FOREWORD 
“If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon or make a better 
mouse trap than his neighbor, tho he builds his house in the woods, the 
world will make a beaten path to his door.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
Those who have received any of the previous four annual issues of “Garden Aristo¬ 
crats” are familiar with our desire to avoid the usual nursery catalog style. Our idea 
is to describe in each issue as accurately as possible a limited number of the best things, 
•avoid exaggeration and make the booklet worth saving for reference. It is very grati¬ 
fying to observe how many have done this. 
Our attention is devoted almost entirely to woody plants. We again emphasize 
the important point that these make up the permanent part of the garden; you live 
with them “year in and year out” so why not have the finest things ? 
This year’s issue is devoted almost entirely to new items. To keep within the 
space limits we have set, we have been compelled to condense most of the descriptions. 
Many things herein cannot be found in the usual reference books and if further details 
about these are desired, we shall be glad to furnish them on request. Also we have 
quite a number of new things which are still so extremely rare that we have only five 
or six plants of each, so are not listing them at present, but if you are looking for some 
of the extremely rare shrubs or trees and do not find them mentioned, we suggest that 
you write us. 
To facilitate locating any particular item, please observe that, although the common 
name (if any) comes first, the actual arrangement is strictly by the botanical names. 
We believe this makes an index unnecessary. 
We have been very glad to receive some friendly criticism of previous volumes 
and incidentally shall be glad to have definite suggestions for improvement as we want 
to do everything in our power to make this booklet of the greatest possible use to the 
gardening public. Most previous requests have been to give some indication of hardi¬ 
ness, because this booklet is now being sent not only all over the United States but to 
foreign countries as well. This is a very difficult matter as in a good many cases we 
do not have adequate information and so many factors enter into the question. Hardi¬ 
ness is indicated by the characters HI, H2, etc., placed immediately after the names; 
and, wherever possible, also by Roman numerals I, II, III, etc., referring to the eight 
isothermic zones specified in Rehder’s “Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs.” Un¬ 
fortunately, many of our items are too tender to be included in his very useful book, 
so we have devised the following scale and also show the corresponding isothermic 
zone. 
HI—Will stand only very light frosts. Suitable for “thermal districts” only. 
H2—Should stand 26°. Suitable for San Francisco Bay and Coastal regions of California. 
H3—Should stand 20°. Suitable for the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. 
H3-4—Should stand 15°. Suitable for the mildest parts of Oregon and Washington (VIII). 
H4—Should stand 10°. Suitable for Oregon and Washington west of the Cascades. (VIII). 
H4-5—Should stand 5°. (VI-VII). 
H5—Should stand 0o or below. (I, II, III, IV,V). 
We are compelled to point out that we disclaim all responsibility for the accuracy 
of our statements as to hardiness which are to be construed as merely our honest 
opinion. We will greatly welcome comments or criticisms on this matter. 
To save space we have also used the following abbreviations: 
indicates that the item so marked is now offered by us for the first time. 
**Indicates that this is the first time the item has ever been offered by anyone. 
A.M.R.H.S. or A.M.C.H.S. indicates that the item so marked has received an 
Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society or the California 
Horticultural Society respectively. 
F.C.C.R.H.S. stands for First Class Certificate of the Royal Horticultural So¬ 
ciety which is their highest award. 
Part II contains a general price list of our principal stock that is not included in 
Part I. We suggest that you look through it carefully as it contains quite a number 
of comparatively new and scarce items which could not be included in Part I for lack 
of space. 
It will be a pleasure for us to have you visit our nursery which is located on the 
Oaklandi-San Jose Highway, a mile north of the city limits of San Jose. Coming down 
the Peninsula, take the Bayshore Highway. About one mile after going through the 
underpass near Santa Clara, the first paved road that crosses is well marked by a row 
of magnificent old elm trees. This is the Brokaw road. Turn to the left there. This 
road ends directly at our nursery which is well marked by the huge Blue Gum (Euca¬ 
lyptus globulus) which is probably the largest cultivated tree in the U.S.A. Its trunk 
lacks one inch of being eight feet in diameter, which is some indication of what our 
soil can do! 
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