OUR POLICY—AND NEW IRIS 
It has always been our policy to list the best. Naturally, 
when we purchase new varieties from catalog descriptions, 
we obtain some excellent iris — on the other hand, we find 
some that do not come up to our standards and are never 
catalogued. We feel that our high standard in this respect 
gives us a list that is comparable to an “iris honor roll”, 
for every variety we list is a worthy one. 
■ 
The past two seasons, we set out to see for ourselves all 
of the newer irises it was possible to see. In 1936 my son, 
Edward, traveled East, visiting gardens in Colorado and Utah, 
the Mid-West and New England, while I inspected gardens in 
Oregon. In 1937, I saw iris gardens through Southern Cali¬ 
fornia, and my son traveled through Oregon and Washington. 
We purchased stock of all of the top-notch iris we saw; some 
of these new iris are to be found in our general list, others 
in our list of exclusive introductions, pages 4 and 5. 
In addition, we have purchased still more iris on recom¬ 
mendations of. outstanding iris critics — but these are never 
cataloged until they have bloomed in our gardens, and given 
us a chance to check their performances. 
Adding 2,000 miles to my total of iris-miles, by traveling 
through Oregon and Washington, I again helped to make our 
coverage of the sources of new iris still more complete. 
(Having traveled some 6,000 miles through the Mid-West and 
East in the season of 1936). Again, we are able to report 
the discovery of some very fine new iris, some of which will 
be found among our exclusive new introductions, others in 
our general list. 
Excluding those which have not been introduced, and those 
in our list of new introductions, I found during my “irising” 
of 1936 and 1937, the following to be most outstanding among 
the new varieties: 
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LIGHTER YELLOWS — Lady Paramount places as the 
best very light-yellow, with the huge Happy Days a cham¬ 
pion in the next shade deeper. Song of Gold, a very clear 
yellow of leathery substance, which is faintly deeper than 
Happy Days, is a beauty, and Eclador is a fine clear lemon 
yellow. 
DEEPER YELLOWS — Golden Bear is very rich in tone, 
and has the clearest color of all. Sunburst is a soft deep 
yellow, very tall. California Gold, with its bold, vivid color¬ 
ing, is most brilliant and Naranja is a distinct tone in yel¬ 
lows — clear yellow, faintly overlaid orange on the haft. No 
group of deeper yellows is complete, however, without our 
introduction of this season, Golden Majesty, which is so out¬ 
standing that I cannot resist mentioning it here, although 
I have barely finished stating that no new introductions 
would be included in this section. Marvelous is an unusual 
yellow blend. 
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WHITE — Sierra Snow, appearing in our new introduc¬ 
tions, should “bring the beauty of Purissima to the East”, 
joining Bridal Veil, Mount Washington, Snow King, and 
Silent Waterfall as all-climate leaders. In regions such 
as the Pacific Coast, where Purissima’s tenderness is not 
a drawback, it takes precedence over the new white in¬ 
troductions (in view of its much lower price). This also 
holds for Easter Morn, which one should add to the leading 
whites for climates where a touch of tenderness is not a 
factor. 
COPPER TONES — Radiant, vivid coppery orange, and 
strictly a sensation wherever I saw it, stands as a real cham¬ 
pion. Copper Lustre is a most unusual iris, a true copper 
in color. Copper Piece, is a blend of. coppery violet, and E. 
B. Williamson is a most attractive new color in iris — cop¬ 
pery red. Lighthouse, a huge iris of coppery rose, with yel¬ 
low heart, is a “knockout”. 
REDS — Perhaps the best is Garden Magic, a huge, bril¬ 
liant giant, but Ouray is the brightest, with Piute and 
Charm the most distinct in new color tones. Cheerio, rich 
and velvety, and Junaluska, tall blended red, are also most 
excellent reds. The Red Douglas, simply huge, is also strik¬ 
ing in its dark red color. Setting Sun is also very bright, as 
is Berkeley Fire. 
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BLUE VIOLET — Without doubt, Ormohr, that most 
showy William Mohr hybrid heads the list. It is a real cham¬ 
pion, delicately veined, but at the same time one of, if not 
the boldest iris of all. So outstanding that we purchased 
sufficient stock to give us a supply comparable to that of 
the introducer. Grace Mohr, also an oncocyclus hybrid, is 
of the flaring fall type and is the best branched of any tall 
oncocyclus hybrid I have seen. Rhapsody, a rich velvety 
blend of deep blue, royal blue, and similar colors, is most 
attractive. Amigo, not tall, but regally rich in tone is a 
blue, blue-violet bi-color of great value. 
BLUES — The only change I make over my previous 
choices in this type is the addition of Ozone, which is a 
lavender blue with rich reddish brown haft markings. The 
others, champions all, are: Gloriole and Blue Triumph, ice 
blues; Shining Waters and Eleanor Blue, clear light blues; 
Missouri and Sierra Blue, mid-blue; and Brunhilde, cobalt 
blue. 
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PINKS — Very much a new color, with Miss California a 
big advance. Morocco Rose is a fine pale orchid pink. 
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PLICATAS — The showy Siegfried and the crisp Orloff, 
both new in tone, are fine, but nevertheless my personal 
choice of new-type plicatas is Seduction. 
VARIEGATAS — Showy and vivid, City of Lincoln still 
leads this group. Casque d’Or, deeper, Portola, lighter, 
are also fine. Neon, a near-variegata, and Marquita, tech¬ 
nically of this class, but actually cream with falls almost 
rose color, are also top-notchers here. 
YELLOW BLENDS — Midwest Gem and Moonglo both 
rank as fine iris. 
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CREAM — Carved Ivory is a beauty, and William Carey 
Jones is kept from perfection only because its blooms tend 
to bunch. 
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MISCELLANEOUS — Monadnock, vivid rose-red, more 
rose than red, is a new tone, a real standout; and Bronzino 
is a fine, smooth, richly colored new iris that seems headed 
for a brilliant future. Golden Amber, bronzy-gold, also is 
outstanding. 
EDWARD SALBACH. 
For Fragrance 
For delightful fragrance, Bronzino, Frieda Mohr, Hidalgo, 
J. J. Dean, Mabel Taft, Meldoric, Miss California, Mount 
Washington, and Shining Waters head the list. Not far 
behind are: Alta California, Charm, Dauntless, Gloriole, Lady 
Paramount, Mata Hari, Persia, Piute, President Pilkington, 
Rosy Asia, Rubeo, San Francisco, Sierra Blue, Sir Michael, 
Tenaya, Tiger-Tiger, and Tioga. 
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