FOREWORD 
Highlights of the now concluding season have been a nearly rain- 
less mid-winter; the consequent mediocre performance of many daf- 
fodils, especially those noteworthy in other years for high color; the - 
abruptness with which the daffodil season terminated; the sudden 
and abnormally early onset of the irises; the unexpectedly fine 
showing they made; and the oddly mixed-up garden procession, 
with many usually late varieties blooming right along with the 
early ones; while the roses, which in Redlands are usually near 
their height almost. simultaneously with the irises, came into their 
glory when the latter were well in decline. As always a number of 
interesting or beautiful groupings stand out in memory as they 
appeared in my own or other gardens that it was my privilege to 
visit; for example, a large clump of iris BERNARDINO against a 
mass of bright lavender-mauve lantana was very satisfying indeed 
over a long period. For some reason whiie daffodils seem very much 
better in general garden effect than whiie irises, possibly in part 
because their mass is so finely broken amid the lovely blue-green 
foliage which shelters them, possibly also because the prevailing 
colors associated in the early garden are the yellows and oranges 
of their fellows and the foamy pinks and whites of fruit trees. I do 
not recall ever having seen white irises used more tellingly than 
when in association with lavenders, Cerastiums, and other gray- 
leaved plants, but they are also good in sweeps quite by themselves 
when they avoid the patchy effect so often their unwanted accom- 
paniment in mixed beds, where ivorys and creams tie the other 
colors together so much more smoothly. One kind which I find of 
much practical service in this way in the early part of the season 
is VANGUARD, as it blooms so faithfully and over so long a season, 
the blending quality of the flowers helped by an infusion of soft 
green. The same holds for the light yellow DAYSPRING. Although 
individually the flowers of neither of these are expansive enough to 
be of outstanding exhibition value, they are enormously useful in 
the garden. 
Other subjects which do not always seem too easy to manage out- 
side restricted groupings are the more assertive yellows such 
as the daffodils CROCUS and TRENOON, and irises GOLDEN MAJ- 
ESTY and CALIFORNIA GOLD. Among irises the same holds even 
more truly for the more blatant variegatas, which I, for one, have 
now almost completely banished from my garden, yet some of the 
softer “variegata blends,” while still sufficiently brilliant, are really 
very lovely, and I have here in mind another especially fine group- 
ing noted this year, in which the very late iris JUBILANT was 
used with such Hemercallis as MIKADO and BAGDAD. A very dif- | 
ferent and more subtle harmony, which I believe I may have noted 
in these pages previously, is provided by iris RED ROCK, which 
continues one of the very finest flowers in deep red that I know, 
against a background of rosy CISTUS PURPUREUS. 
I am always glad to make up special collections on order, where 
the customer is undecided how best to choose for himself, giving 
due attention where possible to color preferences and to whether it 
is intended to cover a long season or plant for a period of shorter 
but more abundant bloom. 
When it comes to daffodils and similar bulbs it is apparent that I 
cannot too often repeat the emphatic admonition, ORDER EARLY! 
Not only will you find that you are well repaid by early planting of 
your bulbs, but you will stand a better chance of getting what you 
want. Except where I receive advance orders I cannot possibly get 
more than a small fraction of my bulbs dug in any given year, 
