PETRIE LANDSCAPE NURSERIES 
5 
our construction and design is done under the immediate personal direction of David C. 
Petrie, who has had almost 25 years of training and experience in this work. His 
technical training was obtained in one of the best institutions of America as far back 
as 1909 and has been reenforced by almost continous study and experience both in 
construction and the adaptability of plants to various uses. 
The proper development of any grounds can not be undertaken without careful 
study of the surrounding conditions, after which a well thought out plan can be made. 
A charge must be made for this commensurate with the work involved but under the 
new codes now under advisement it will not be less than $5.00 for the ordinary lot. 
This is not money wasted. It is well spent. Good planting returns its original cost over 
and over again in reduced maintenance, in lessened construction costs, in general ease 
of living to say nothing of the infinitely greater pleasure obtained from the unified 
balanced plantings that fit their surroundings. 
If you so desire you can plant from our plans without help; or, we will do any 
part of it or all of it. If you desire we will do the complete job by contract. In this way 
we take complete charge and carry out the work as rapidly as possible in a workman¬ 
like manner. Such construction is done on an insurance basis. Under this scheme those 
plants dying during the first season are replaced without further cost. The insurance 
premium is included in the original contract price. 
THIRD — OUR SHOW GROUNDS 
Very frequently people tell us they have so small an area—only a fifty foot lot— 
that they have no room for any planting. During the last two years we have been 
developing a show and display ground at the nursery. We have taken half an acre and 
broken it up into half a dozen ordinary fifty foot back yards. When completed each 
will be separate and distinct yet all will be tied together into one unit. One is a rose 
garden; it is well under way. A second is a perennial garden; it is practically com¬ 
plete. A third is to be a rock garden and aquatic development; it is still in the con¬ 
struction stage. The others are yet future. 
In a trip through most of the great nurseries of the Middle West last summer we 
saw no comparable developments. This is an effort to show different styles of gardens 
and different groupings of plants for definite effects and each within the boundaries 
of the ordinary back yard. The plants used are our old common favorites as well as the 
newer introductions. We are trying to get each in a setting that will enhance its own 
beauties. Naturally such gardens will be subject to periodic change, each one trying to 
bring out new beauties. 
Our perennial garden covers practically a whole lot—we had to expand it to get in 
all the varieties we w T anted. The shrub background is based mostly on French lilacs— 
twenty varieties of them—tied together with many shrub species and with occasional 
flowering crabs, peaches, etc. The main features of the herbaceous beds give seasonal 
displays of bulbs and dwarf edgings; columbines, iris and peonies; delphiniums in 
several combinations; phlox; and later chrysanthemums carry the display on till frost. 
These show grounds are intended for the garden minded public. We hope to have 
everything clearly and distinctly labeled. We want you to use them as often as you 
please and as long as you please and we hope you will get increasing pleasure and 
profit from them as the years go by. 
FOURTH — OUR PRICES 
It would seem that we are entering an era of higher prices. In the nursery industry 
there has been an orgy of disastrous price cutting. We have in the past years cut our 
prices to what we felt was fair under the economic conditions under which we now live. 
Many of the newer lists are consistently higher than last season. In a very few cases 
we have raised prices this spring. In a good many more we have lowered them. Most 
of them are as they were last season. They are fair prices for good stock and are in 
line with the prices quoted from all over the country for similar quality. 
We do not sell cheap plants. Some are not expensive but they are just as good for 
their size as the larger ones. Personally we would rather sell you one good heavy plant 
than two small ones. It is our business to make them ready for you in sizes that are big 
enough to go on and grow satisfactorily. The risks with small plants are very much 
greater. 
We want to be of assistance to you in your planting problems. We want our work 
above all to be helpful and permanent. If you will write or call us we will endeavor to 
please you with a well done job at a reasonable price. 
