Old-fashioned Roses THe Lester Rosr GARDENS 

By Way of Introduction. 
HIS CATALOG differs from many catalogues you will receive; it has 
no gaudy and expensive colored illustrations, (which the customer pays 
for), and, | 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. My occasional personal comments about the Old 
Roses will, I trust, be excused, but they come from the heart. As for 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 your order complete; we will ship at any later 
date you may request. 
WE PREPAY DELIVERY CHARGES, unless otherwise stated, 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 thirty-one. 
The. Old Roses 
“Ts not old wine wholesomest?” 
—CHARLES KINGSLEY. 
FRANCIS E. LESTER 
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, a shy bloomer and lack fragrance; 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 diseases 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. We of California have sadly overlooked the 
merits of the Old Roses in our mad scramble after the latest patented novelty; one writer, 
75 years ago, tells of Marechal Niel as a riot of bloom from one end of the state to the 
other, yet where do we find this most fragrant of all yellow climbers, quite unequaled in 
its class, now? In many a neglected Pacific Coast garden you may find old roses, planted 
half a century ago or more, blooming continucusly; there are still growing in California 
some of the orginal 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 Shakes- 
peare and of the Elizabethan days. And is it not worth much to have in your garden the 
original variety of which Moore wrote his immortal ‘‘Last Rose of Summer’’? 
The Old Roses offer garden delights unobtainable elsewhere. Practically all are de- 
liciously fragrant, many with the true attar-of-rose fragrance so markedly absent in modern 
rose creations. What greater garden delight could there be than the penetrating old-time 
fragrance of the pink Castilian Rose and the rare, leafy perfume of the Eglantine,—two in- 
triguing odors no other flowers provide? Rich in their heritage of virility and fragrance and 
tradition, the Old Roses are, like true and tried friends, like old wine and old masterpieces, 
treasures well worth preserving and enjoying. 
The list of Old Fashioned Roses that follows is but a partial list of what we have, for 
available quantities of some kinds are so limited as to forbid offering generally. But this 
list will repay careful perusal. Stock offered is of 2-year-old selected plants of finest qual- 
ity; occasionally, if sold out of large plants, we send smaller size, making due allowance 
in price. To avoid disappointment orders should be placed promptly. 
PRICES as stated, delivered free in California; in lots of 10 or more, 10% off. Beyond 
that add 10 cents each; if east of the Mississippi, add 15 cents. 
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