COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA 
119 
PERENNIALS FROM SEED 
As a rule it takes a perennial some time to “come up.” Certain perennials 
like phlox, dictamnus, trollius, etc., are especially slow in coming up. But once 
up, they are in this world to stay for many years. Other perennials, are of a 
quick growing nature. The seed sprouts readily and speedily a flowering plant 
is developed. This is very gratifying to us gardeners but the thing has a reverse 
side, namely that these easily raised plants take their departure from this world 
as easily as it was to raise them. So if a perennial is slow in coming up, if you 
have to wait long for the bloom do not mind it, as you will be rewarded by the 
plant’s longevity. The slow grower will stay with you, will be easy to trans¬ 
plant, and when you sell a plant, it will grow for your customer, he will be satis¬ 
fied and you will do more business with him and his friends. 
Certain perennials raised from seed, when in bloom for the first time, do not 
come anywhere near the mark. They were described as gorgeous, as magnificent, 
but they do not look that way to you at first. These belong to a class that do 
not show their beauty at first, but they will later, when two or three years old 
and well established. Some of these are wonderful if left undisturbed long 
enough. Therefore to judge a perennial too soon, would not be fair in these cases. 
Many perennials are described as perfectly hardy, yet you have lost them, 
they winter-kill. Perennials will winter-kill if the plants are young, in their 
first year of development, and not given protection. But given a light covering 
of straw, hay or other coarse material the first winter, will from then on, survive 
any amount of cold and unfavorable winter conditions. Make it a rule to protect 
seedling perennials over winter. Once established most perennials need no pro¬ 
tection whatever. 
Sow the seed of perennials in an open frame. The advantages of sowing in 
an open frame are: You can flood the frame with water, thereby getting the 
most of watering, the seed will stay in the frame, heavy rains cannot wash out 
and carry the seed away. If you are sowing during summer and sow in frames, 
you can easily shade your sowings with lath or burlap, you can keep out birds, 
cats, that do damage to open seed beds. If you are a beginner, do not expect 
ANY perennial to come as fast as a radish and if you will fail to get a stand, be¬ 
fore you put the blame on the seed, ask yourself whether there might not have 
been some other cause. You will meet with the least amount of failure, if you 
will cover the seeds properly, not too much and as lightly as possible when the 
seed is small or light like statice, heuchera, etc., if you will keep your seed bed 
moist and during summer shaded with lath, burlap or muslin. 
EARLY IN NOVEMBER just before the time when heavy frosts are due, you 
can sow the seed of perennials outdoors. The seed will lay unsprouted till spring 
and will germinate very easily in the spring, long before the ground is ready to 
work. You will get better plants that way, bloom sooner and save yourself lots 
of watering. At the same time you can also sow the seeds of the following an¬ 
nuals: Ageratum, Alyssum, Cacalia, Calendula, Calliopsis, Candytuft, Centaurea, 
Clarkia, Cosmos, Cynoglosum, Dianthus, Eschscholtzia, Euphorbia, Godetia, Hun- 
nemania, Larkspur, Lupin, Nemophyla, Nicotiana, Nigela, Pansy, Petunia, bedding 
varieties, Phlox, Poppy, Sanvitalia, Saponaria, Schizanthus, Sweet Peas, Viscaria, 
Mignonette, Snapdragon, Erysimum. 
SEEDS ARE THE PRODUCT OF NATURE 
Seeds cannot be made. We are at the mercy of nature. If the weather is 
unfavorable, there is no seed or the crop is short. 
When the crop fails the seedman cannot supply the seed. If he does fill the 
order for an item of which the crop is a failure, he sends something that he 
thinks is “just as good.” 
We ourselves do not think this “just as good” stuff, the right thing. When 
an item in seeds is a crop failure, we do not try to substitute; we send your 
money back tell you frankly that we do not have what you ordered. 
You want the seed of course, we do not send it because we cannot and you 
think—bum service this. 
We ask you to stop to think before you start to form an adverse opinion of 
us as seedmen. 
Suppose YOU were in the seed business. Suppose that you grew a crop or 
many crops for seed. Then comes a flood, your crops get covered up with mud 
and destroyed. Suppose again that there is no rain for such a long time that 
your plants die. Suppose there will appear bugs and worms in untold numbers, 
blight and other diseases make your plants a visit. 
You will spray, apply poison, both liquid and powder, you do all you can, yet 
you are unable to check the ravages of insects or disease, you are unable to save 
your crop. 
You get no crop of seed. Now then if YOU were a seed grower, had no crop 
of seed of certain items, what would you do? 
You would write to your customers saying, I am very sorry but I cannot fill 
your order for such and such item. This you would do if you did believe in 
“be on the square” policy. 
You would not fill orders by sending out something that you would think 
is “just as good.” 
This is our policy. We regret exceedingly to say to a customer—sorry, can¬ 
not serve you—we know how the customer feels. Then too, if we do not fill your 
order and send your money back we are losing ourselves. We are losing the 
sale, we have already lost the crop and we are losing in prestige. 
Most customers do not mind when here and there their order is not filled in 
full. Some do, but as explained there is no remedy in substituting. There is a 
way of getting the missing item. 
Gladiolus Longfellow 
GLADIOLI LONGFELLOW 
Pure colored, medium light pink a most 
lovely color. Flowers large, wide open 
up to eight blooms open at one time and 
the flowers perfectly placed. 
In perfect placement of bloom Long¬ 
fellow has no rival. 
See pages 116 and 117 for more gladi¬ 
oli. 
In most cases you will locate the seed 
by trying other reliable seedmen. You 
will get the missing item unless the crop 
is a total failure with everybody. Then 
there is no seed until the following year. 
We are starting new plantations of seeds 
every year in order to insure full supply 
of seeds and you will gain by ordering 
as early as possible in the season while 
supplies of seeds are good. 
