

The Rambler Roses: The Crimson Rambler, Dorothy Perkins and the Farquhar, both beautiful pink ramblers, and all popular Easter plants, require the same treatment. You can obtain strong, field-grown plants in November, a...

Tea Roses: This is far and away the most important section to the commercial florist. They are everything to him. They are used on each and every occasion and every day in the year. And what an improvement in th...

Tea Roses. Part 2: If there is any excuse for shading it is just now in the hottest days, for the sake of the men who have to work in 120 degrees, or more, and the young plants that may have had their roots very slightl...

Tea Roses. Part 3: Young roses of all the kinds we grow very quickly throw up buds which you must pick off. As the plants grow along in August and September they will continue to form buds, and instead of picking the bu...

Tea Roses. Part 4: A ventilator left open too late, a draught from an open door, ventilation forgotten till too late in the day, or a November to April, or even May. Choose wood that is medium in strength and don't use ...

Tea Roses. Part 5: In October all possible ventilation should be given and less water and syringing. With a lower temperature growth will cease, and in December and January if you just keep the house above the freezing ...

Salvia: A large genus of plants of which few are used by the florist. S. splendens is one of our showiest flowering plants. There are now several varieties or forms of it. It is used as a mass where brilliant...

Santolina Incana: This almost hardy little herb is of great importance in the flower garden. It can be clipped and cut to any form or line. To design patterns in carpet bedding or as an edging it is invaluable. Its sma...

Sedum: These pretty, little, hardy perennials are known to all. But a few of the species are useful to the florist, and they are not cultivated so much as they should be. Many of the species make good plants...

Seed Sowing: Sowing seed is the only method by which we can get a new individual. A cutting or layer is only a division of the plant, and a graft and bud is not a new plant, it is still the perpetuation of the sam...

Selaginella: Among the large number of species (over 300 in all) of the selaginellas, there are comparatively few that are used in the trade, notwithstanding the fact that there are several of the species easily p...

Shading: I have had occasion to mention shading many times in reference to plants that need it under glass. We are as yet without any portable shading that can be adjusted to our commercial greenhouses. The wo...

Skimmia Japonica: This is a greenhouse shrub from Japan and is very ornamental when well supplied with its bright red berries. Its leaves are bright green, hollylike, and the plant has a fine, compact habit. Small plan...

Smilax - Myrsiphyllum Asparagoides: This useful climber and twiner seems to have been grown here commercially long before its great usefulness was appreciated in Europe. Though the more graceful looking asparagus has superseded it in ou...

Soils: Although various soils have been often alluded to as most suitable for different plants I cannot impress on you too much the importance of being always well supplied with this most necessary article ...

Soils. Continued: Feat, such as you hear of in Europe, and especially in Ireland, is largely the growth of water mosses, perhaps the growth of thousands of years. The remains of the moss can be plainly seen near the su...

Solanum: This grand genus (for a genus that gives us the potato must be grand) contains some species that are used as ornamental plants. I wonder why the universally used tuber is called the Irish potato. Per...

Stephanotis Floribunda: This beautiful flower was once much used for the choicest bouquets and designs, but since the advent of the long-stemmed flowers there is not the same use for it. Its fine, pure white, waxy flowers of...

Stevia: The only species we grow and find profitable is what we know as serrati-folia, or sweet stevia. It is an easily grown plant, but the flower is light and feathery, so that we value it highly at the hol...

Stocks: The ten weeks' stocks are beautiful summer flowers, favorites with all. Their cultivation is very simple; for sowing seed and after-care see Aster. They embrace many and varied colors, from crimson to...

Florist Store Management: The evolution of the florist's store from its beginning, with most of us twenty-five years ago and with the oldest not more than forty years, is remarkable. It has kept pace with the enormous increase...

Florist Store Management. Continued: As in poetry so in flowers: it is not volubility that is highly appreciated; it is the clear-cut gems that immortalize their authors. Longfellow's Village Blacksmith is worth a whole library of gush...

Swainsona Galegifolia Alba: There are red, pink and white forms of this plant and the last named is the only one grown by the commercial florist. The young shoots root readily in an ordinary propagating bed. They grow quickly an...

Sweet Peas: Of late years the greatly improved varieties and beautiful colors of the sweet peas have brought them up to be one of our most important spring flowers. And what can be more truly springlike? These yo...

System: This is a plant that wants cultivating in a good many smaller establishments, and its introduction into some large ones would not be amiss. I think it is a great advantage to a gardener when he has b...

Thunbergia Alata: There are few prettier basket plants than the above, and its variety T. auran-tiaca. Its flower resembles a miniature convolvulus. It is an annual and easily raised from seed sown in March. Being a tr...

Torenia: These pretty plants are grown for conservatory decoration, T. Fournierii being one of the prettiest species, but not a florist's flower. T. Asiatica is often used with us as a bedding plant, being a f...

Tropaeolum - Nasturtium: This useful genus is very familiar to all. The tall nasturtium is one of the best plants for covering fences or walls when given some strings or brush to climb on. The dwarf nasturtium is used as a be...

