GREETINGS 
from 
CLARK GARDNER 
With a hearty hand- 
shake across the miles, 
I extend to you a per- 
sonal greeting, not only 
from myself but also 
from every member of 
our organization. 
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. 
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 cov- 
ered 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 possessions, were hardy 
perennial flowering plants, seeds, 
etc. for the planting of the new 
western home. Such was the be- 
ginning 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 

In background of this picture you 
will see Blackberry Lilies in full 
bloom 
