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AZALEA GARDENS, SEEKING, FLA. 9 
stored in a cool place in sawdust and kept dormant and thoroughly 
sound until as late as September or October. 
The big flower days are Easter and Mothers Day; plant early for 
these. 
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ORIGIN OF THE AZALEA GARDENS CALADIUM COLLECTION 
The list of varities which we offer has been picked front more 
than two thousand varieties that were imported over a, long period of 
years and tested under all conditions. Collections in Europe, especial¬ 
ly France and England, and in Brazil, have furnished the greater 
number of our best varieties. European hybridists have produced some 
wonderful Caladiums, and the entire range of beautiful and brilliant 
colors is to be found in the comparatively few varieties that we offer. 
It has taken us a long time to get these good Caladiums in sufficient 
quantity to offer them at a reasonable price, as they are much slower 
in propagating than poor kinds. In large imported collections we have 
many times wound up by discarding all but a, few varieties, and in 
som6 cases, all that were imported in that particular lot. There is no 
use in growing poor ones, as we are not in that business. 
OUR OW(N HYBRIDS AGAIN 
In years gone by, hybridists that have been connected with firms 
which we have succeeded, hybridized Caladiums as do others in this 
country yet, but no really outstanding varieties were produced because 
of lack of breeding ana selection. Seedlings were produced without 
any thought for color—they were just “Caladiums” and sold as such. 
We have decided to again take up this hybridizing work, in view of 
the fact that we have such a tine collection of varieties to use as par¬ 
ent stock. W e now have thousands of seedlings coming on—all of them 
offspring of only the best varieties. Even so, only an infinitely small 
number of these seedlings will likely turn out to be desirable from color 
and growth standpoints. Thousands will be discarded the first year 
they show character. Any Caladium brought out by us and under our' 
name MUST be good. 
Two good reasons have caused us to start Caladium hybridizing 
again : First: To meet the demand for newer and better varieties con¬ 
stantly. Second: On account of the red tape necessary to import Cala¬ 
diums, and the three years’ holding of the stock before the Department 
of Agriculture will allow its release or dissemination. Many bulbs 
bought in foreign collections are held by these growers at very high 
prices, and many such bulbs prove to be absolutely worthless from a 
color standpoint. In again producing our own hybrids we will know 
