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The Lester Rose Gardens 
No flower in history is linked so intimately with human affairs as the Rose. In peace or war, 
in joy or sorrow, in king's castle or cotter's home, in religion and in art, the record of its influence 
appears in song and story. Undisputedly she has reigned as Queen of Flowers for more than twenty- 
five centuries; today, as always, she is the treasured favorite 
of all who truly love gardens. 
HIS CATALOG differs from many rose catalogues you will receive; it has no 
gaudy and expensive colored illustrations, (which the customer pays for), 
and, I hope, no extravagant claims. But it does offer you the benefit of a 
lifetime’s experience with roses; it tries to tell the truth; and it offers you 
nothing that has not been tried out and found to be of real merit, not for 
the expert horticulturist, but for the amateur gardener, whom we try to 
serve faithfully and whose interests we hold to be paramount. Descriptions are necessarily brief, 
but further detailed information or any planting suggestions desired will be gladly given on request. 
As for our prices, if you could see our stock you would agree they are most reasonable. 
We are not a big concern; we prefer doing a small business so that we can give individual 
attention to each order; therefore our stocks are limited and many items become exhausted before 
the season is over. Hence we ask you to ORDER AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE and so insure filling 
your order complete; we will ship at any later date you may request. 
Unless otherwise stated, we PREPAY DELIVERY CHARGES on all orders for $1.00 or 
more to any address in California; elsewhere on the conditions indicated. As our Roses are 
exceptionally large, this is an important consideration. Be sure to add the necessary 3% sales tax, 
please, on California orders. If requested when ordering we will expertly prune all roses, ready to 
plant. With each rose order, we enclose a free copy of Mr. Lester’s "How to Get the Most from 
Your Roses.” Terms are cash with order, or we will send C.O.D. if one-third is paid as a deposit. 
Please use the order blank on page twenty-three. 
—FRANCIS E. LESTER. 
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The 0 Id looses ’ 
"Is not old wine wholesomest ?”— Charles Kingsley 
We agree there is a real thrill in growing a new, patented, rose introduction even though the 
price is high and it may be short-lived and a shy bloomer; and we appreciate the great improvements 
in many modern roses that have resulted from the patient work of our rose hybridists. But, frankly, 
we are very fond of the Old Fashioned Roses with their time-proven merits and their rare charm; 
"old friends are best”; and it is little wonder they are today regaining their original popularity, for 
they possess qualities that few new roses can offer. Chief among these is their enduring vitality, for 
while the large majority of our new roses of recent years disappear from lack of stamina, the old 
roses are with us today because of their proven ability to withstand the hazards of existence and to 
resist disease and pests. They, more than the modern roses, lend themselves to planting in perennial 
borders. Preeminently they are the ideal roses for occupying neglected spaces in the garden where 
they will neither expect nor receive the care we bestow on modern varieties and yet will flourish 
with abandon. There are still growing in California some of the original specimens of the Castilian 
Rose that were planted by the Mission Fathers who founded the missions! 
Then, too, only the Old Roses offer you that rare quality of association value which age and 
tradition alone can give; the Eglantine is one of these, favorite rose with Shakespeare and of the 
Elizabethan days. And is it not worth much to have in your garden the original variety of rose of 
which Moore wrote his immortal "Last Rose of Summer”? 
The Old Roses offer garden delights unobtainable elsewhere. Practically all are deliciously 
fragrant, many with the true attar-of-rose fragrance so markedly absent in modern rose creations. 
* We class as an Old Rose only those varieties that have been continuously grown for fifty years or more. 
