OUR IRENE 
Steele’s Pansy Gardens 
PORTLAND, OREGON, U. S. A. 
HOWDY FOLKS ! 
Greetings to you if a prospective customer and if you are a regular 
patron of "Pop's” it seems that I am saying "Hello” to an old time 
friend for I was born in the pansy garden, finished my education in gram¬ 
mar school and high school, and then a full course in Pitman short 
hand and business course. In those days, during the noon hour lunch, 
pop gave me dictation while he was eating so he could hurry back to 
the gardens and pack blooming plants in baskets, having in those days 
100 shipping points by express. Getting his first breakfast at 3:30 A.M., 
his second at 8:30 A.M. and home at 5 P.M. Later came the seed busi¬ 
ness and shorter hours. But "pop” never watched the clock in those 
days; he didn’t have time. Mother always helped a lot but there were 
five of us—two girls and three boys. All helped as they grew up. 
Then, on a vacation to California, I met my future husband, and then and now my home is in Los Angeles 
and we are ready to build our house right now. Pop sends for me to come home every summer during the rush 
days and act as his cashier until Jess comes after me. Last summer I came up by airplane and what a grand 
thrill! I hope you, too, can come up in the same way and "see us sometime.” I’ll be there this summer and so 
will Isabelle, Donald, and Eldon, Jr. 
One day an order came from Australia. It said "Enclosed find M.O. $10.00. I do not have your catalog, 
but I leave to you selection among your finest varieties, such as you would want to grow for your own garden.” 
Pop made up the list, and Miss Spears made the invoice, but said to me "Wait a minute—this comes to more 
than the cash sent by the purchaser.” I said "O.K.; pop says 'when a patron far away shows such confidence in 
us, why not send him a little more seed than he really expects to get’ .” Pop says "The customer’s best interests 
are ours, and his success means our success,” and I like to fill an order just like that. 
But I must tell you a little incident of our childhood days. Pop was tidying up the gardens one day and 
Junior, 7 years old, with hands in pockets was on watch. "Jr., you’re going to be a farmer, aren’t you?” "Sure.” 
"Well then pick up those sticks.” "Say pop, are you a farmer?” "Sure.” "Well then, you pick up the sticks.” 
But what about pop’s system? In the office he says "one thing at a time.” A opens the mail — say 60 or 
more as an average. She stamps all cash orders "paid” and date and amount. Arranges all by alphabet, posts 
remittances in cash book by alphabet. B makes out duplicate invoices and makes containers for original invoice 
and seed. C checks invoice against order to assure completeness, and assembles the seed for each order. D 
checks seed against invoice and prepares for shipment checking total shipments against total number of orders re¬ 
ported by A. At the finish of mailings, catalogs, writing letters, filing index cards, orders and letters and pop says 
"Nothing left over for tomorrow, please!” 
One summer when the men were wearing trousers as big as pup tents, I came home and found my father in 
a slim, skinny pair of pants that looked the vintage of the gay nineties. Well those pants were just out. How 
about a little class in pop’s pants? 
I just got back from Santa Anita race track. The most wonderful display of pop’s pansies out there I ever saw 
—and do they know how to grow them! They are laid out in formal gardens at the entrance and large beds in 
the infield. In fact everywhere you look are pansies and more pansies — in beds and in terraces 350,000 plants. 
I felt badly that none of my horses came in — but my chief regret was that I hadn’t taken along a ruler so I could 
write pop just how huge the pansies really were. 
Cheerio! And this means you! And this means You ! ! ESPECIALLY YOU ! ! ! 
Time is up. 
