Annual California Wild Flowers 
The best known California wild flowers are our lovely annuals. They are very easy to grow 
and will give beautiful effects anywhere in the United States. Plant them in the beds with 
cultivated garden annuals, among native perennials and shrubs in your wild garden, sow 
them in patches and drifts across open slopes or broadcast them along roadsides, in fields 
bordering your garden or in vacant lots. Wherever they are planted they will cover the space 
with a sheet of colorful beauty. 
When to plant—in Caliiornia. Broadcast sowings, 
which will not be artificially watered, give the best 
results and the longest bloom if planted early in the 
fall, before the first rains, or at the beginning of the 
rainy season. Seeds can be broadcast as late as the 
end of January, but the blooming season will be 
shorter. When native annual seeds can be arti¬ 
ficially watered to supplement the natural rainfall, 
sowings can be made up to the end of April. 
When to plant—in Eastern gardens. Sow native 
California annuals as early as possible in the spring, 
the moment the frost is out of the ground and the 
soil can be worked. Successive sowings can be 
made up to the end of May, but most California 
annuals are spring-blooming and the sooner the seed 
is in the ground the better. If the rainfall is scanty 
the seeds should be watered until the plants are well 
established. After that they can take care of them¬ 
selves. 
How to plant. The rules for preparing the soil are 
the same,—East or West. Loosen and break up the 
soil with fork and rake, and work it until the top 
two inches are soft fine earth. Scatter the seed and 
rake it in lightly. We wish to emphasize that natur¬ 
alized sowings cannot be made with success on 
ground which is covered with weeds and grass. 
Seed scattered in such a place is simply wasted. 
Clear all grass and weeds off as the first step in 
preparing the ground. Shrubs do not interfere with 
a naturalized sowing. Loosen and prepare the soil 
between them and sow the seed in these patches 
and you can make some lovely effects. 
How to seed. For large sowings allow eight pounds 
of seed to the acre. For smaller sowings, an ounce 
to 150 square feet is a good average. If the seed is 
mixed with fine sand it is easier to sow it evenly. 
Please Read Before Ordering 
Lester Rowntree 6c Co. will neither personally collect nor handle for 
commercial sale, native California plants dug from wild stands. All 
seeds listed in quantity are commercially grown and on increasing 
number of other species are obtained from plants grown under culti¬ 
vation. We do most of our collecting personally, taking care never to 
exhaust a stand of native plants, and we make a point of scattering 
seed in flowerless places. We are working in cooperation with con¬ 
servation agencies—our motive, to preserve the natural flora of the 
Pacific Coast. 
We prepay postage only in the United States and Canada. We insure 
parcels only at the customer's request and expense. Otherwise we 
assume no responsibility for safe carriage. 
Prices subject to change without notice. This catalog supersedes all 
previous issues. 
WARRANTY: Lester Rowntree 6c Co. gives no warranty, express or 
implied, os to description, purity, productiveness or any other matter, 
of the seeds they sell, and will not be in any way responsible for them. 
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