

Although a comparatively short time has passed since our 
strain of Delphinium was introduced to the gardening 
world, the enthusiastic acclaim of amateurs and profes- 
sionals alike has made us feel that we have contributed a 
step in the progress of better Delphiniums. At 1939 Oak- 
land Spring Garden Show, which is the annual flower event 
of the Pacific Coast, our Delphiniums received the gold 
medal for the most outstanding display in the show, in 
open competition with all other spring flowers. These 
plants were field-grown seedlings in their maiden bloom, 
dug and balled the day before the show, without being 
forced in any way. We were again awarded the gold medal 
in 1940, but were unable to show in 1941 because of rainy 
weather which ruined all our flowers. 
The qualities we look for in Delphiniums are not only 
huge flowers and spikes, regardless of other characteristics, 
but on the contrary we often use plants of smaller size if 
they have outstanding qualities in color or form. Our aim 
is to produce large flowers properly proportioned to the 
size of spikes, so as to maintain balance and retain the 
grace of the entire plant. Another important feature in our 
developments is comparative mildew-resistance. Over ten 
acres of seedlings are being grown this year for selection, 
from which only the finest members combining all the 
desirable characteristics are retained for seed production. 
This enables us to produce very high quality seed, giving 
customers the advantage of the newest developments. 
Contrary to the popular practice of naming individual 
plants, our aim is to produce a group of individual plants 
resembling each other as closely as possible, keep inter- 
breeding them until the progeny brings a high percentage 
of specimens true to description, and then introduce it as a 
named series. In this manner we can offer new progres- 
sions of each series each year as the progeny always super- 
sedes the parents. The names of our Delphinium series, 
with the exception of the blues, which have descriptive 
names, have been chosen from Tennyson’s “Idylls of the 
King.” 
RECENT INTRODUCTION 
Galahad Series . . . Our greatest achievement in giant 
whites, fully worthy of its name, which possesses all the 
qualities one expects to find in a fine Delphinium. The 
standard attained in this series is perhaps responsible for 
the wide popularity it met, ranking in demand next to the 
blues. The clear white flowers, with white bees, are of 
large size, reaching often 3 inches in diameter, combined 
with glistening, heavy texture. The 1944 series are out- 
standing in size, texture and purity of color, which we only 
dreamed of when the first series of Galahad was introduced. 
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