Bulbous Plants for Cut Flowers.
There are comparatively few of the bulbous plants mentioned in this volume that are not fit to be cut for the adornment of bowls, vases, &c., in the dwelling house. Some kinds, of course, are much better suited for the purpose than others, and it would be difficult indeed to surpass the elegance of the Daffodils, Tulips, Wood Hyacinths, and Bluebells in the spring and early summer. Following these we have numerous Liliums—white, yellow, orange, red, variously blotched and speckled, and provided with long wiry stems that are often a great advantage. The late summer and autumn flowering kinds are best represented by the Montbretias, Tritonias, Gladiolus, Brodiæas, and Sparaxis. The dwarf-flowering bulbous plants, like Snowdrops, Crocuses, Grape Hyacinths, Chionodoxas, Colchicums, Sternbergias, Leucojums, &c., although they look charming in bold masses in the garden, scarcely afford much length of stalk to enable them to be used with great effect in bowls, vases, &c., by themselves. As a groundwork to taller-stemmed blossoms, however, they are often found to come in very useful.
It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to say that the more simply and naturally flowers are "bunched" the better they look in room decorations. Very often indeed, it is difficult to improve on a bunch of flowers picked at random in the garden and placed in bowls of water as they are—with stems of various lengths,
PLATE 12.
and the blossoms facing in different directions. That some people have extraordinary notions as to what a "bunch" of flowers really means may be gathered from an inspection of any ordinary local flower show in the kingdom. At such exhibitions a "bunch" of flowers is generally as large, flat, unwieldy, and squatty as possible—the various kinds being jammed together as if they were "sticks" of Asparagus done up for market. Educated judges have been endeavouring for some years to get an improvement in the method of putting bunches of flowers together, but with very little success up to the present. The same old order of things prevaileth.
When to pick Flowers.—Of course, when people want flowers they will pick them at any time—if they happen to be in their own gardens, not in other people's. It may be as well, however, to remind the reader that if picked either early in the morning—the earlier the better—or in the evening after sunset, flowers last much longer in a cut state, than if they are picked at any other period of the day. Perhaps the very worst time to pick flowers is from mid-day to 2 or 3 o'clock—especially in summer. The heat takes a good deal of substance out of the blossoms, and many get so "blown" that if cut at that particular period of the day, the petals never recover, but drop off in a few hours. Tulips are well-known examples of this. In the morning and evening, the petals close up to a point—really to prevent the pollen from getting drenched with dew or rain. But when the sun shines, they open out, and lie well back from the stamens so that insects may be lured to take the pollen from one flower to another. In this state the blossoms should not be cut or pulled as they will last but a short time.
The water in which flowers are stood should be fresh and clean. If some time has elapsed before the flowers are placed in it, about an inch or so of the stems may be cut off with a sharp knife, so as to allow a layer of fresh cells to come in contact with the water. Some flowers last much longer than others in a cut state, and the period may be prolonged a little by putting a pinch of salt, or a little clean charcoal in the water at the same time.