104 
House 
& 
Garden 
Gladioli 
Jack London 
Gladis Plath 
Thos. T. Kent 
Mrs. H. E. Bothin 
r I ’HE four most perfect and most beautiful 
gladioli ever put before the public. Wher¬ 
ever exhibited this season they have won the 
highest admiration. 
Catalog free on Request 
There is a treat in store for you in the form of 
a handsome catalog, beautifully illustrated, 
which describes nearly a hundred of our gladi¬ 
olus creations, as well as our Ruffled Monster 
Petunias, and many other things of interest. 
Petunias 
Dieners Ruffled Monsters (Single). 
The finest and largest varities of Petunias 
ever created. 
Seed comes in separate colors as follows: Pink 
(Strong veined center), Red, Variegated, White, Red 
with black center. Pale Lilac Pink, Ruffled Monsters 
mixed. 
The following varieties of Petunias are somewhat 
smaller than the ruffled monster, colors: Flesh Pink 
Frilled, Purple or Blue, White Frilled, Apple Blossom. 
Any of the above varieties 50c a package. 
The Greatest Novelty in Petunias for 1923 is 
Diener’s Pink Glory 
Pure flame rose pink without a trace of purple. 
Flowers measure from three to four inches in diameter. 
Plants grow to a height of twelve to fifteen inches. This 
is the most beautiful petunia ever put on the market 
and is destined to become the great bedding petunia 
of the future. 
This seed is 50c a package 
RICHARD DIENER CO., INC. 
Originators and Growers of the Largest and 
Finest Gladioli and Petunias in the World 
KENTFIELD, Marin County, CALIFORNIA 
“Madonna ”, a new white 
snapdragon, promises to 
take honors away from 
the old stand-by, “Purity”. 
Introduced by Alexander 
Forbes & Co. 
The First Step In Gardening 
(Continued from page 54) 
his place more beautiful and his work 
easier. A mere list of names and 
prices.—especially botanical names—is 
only for the very learned in garden 
affairs. Let more of the common 
names be given. Let more catalogs 
explain how best this peculiar shrub 
and that peculiar plant can be located 
on the home grounds. Let them explain 
how this seed can best be brought 
to germination and the seedling to 
flower. In the last analysis, when 
an amateur gardener sends in his seed 
order, he is not merely buying seed; 
he is buying the finished fruit, vege¬ 
table and flower. This little packet of 
Country Gentleman corn is more to 
him than a handful of kernels; it is 
a fine stand of corn in the garden, it 
is a gastronomic delight that he and his 
family will enjoy. 
The majority of our catalogs each 
year list a few “novelties” and the 
gardener, who would deDrive himself 
of no delight, will 
invariably try one 
or a few of them. 
This is as it should 
be. But caution 
must be exercised. 
Novelties are like 
the sweets that fol¬ 
low the real nutri¬ 
tive part of the meal. 
It really doesn’t 
make much differ¬ 
ence whether you 
take ice cream or bread pudding after 
dinner, so long as you have had your 
steak and potatoes. 
There are a great many steak and 
potato items in our catalogs that are 
very much neglected. The hunger 
for novelties and the nurseryman’s 
desire to satisfy that hunger, often 
result in many fine and useful items 
being hidden away and forgotten. We 
don't need more novelties in our cata¬ 
logs; we need more appreciation of 
the splendid material we already have. 
Garden wisdom, like any other sort 
of wisdom, is only attained by making 
mistakes through a variety of experiences. 
The beginning gardener will have vast 
dreams of the many and diverse things 
he can accomplish; the hardened 
gardener is satisfied if he grows a 
dozen or so things and grows them 
well. The latter is a garden ideal 
worth remembering. Better a few 
perfect zinnias, a few healthy pota¬ 
toes, a noble stand 
of corn and a 
worthy hedge of 
sweet peas than a 
garden filled with a 
bewildering but me¬ 
diocre variety. This is 
an ideal to keep in 
mind when those 
spring catalogs ar¬ 
rive. 
Let's say they 
have arrived. Let’s 
“Our Country”, a 
nezv dahlia, created 
by G. L. Stillman. 
It is deep purple 
tipped white 
To grow huckle¬ 
berries from seed 
is the claim of this 
type. Courtesy of 
Hart & Vick 
