4 
ROYAL IRIS GARDENS 
1935 
There we found a wealth of bloom on our one year plants, for they had been moved enough 
to become well established before winter. Their growth was found to be highly satisfactory, as¬ 
suring us that we would be able to ship the usual large fine rhizomes. 
After enlarging our working crew, and spending a few weeks seeing that everything was 
going well, we took a hurried trip to Boston to attend the Annual Meeting and Show of the Amer¬ 
ican Peony Society. Their meeting was also a great success, attended by almost all the outstanding 
devotees, and finding the Peony blooming season at its height. 
The Peony Show was very fine. The most outstanding exhibit which won the Royd Medal, 
was Prof. A. P. Saunder’s marvellous collection of early blooming hybrid Peonies. These begin 
blooming a month earlier than the familiar Chinensis Peonies, so are a welcome addition to the 
garden. They are of vivid new shades of salmon, china pink, and lacquer red, most of them with a 
beautiful lustrous silky texture. 
We were greatly pleased that our friend and neighbor at Camillus, Mr. Harry F. Little 
should win the American Iris Society’s Gold Medal for the finest collection of 100 different Peonies, 
and also the American Home Magazine’s Bronze Medal for the finest new seedling of the year, 
which he won with his perfectly formed red Peony, “Onondaga”. 
At the Peony Show and in the gardens of Cherry Hill Nurseries, and of Mr. Otis, Mr. 
Allison (Shaylor), and Mr. Donoghue, we took notes and familiarized ourselves with over 500 of 
the best Peonies. In the near future we will add to our list many of the fine new ones we saw. 
Last year the first of Colonel Nicholls’ Peony seedlings, Peony “Harry F. Little”, made 
its public appearance, and was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Peony Society, and also 
the Bronze Medal of the American Home Magazine. Further confirmation of its meriting these 
high awards was forthcoming in the great glorious blooms of purest color that it again produced 
this year — its sixth year of mature bloom. 
Peony “Harry F. Little” will be introduced in 1937 by Colonel Nicholls and ourselves. 
We are now propagating stock of it, in order that it may be introduced at a 1ow t price, and so 
quickly find its way into the amateur’s garden. 
In 1934 Colonel Nicholls introduced fourteen fine Irises, which we had the pleasure of cata¬ 
loguing. We knew these were all first class Irises, most of them of super-quality. But Colonel 
Nicholls was initiating his Low Price Policy of offering for $5.00 and $10.00 a root Irises that 
were really startling new colors which other growers would list at $25.00 and $50.00 a root. This 
policy enables the amateur to buy these Irises at once, rather than to wait several years for them 
to drop to a reasonable price. Such a radical change as this policy is not always so well received 
by the public. 
Therefore we were exceedingly gratified at the manner in which these Iris were accepted 
by the public. No greater justification of such a Low Price policy could possibly have been evi¬ 
denced than this: Almost every root we could ship of all these fourteen introductions were quickly 
bought by our patrons. And on many of the varieties we had to turn down order after order, 
especially on Sun Mist, Crown Jewel, Creole Belle, Jolly Roger, Blazing Star, and Oxheart. This, 
when we had carefully held them long enough, so we thought, to accumulate more than enough 
stock to supply the demand, even at our low prices under the new policy. 
At this time, these Irises had not been seen by many people. This year they were in bloom 
all over the country, from California to Georgia, Minnesota to Maine. At the time of the Meeting 
at Nashville, Sun Mist, Crown Jewel, and several others were in fine bloom. Because of their re¬ 
ception last year, and the notice they attracted this season, we anticipate a sell out on them again 
this year. For those interested, it would be well to place orders immediately. It is probable that 
the 1935 Nicholls introductions will be just as favorably received, and that our stocks will not 
last. 
We have been complimented on the aptness of our comparisons, and the accuracy and 
truthfulness of our descriptions, which, though brief, carry an accurate impression of the Iris to 
the reader. This is very pleasing, and we feel it to be justified. We conscientiously take very 
detailed notes on color, habit, and growth, and have made many trips to fully familiarize ourselves 
with all the fine new Iris, and thus know which ones most closely compare with that being des- 
scribed. 
These trips are of very great direct benefit to our patrons. We inspect a great many of the 
newest introductions each year, selecting those we know to be fine Iris, and noting those that are 
not worthy. Thus when we purchase, we protect our customers by obtaining only those that we 
know they will like. This we could not do if we could not visit different Iris gardens, but instead had 
to buy sight unseen, depending only upon catalogue descriptions, which may be misleading. Thus 
our trips are the strongest assurance that all the novelties we offer are really worthwhile. 
We know of no other Iris specialist who has traveled more, or seen more of the fine new 
things than ourselves. Each year we have visited the important gardens in one or more sections 
of the country. In 1932 we visited the gardens in the South, and all up the Atlantic Coast and 
New England; in 1933 we visited the gardens around Omaha, St. Paul, and Freeport. In 1934 a 
