FOREWORD 
Quality Gardens takes pride in again presenting its 
list of quality irises. We believe the list comprises the 
very latest and finest developments on this wonderful 
garden plant. When a private garden conducted for 
our personal enjoyment grew into a commercial garden 
as well, we named it Quality Gardens because that 
was the aim we had in view. 
We have never attempted to keep or offer a com¬ 
plete collection of irises, or conduct a museum of 
irises, or an old irises' home—it has been our aim and 
ambition only to offer the finest quality list that could 
be obtained, and we think we have done so. Each year 
the list is revised and brought up to date. Cider irises 
that have been supplanted by those of finer quality 
are dropped so that we have no hesitation in saying 
that the list as we offer it each year is a list of quality 
irises and that means first quality. 
And these irises survived the most disastrous year 
ever known in American gardens last year, bringing 
with it losses that we are still counting—shrubs, per¬ 
ennials, even great trees succumbing to the terrible 
drought and scorching heat that shrivelled and 
destroyed so many growing things. Garden losses were 
staggering, but in all the devastation of our worst 
year, we did not lose a single tall bearded iris. 
No greater test of the durability and perennial 
garden value of a plant could be given. The bloom last 
year was practically worthless because the flowers 
were literally cooked on their stems in temperatures 
which for five successive days registered 106 during 
the flowering season. No fair judgment of an iris bloom 
was possible last year in most gardens and there was 
little heart in trying to enjoy a garden under such 
desolating and devastating growing conditions. 
And yet the iris of the tall bearded class was the 
one perennial that survived intact while others were 
killed off wholesale. Even the beardless iris class, more 
susceptible to heat and drought than the bearded, 
was damaged less than many other perennials, 
although not coming through unscathed as did the 
bearded type which constitute the chief material for 
iris display in the garden. This year they are coming 
through stronger than ever after a season in which 
the natural growth and increases were held back until 
the late fall rains, and they show no effects of the 
terrible season where other plants succumbed and left 
big gaps in the garden to be refilled. 
A great garden plant,—it can stand anything that 
comes along and still live and flourish. We were 
greatly gratified to discover that we had sustained no 
losses and gardeners all over the drought-stricken area 
report equally good fortune with their irises. 
Now that times are definitely better there is a 
renewed interest in life in general and particularly in 
gardening. People who are building up their gardens 
now ask not “How much?'' as was necessary for 
several seasons, but “How good?" Quality is the 
measure of merit of any production and is the impor¬ 
tant factor which not only determines its dollars and 
cents value, but also its ability to endure and serve 
the function for which it was obtained. 
We list only irises that grow well. They are all 
tested under actual garden conditions before they are 
listed for sale. Many years of experience have taught 
us how to grow irises well so that when, with proper 
culture, which is nothing complicated at all. an iris 
will not flourish, we unhesitatingly discard it as of no 
practical garden use and do not offer it for sale. 
We are very proud of the fact that we have had the 
honor and privilege of introducing a number of the 
finest irises now in commerce. We are proud to say 
that we have never introduced a poor iris and point 
to the list of our introductions in confirmation. They 
have always won their way on merit alone, and 
occasionally in the face of destructive criticism. We 
have always welcomed the test of time. 
Pink Satin is a case in point. We introduced it as 
the pinkest iris yet produced and we declare unhesi¬ 
tatingly that it still holds that position. Its closest 
competitors in pinkness are blends, not self pinks, the 
pink tones being enhanced by mixtures of yellow. 
This iris has won its way on sheer merit and to 
general acceptance and popular demand on its own 
beauty and nothing else, and has confounded its 
detractors by increasing popularity. We note general 
commendation of late is taking the place of former 
adverse criticism which we never believed had the 
merit of sound foundation of fact. 
We have encountered much of the same attitude 
towards one of the most beautifully colored irises we 
have ever seen or have ever introduced. Dr. Ayres' 
Coralie, a Dykes medal winner. We have seen it 
described as “frail ' or “fragile,'' a poor grower, and 
similar remarks. It is not, and never has been, any of 
these things under ordinary garden conditions. We 
have found it a good, sturdy grower of normal in¬ 
crease. We have this same report from customers who 
ordered it on sight. Its blooms have firm and enduring 
substance. It is absolutely hardy. We have never 
coddled it or given it any special treatment as there 
is nothing in its breeding to indicate any such need, 
and there is none. We have never lost a plant of it 
in the five years we have had it. 
For beauty of color, who can criticize it? 
It is a jaundiced soul that must seek the faults of 
beauty. 
We select the irises we offer for sale and introduction 
from the standpoint of their beauty. And yet when 
we read the iris literature of the day about these 
newer irises we find more concerning their technical 
faults and picayunish shortcomings than we do of 
their beauty and loveliness in the garden. 
And when you are all done noting these little 
mistakes of nature who seldom conforms to artifical 
human standards or works altogether perfectly or 
symmetrically in the production of a plant, how many 
friends will you have left for it? The damning of irises 
with faint praise by hypercritical or incompetent 
critics is damaging one of the finest of garden plants. 
Those who have been kind enough to read our fore¬ 
words in past years recall that we have never been 
4 
Quality Gardens 
