COOLEY'S GARDENS - SIL'MAR GARDENS 



Now Consolidated 



We wish to greet our friends and customers this season with the announcement that we have 

 recently acquired the entire stock of the Sil-^Mar gardens, iris specialists, located a few miles out 

 of Silverton. The Sil-]Mar planting was one of great variety, listing slightly less than a thousand 

 varieties. We are caring for the stock this season, and ahout two hundred of the finest sorts are 

 to be found listed in this catalogue. We selected only the best, leaving some five or six hundred 

 older and superseded varieties on their way to the discard. Especial attention is directed to the 

 list of Si)anish and Dutch bulbous iris, on page 22. and to the fine lot of Japanese iris listed on 

 page 23. 



Three years ag-o Mr. R. M. Cooley began a series of travels during the annual iris flowering season, 

 and has eovered almost every section of the United States where iris breeding and gi'owing on a commercial 

 scale is indulged in. From the palm shaded, citrus scented gardens of California to those in staid old 

 Boston and environs; from Kentucky and Virginia, botli .iust oozing southern hospitality, to St. Paul in 

 lake-dotted JMinnesota; from our own Pacific Northwest to Freeport, Illinois, and its great iris show; from 

 New York and Long Island to the great middle-West with its Sass Brothers, and Ciiicinnati amateurs, and 

 Indiana hybridizing wizards. If only Nashville and a couple of points in Colorado were added, the survey 

 would be almost complete. 



It has been a pleasure indeed to meet and talk with such men and women as Dr. S. S. Berry, Mr. 

 Salbach, the Sass's, Mr. Shull, Miss Sturtevant, Mr. AVayman, Mr. Williamson, Dr. Kirkland and Mr. 

 Connell, Dr. Ayres and ]\lr. Wareham, Col Nicholls, INIr Lapham. Mrs. Rowell, Prof. Hill, Mr. Simpson, 

 Mr. Sheets, Mr. Grinter, Mrs. Keller, Mrs. Emigholz, and a few others, all of whom are nuuibered among 

 America's introducers of fine irises. And likewise the gardens and personalities of such well-known growers 

 as Mrs. Pattison, Mr. Milliken, Mr. Wister, tlie late Mr. Sehreiner and his son Kol)ert, Mr. Boehland, Mrs. 

 Kellogg, Virgil Johnson, Mr. Gage, Mrs. Lothrop, Mr. Wassenberg. the Essigs, Mr. Wilkus, Llrs. K. L. 

 Browne, Mr. Bonnewitz, Mr. Mead, Mr. Bretschneider, and a host of others have provided many, many 

 hours of supreme en.ioyment. The pleasant memories of these visits will remain always, and the mental 

 picture of the scores of colorful iris gardens looms before the writer like a huge patch-rpiilt, kaleidoscopic 

 in form and tint. 



And now on the followin.g pages you will find listed the cream of the tens of thousands of iris seen and 

 admired during the course of these iris hunting adventures. The new seedlings offered, the foreign novel- 

 ties listed, and the numerous American introductions to be found herein, are now growing in our gardens 

 because the.y were deemed to be especially outstanding and worthy of a place in any garden. They are the 

 varieties Avhich have won the medals and certificates, the praise from critics, and the plaudits from those 

 fanciers who have alread.y seen them. They are the irises which you will be ])r(iud to add to your collection. 



TERMS, Etc, 



A Word About Our Rhizomes. Oregon, and es- 

 pecially the Willamette Valley, has acquired a world- 

 wide reputation for bulb and plant production. Our 

 gardens are located in the heart of this renowned 

 valley, and coupled with our clean and intensive cul- 

 tural methods, we are in a position to furnish cus- 

 tomers with a size and quality of iris rhizomes that 

 few growers can duplicate. Because of this fact, a 

 few unscrupulous competitors have set forth the 

 claim that our plants are heavily irrigated and fer- 

 tilized. This is an absolutely false claim, for, on the 

 contrary, our irises are NOT IRRIGATED and not 

 FERTILIZED, and their exceptional size and qual- 

 ity is only the result of naturally favorable condi- 

 tions, i)lus frequent transplanting and thorough cul- 

 tivation. In many instances one root purchased from 

 us in July or August will reward the owner with 

 two or three stalks the very first season after plant- 

 ing. 



TERMS : Cash with the order, either check, draft, 

 money order. Enclosing cash in your letter may re- 

 sult in loss; 25% will hold until shipping date. 



Discount: You may select additional plants to the 

 value of 10V<> of your order if the order totals $5 or 

 more. This does not apply to the collection offers, 

 however. Three of any 25c variety for 50c. 



Shipments: We begin shipping orders about 

 June 20. If you want your order sent later in the 

 season, or on any specific date, we shall carry out 

 your instructions. Early shipments permit plants to 

 become established before winter sets in, but rhiz- 

 omes are not as large as they would be in August. 

 AVe prefer to ship around July 10 as an ideal time. 

 POSITIVELY NO SPRING SHIPMENTS MADE. 



Transportation: Prepaid express or parcel post, 

 whichever we deem most expedient. Be sure and 

 state your express office, if different from postal 

 address. AVe pack in dry excelsior in well venti- 

 lated cardboard cartons and guarantee safe delivery 

 to point of address. All shipments are insured. Re- 

 member, we PREPAY all costs, — the prices cpioted 

 herein are for delivery to your door. 



We Guarantee all rhizomes true to name, first 

 size, free from disease and pests, and to reach you 

 in live and healthy condition. AVe do not guarantee 

 them to live or grow in your garden under condi- 

 tions over which we have no control. 



Reference: The First National Bank of Silver- 

 ton, Oregon. 



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