Tuberose - Polianthes Tuberosa: We can remember in another country when, if asked to deliver a dozen tuberose bulbs to a customer, they were as much trouble to procure as it would be now to get a young kangaroo from Tasmania. And we...

Vallota Purpurea: This is generally called amaryllis, but is botanically a genus of its own, and one of the most beautiful of its class. Having seen some plants of it recently grown in 8-inch pots with nine to twelve s...

Vases: The florist adjacent to or in a town or city, who does a general retail business, will have many vases to fill, and if his establishment is near a leading cemetery it will be one of the principal feat...

Vases. Continued: All now is neat and cared for. Even rural cemeteries are now well kept. Before I leave the precincts of what should be a most pleasant and beautiful spot, and as far as care goes is, I must say that t...

Greenhouse Ventilation: Ventilation is primarily afforded to keep down temperature when the sun's rays have heated up the houses, but to give and afford a free circulation of fresh air to the plants is quite as much a reason...

Veranda-Boxes: This style of ornamental gardening is very much in vogue in some cities, in none I think more than the fine residence city of Buffalo. They are an evolution from the more humble window-box which I not...

Verbena: The garden varieties of these well-known plants are probably hybrids. They have been decidedly deposed from their former popularity by the carpet and subtropical bedding, but of late we see many more ...

Vinca: The trailing V. major with its variegated form, is one of our most useful trailing or drooping plants. The long drooping growths seldom flower, but the short, erect growths do. The flower is, however,...

Violet: The violets we grow are varieties of Viola odorata. There is ever an increasing love of the violet, and it seems that the last three or four years the quantity grown and sold is enormous. Violets are ...

Violet Soil: We don't all have the ideal soil on our places, even if we are in the country with twelve acres to skin. It will pay to procure the right quality, even if at infinite trouble. Some think that one vari...

Violet Propagating: Many years ago violet growers thought division of the clumps a good way to propagate, and I can recall instances where that method produced good violets for several successive years. But one trouble o...

Watering: No subject connected with horticulture is more difficult to handle than this. You cannot give any specific directions; you can only give general ideas. Watering occupies much of the labor of a florist...

Zinnia: The annual zinnias are the only ones in which the florist is interested. With selection and culture, they are now among the handsomest of our annuals for the border, and in certain places a whole bed ...

Other Flowers: Achyranthes See Bedding Plants. Boston Ivy See Ampelopsis - Bottle Brush See Metrosideros - Candytuft See Annuals. Hyacinth See Bulbs. Insecticides See Fungicides and Insecticides. Nasturt...

Pronouncing Dictionary Of Plant Names: Reprinted from Copyright 1904, Florists' Publishing Co. Frequent inquiry as to the correct pronunciation of plant names has led us to compile the following list of names, selecting those in most c...

Pronouncing Dictionary Of Plant Names. Part 2: Antigonon-(an-tig-o'non). Antiquorum-(an-ti-quo'rum). Antirrhinum-(an-t i-ri'num). Aphid-(af'id). Aphides-(af i-dez). Aphis-(a'fis). Apios-(ap'i-os). Aponogeton-(ap-on-oj-e'ton). Aquatica-(a-k...

Pronouncing Dictionary Of Plant Names. Part 3: Citrosmum-(sit-ros'mum). Citrus-(sit'rus). Clarkia-(klar'ki-a). Claytonia-(kla-to'ni-a). Clematis-(klem'a-tis). Cleome-(kle-o'me). Clerodendron-(kle-ro-den'dron). Clethra-(kleth'ra). Clianthus...

Pronouncing Dictionary Of Plant Names. Part 4: Ficus-(fi'kus). Filamentosa-(fil-a-men-to'sa). Filices-(fil'i-sez). Filicifolia-(fil-i-si-fo'li-a). Filifera-(fi-lif'er-a). Filipendula-(fil-i-pen'du-la). Fimbriata-(fim-bri-a'ta). Fittonia-(fi...

Pronouncing Dictionary Of Plant Names. Part 5: Lagerstroemia-(la-ger-stre'mi-a). Lanata-(la-na'ta). Lanceolata-(lan-se-o-la'ta). Lancifolium-(lan-si-fo'li-um). Lantana-(lan-ta'na). Lanuginosa-(la-nu-ji-no'sa). Lapageria-(lap-a-je'ri-a). Lar...

Pronouncing Dictionary Of Plant Names. Part 6: Ornithogalum-(or-ni-thog'a-lum). Osmanthus-(os-man'thus). Osmunda-(os-mun'da). Otaksa-(o-tak'sa). Othonna-(o-thon'a). Ouvirandra-(o-vi-ran'dra). Ovata-(o-va'ta). Ovule-(o'vul). Oxalis-(ok'sa-l...

Pronouncing Dictionary Of Plant Names. Part 7: Scirpus-(ser'pus). Scolopendrium-(skol-o-pen'dri-um) Scoparia-(sko-pa'ri-a). Scutum-(sku'tum). Seaforthia-(se-for'thi-a). Secunda-(se-kun'da). Sedum-(se'dum). Selaginella-(se-laj-i-nel'a). Sem...

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