Three Unique Hollies 
Kathleen Meserve, a city-born woman, became fascinated 
with growing things when she and her husband and children 
moved to an old colonial home on a Long Island farm in 1946. 
She started with a vegetable garden, growing all the fresh 
foods she had not been able to get for her family during the 
war. Soon she was- raising pigs and other animals. In fact, in 
1948 almost no money at all was spent on meats, vegetables or 
dairy foods by the Meserve family. All of it was produced at 
home. 
It was not long before Mrs. Meserve became aware that her 
surroundings had a special beauty in addition to the practical- 
ity of producing food. In particular, the native American holly, 
Ilex opaca, which grew naturally and added tremendous winter 
interest to the deciduous woodlands, caught her interest. 
An intense person with a keen eye and great imagination, 
Mrs. Meserve researched the genus Ilex (Holly) and visited 
many arboreta, nurseries and estates on Long Island to begin a 
wide and varied holly collection. A natural outgrowth of this 
interest was hybridizing. 
She discovered the luxuriant English 
holly (Ilex aquifolium) lacked the har- 
diness to take windy winters or hot 
sultry summers. At that, her search 
began for a ruggedly hardy holly to 
mate with aquifolium. Ilex rugosa, a 
small, prostrate shrub native to the 
Sakhalin Island north of Japan, seemed 
to be the answer. 
After years of further crossing, Mrs. 
Meserve selected a few of her hybrids 
for their vigorous and _ attractive 
growth, their glossy foliage, abundant flowering and their abili- 
ty to withstand unprotected the bitterest winter wind and tem- 
perature. 
The first of these rugged evergreen hybrids were introduced 
in 1964. They are unique in their hardiness, growth character- 
istics and purple-blue stem color. Evaluation of other hybrids 
has been continued by Mrs. Meserve in cooperation with The 
Conard-Pyle Co. These three here are her crowning achieve- 
ment to date. 
Mrs. Kathleen Meserve 
Blue Princess 
Outdoes all others in its production of glossy, bright red 
berries. Broad, upright and freely branched, with purple-hue 
stems. Plentiful dark evergreen foliage. Vigorous, ruggedly 
hardy. Plant Pat. App. For. 
$9.70 ea.—3 or more, $8.90 ea. 
BLUE PRINCESS 
BLUE PRINCE 
Blue Prince 
Yields enough pollen to fertilize all the “girl” hollies around. 
Compact plant, glossy foliage, purplish blue branches. Growth 
is upright, rapid and sturdy. Plant Pat. App. For. 
$9.70 ea.—3 or more, $8.90 ea. 
Blue Angel 
NEW. Exceptionally hardy for a broadleaf evergreen. The 
dense, vigorous plant has extra dark, shiny, crinkled leaves and 
bluish stems. It takes shearing unusually well. Large, dark 
glossy red berries in moderate quantity. Plant Pat. App. For. 
$9.70 ea.—3 or more, $8.90 ea. 
OFFER 141 
1 each of 
Blue Princess and Blue Prince 
$17.50 
OFFER 141A 
1 each of 
Blue Angel and Blue Prince 
$17.50 
OFFER 141B 
1 each of 
Blue Princess, Blue Angel and Blue Prince 
$24.90 
(SAVE $4.20) 
