New Britain herald., 1930-08-27
Noted Woman Florist Finds Flowers,
 Like Children, Need Affection

care of themselves, are reliable ill growing where you want them to and in blooming beautifully just at the right moment. Others are deli cate. must be coaxed along all the time. Still others are just nat urally wild, will not stay within bounds and must be watched and curbed or they will run to ruin and take the other flowers along.
 That is what flowers mean to Katherine Ralph and her sister, Mary Jane, florists who 20 years ago inherited the business that their father founded as a young man back ill 1875, and in which they were born and brought up.
 You should hear one of our old gardenerA scold the flowers - just as if they were people" Miss Katherine said, with an under standing smile. When he finds a few stray blooms growing out Of turn in the wrong bed, he just pcunces on them. calls them 'ras- calls and scolds them and then he ends up by making room for them and saying to me, You know, Miss Katherine, sometime the little fellows that so astray and SOW their wild oats come out the best in the bunch I think we all un- consciously talk to the different flowers, plead with them to bloom
 
 solicitously what is the matter when they do not grew right"
 Scope of Work Widens
 Miss Katherine not only has the largest garden in Saratoga, III which she raises all the blooms which Miss Mary Jane sells in the shop which she manages. but Miss Katherine is mother to at least dozen step gardens about town. She has entire charge oi the up- bringing of these, some of them augustly formal in their landscap- ing, others delightfully."- intimate in their old-fashioned way. Unlike most landsca pers, her work is not ended when gardens are planned. She supervises them year in and year out, planting, wedding, cul- tivating and cutting, and many of the private gardens to which she is stepmother have the reputa- tion of being among the best be- haved in town, in the way they bloom right through August, the important month here, on account of the races.
 Being a good gardener is really second nature to both Miss Kath- crime and her sister.
 We played with flowers instead Of dolls the former told us. T have always had a garden all my own. Now, though we work in flowers all the day long, sister and always eat out in the garden where we can see them. We never get tired of them"
 Their acres of gladioli, phlox. hydrangeas, zinnias. astors. sweet peas, petunias ferns chrysanthe- nuns, lolela, scabiosas, daisies,
  flowers are augmented by many greenhouses where rare roses, lilies and orchids are grown. Miss Katherine is an orchid fancler, owning some of the oldest and finest pedigreed orchids in the United States. She pointed to a sturdy looking lavender orchid plant, alive with beautiful blooms, and said:
 That plant is 150 years old. It is just like one of our oak trees by this time, so we'll acquainted and at home with us is it. But when my father first bought it. back in the sos. he had a bad time acclimating it to this country. In the woods near here we chil- dren finally found just the right moss for it and now we have worked out perfect diet for it. It won't get another drink of water, for instance, until the first of next month. But it has just had some special food and is per- fectly happy"
 Miss Katherine and her sister make specially of cut flower ar rangement. They have the most interesting theories about what flowers should associate with what other flowers for a formal dinner in a Jacobean dining room, for instance, and what are suit able bouquets for the various other rooms of the house. They are both active members of the tional Society of American Flor ists and Ornamental Horticultur- ists meets for it's annual conven- ton, they are the only two women among those present, for they are the only women in the East who not only run a huge floral shop but raise every bloom themselves.
 Not Just Seasonal Task
 It is a thrilling all-year-round job, for there is the seeding and hot-house work in fall and win ter and the early tilling and plant ing in the spring. Nine men and a woman help them. But they find tremendous satisfaction in the work and wouldn't trade places with anyone they know. In addi- tion to their flowers they have one O. the most diversified bird sane tuaries in the East, because every bird will find welcome here and they even leave seeds on the plants just for them.
 Seeing their huge place. the perfection with which they raise flowers, makes one realize what a fine art this work is, highly spe- cialized, thoroughly scientific, skilled to the top notch, Yet Miss Katherine said, Raising flowers is a lot like raising children. With the best care and understanding, al, h "