GREETINGS 
Perhaps you have 
heard the ‘Old Gard¬ 
ener” introducing our 
hardy “Blizzard Belt” 
plants, as his voice 
came to you from your 
Radio. 
But whether you have 
heard our special Adver¬ 
tising offers or not I want 
to extend my hearty greet¬ 
ings and best wishes to 
you as you read this page. 
If you are already a cus¬ 
tomer of ours, I want to 
thank you for your co¬ 
operation during the years 
that have gone and I hope 
that the Trees and Plants 
you have received from us, 
have behaved themselves 
and brought you much 
pleasure and enjoyment 
as they have developed on 
your grounds. 
Clark Gardner and grand-daughter Bar¬ 
bara Ann Woehrle, inspecting a field o 
Dianthus Plurnaris. 
Should you not be acquainted with the Gardner Nurseries at Osage, 
Iowa, I want to explain that our business was started way back in 1857, 
when the writers grandfather, Nathaniel Clark Gardner and family, 
with all their worldly goods, left Otsego county, New York, in an Ox- 
drawn covered wagon, and after months of slow traveling, they crossed 
the great Mississippi River and found here in Northern Iowa the loca¬ 
tion of their dreams. 
In the covered wagon, and counted as the family’s most prized posses¬ 
sions, were hardy perennial flowering plants, seeds, etc. for the planting 
of the new western home. Such was the beginning of the Gardner 
Nurseries, now being operated by the third generation of decendents 
of this truly pioneer horticulturist. 
At the close of the Civil War, 
Chas. F. Gardner became asso¬ 
ciated with his father and started 
the work of fruit and flower 
breeding and propagation, in 
which he was very successful. He 
was the first person to grow Ever¬ 
greens from seed, west of the 
Mississippi River. Thousands of 
Evergreen groves, Orchards, and 
Landscape Plantings, scattered 
over the middle west, stand to¬ 
day as a memorial to the energy 
and zeal of his horticultural ef¬ 
forts. 
About 1890 he began to spe¬ 
cialize in Plum and Strawberry 
breeding and was very successful 
in originating new varieties of 
great value in the colder parts of 
the U. S. 
Our Nurseries have always 
made a specialty of growing 
hardy Perennial Flowering Plants 
and during the past few years we 
have developed some new meth¬ 
ods of propagation and care so 
that we have greatly increased 
this department of our business 
and now grow millions of these 
How about taking a walk through our plants where we used to grow 
Testing Grounds with Barbara Ann? thousands. At present we have 
over 25 miles of beds of hardy Per¬ 
ennial and Rock Garden plants, 
a small part of which are shown in the field views scattered throughout 
this catalogue. 
We were one of the first Nurseries in this country to grow the Oriental 
Poppy and many thousands of gardens glow in season, with great loads 
of the beautiful flaming red poppies grown on plants shipped from the 
Gardner Nurseries. 
By being able to give extra ordinary values in our Radio Advertising 
Offers, we have gained many thousands of new friends during the past 
few years. Practically every city, town, hamlet, county and township 
in the United States is represented in our customer’s files. 
Clark Gardner Nurseries, Osage, Iowa. 
