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A Triumph in the Ilex Family—BLUE 
Something new and exciting has happened with Holly, and we 
believe you will be interested in the story behind these two new 
varieties, Blue Girl and Blue Prince. When botanists are moved to 
create a new botanical species, it’s a good bet that something im- 
portant is going on. . . and doubly so when the result is named 
for the person who accomplished it. That’s what has happened 
in the case of a new species of Holly which Dr. Shin-Ying Hu of 
the Arnold Arboretum has named Ilex XX meserveae. 
It all began in 1946 when city-raised Kathleen Meserve, her 
husband and growing children moved to an old colonial home on 
a Long Island, N. Y. farm. Fascinated by this new country life, 
Mrs. Meserve started to grow things. After the wartime shortages, 
she began with a vegetable garden. 
But it was not long before Mrs. Meserve became aware of the 
special beauty of her surroundings and most particularly of the 
native American Holly which grows so abundantly in that area. 
Once it caught her eye it captured her interest. An intense person 
who believes in “becoming involved,” she researched Holly. She 
visited arboreta, nurseries and estates and began a wide and 
varied collection of it. A natural outgrowth of collecting and 
growing was to try breeding Holly. 
Following her initial enthusiasm for American Holly, she dis- 
covered the more luxuriant and attractive English Holly .. . 
only to find, as many of us who live in the Northeast have done, 
that it is not reliably hardy through our winters nor happy through 
our hot, sultry summers. As her goal Mrs. Meserve set out to 
create a Holly that would be ideal for Christmas, with all of the 
desirable qualities of the English Holly and none of its defects. 
With this in mind, she began her search for a ruggedly hardy 
Holly to mate with the English. Eventually she found what she 

BLUE GIRL 
5O 
' sary to have a male Holly 
GIRL, BLUE PRINCE 
felt might be the answer in Rugosa Holly, a small prostrate shrub 
native to the Sakhalin Islands north of Japan. Through the 
Arnold Arboretum she obtained seeds from which she grew her 
own plants of Rugosa for breeding. 
Her first crosses were successful, but even so it required years 
of evaluation, selection and still more crosses before she began 
to approach the hybrid Christmas Holly of which she dreamed. 
Basic to her aim were hybrids able to withstand the bitterest of 
winter winds and chilling temperatures. 
Out of these years of effort came two new Hollies—Blue Girl 
and Blue Boy. And continuing with her original breeding, this 
year Mrs. Meserve has come up with an improvement on Blue 
Boy—Blue Prince, which 
is more vigorous and 
hardy with larger leaves. 
Through the cooperation 
of Mrs. Meserve, it is our 
pleasure to bring Blue Girl 
and Blue Prince to you. 
As you know, it is neces- 
growing nearby in order to 
pollinate the flowers of the 
female so that plenty of big 
red berries will be pro- 
duced. For this reason 
Mrs. Meserve has selected 
Blue Prince and Blue Girl, 
a perfect match for your 
yard. 

Mrs. Kathleen Meserve look- 
ing over her Hollies with a 
keen and critical eye. 
TWO NEW UNUSUAL HOLLIES 
These two Hollies are truly rugged evergreen trees—unique in 
their hardiness, growth characteristics and color. Their lustrous 
dark foliage combined with purple-blue colored branches gives an 
overall blue-green tone to the plants. They are upright growing 
but can be trimmed to spread if you wish. Both are vigorous and 
rapid growing for Hollies. They are widely tolerant of soils and 
climates and will grow almost anywhere. 
BLUE GIRL. (Meserve.) Plant Pat. 2434. The female. A heavy 
producer of bright red berries of good size. 
BLUE PRINCE. (Meserve.) NEW. Plant Pat. App. For. Male. 
Very vigorous, growing somewhat taller than Blue Girl, which is 
appropriate for any male. 
$9 ea.—3 or more of one kind, $8 ea. 
OFFER 150 
1each of 
Blue Girl and Blue Prince 
Only 
$15.50 
