Copyright 1947, Wm. Tricker, Inc. 
Printed in U. S. A. 





\ OF LEADERSHIP 
\Q in the field of 
aa water lily culture 













SLA 
Dt 
‘ame Kr William Tricker, Pioneer Water Lily Spe- 

It is with pardonable pride that we celebrate fifty 
years devoted to originating, developing and growing 
aquatic plants for the flower lovers of America. The 
story of William Tricker, Inc. is a saga of American 
business enterprise in the field of horticulture. 
The late William Tricker, originator of commercial 
Water Lily culture in the United States, came from 
England in 1885 and first saw tropical Water Lilies 
growing in a pool at Newport. While engaged as a pri- 
vate gardener on an estate on Staten Island he experi- 
mented for seven or eight years growing lilies in pools 
and tubs, and later started a small business at Clifton, 
New Jersey. This business was sold to Henry Dreer in 
1897 and William Tricker developed Water Lilies for 
that firm during the next few years. Later, he built 
greenhouses at Arlington, New Jersey in 1907 and 
started the business so long known by his name. He 
passed away in 1916 among the flowers he loved. 
Intensely interested in hybridizing, he produced sev- 
eral desirable varieties of day-blooming tropical Lilies 
such as Blue Beauty, Mrs. C. W. Ward, Wm. Stone, 
Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and Panama Pacific. Although 
familiar from boyhood with all of the types of plants 
grown on the large English estates, William Tricker 
JUDGE HITCHCOCK 

cialist. Founder of William Tricker, Inc. 
found the greatest satisfaction in the beautiful fragrant 
flowers of the Water Lilies and devoted his life to dis- 
tributing them among garden lovers. 
At the death of his father, Charles L. Tricker took 
active management of the business, which was then in- 
creasing rapidly. Although busy with added responsi- 
bility, hybridizing was continued and new varieties such 
as PATRICIA, CLEVELAND and ALICE TRICKER 
were developed. Also, hybrids from Europe and America 
(especially Missouri Botanical Gardens) were intro- 
duced. These include such grand varieties as MRS. 
EDWARDS WHITAKER, GENERAL PERSHING, 
AUGUST KOCH, MRS. GEORGE PRING and the fa- 
mous ST. LOUIS, first yellow tropical water lily. 
The first American catalog of Water Lilies was pub- 
lished at Clifton in 1895, the next at Arlington in 1912 
and a new one each year since. It has always served as 
a handbook of the aquatic plants available in the United 
States. 
Charles Tricker (right), President of William 
Tricker, Inc. and J. T. Charleson, Secretary 
and Treasurer of the firm. 

