FORE WORD 
“A good many years ago, when I had begun to appreciate their charms and 
labor-saving qualities, the idea of a garden formed with flowering shrubs alone 
occurred to me. Before long I began to put this theory into practice.”—The 
Flowering Shrub Garden, by Michael Haworth-Booth. (Scribner’s). 
Those who have read any previous volumes understand that this is by no means a 
catalog. Our idea is to describe as accurately as possible in each issue a limited number 
of the finer trees and shrubs, both new and old, to avoid customary exaggeration and 
make the booklets worth saving for reference. Not only do they contain much informa¬ 
tion hard to locate elsewhere about new and rare things, but also some things will 
probably not be repeated for maybe several years. We still have copies for 1935 and 
1936 and will send them on request. Both are illustrated and 1936 covers Wisterias 
quite thoroughly. Other issues are no longer available. 
We limit ourselves almost exclusively to the woody plants—trees, shrubs, climbers, 
etc. For a number of years we have been importing the finest things in this line from 
all over the world. Results are commencing to show and will become increasingly 
apparent in future annual editions of this booklet. The same applies to our own woody 
plant breeding which has been carried on here for several years, but is a 
very slow job. Incidentally, we have a large number of new and very rare things in 
quantities too small to justify offering generally. So if you are looking for anything of 
the sort it will do no harm to inquire. Maybe we can help you. 
While this booklet is written primarily for the Pacific Coast it goes to other parts 
of U.S.A. and also abroad. This has made it seem desirable to indicate hardiness by the 
characters HI, H2, etc., placed 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.” Unfortunately, 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 his corresponding isothermic zone. Temperatures are above zero Fahrenheit. 
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 San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. 
H3-4—Should stand 13°. Suitable for 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 zero or below. (I, II, III, IV, V). 
Please note that we disclaim all responsibility for the accuracy of our statements 
as to hardiness which are to be construed as merely our honest opinion. 
To save space we have also used the following abbreviations: 
^Indicates that the item so marked has not been mentioned in any previous 
issue of Garden Aristocrats and is probably but not necessarily new. 
* indicates that item so marked is an entire novelty which has not been offered 
hitherto 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. refers to the rarely awarded First Class Certificate of the R.H.S. 
Part II contains a condensed price list of our principal stock. We suggest 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. Some were offered for the first 
time last year. 
It will be a pleasure for us to have you visit our nursery which is located on the 
Oakland-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 bv a 
row of magnificent old elm trees. This is the Brokaw road. Turn to the left there. This 
road ends at the Oaklano.-San Jose highway directly in front of our nursery. 
From now on the nursery will be closed Sundays. Only exceptions will be if special 
appointment is made and Lilac Sunday. (See back cover.) 
If you belong to a Garden Club and think its members would like a copy of this 
book we will send it to all if a list of their names and addresses is sent us. 
