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MAPLE VALLEY IRIS GARDENS 



Greetings--1948 
We are limiting our catalog to Maple Valley Introductions this year. This is because 
we want to cut down the volume of our business to the size we can handle more per- 
sonally. Ours has become a hybridizer’s garden, and we just haven’t time to fill so 
many orders. 
We still grow clumps of the finest varieties from other breeders to use in hybridizing 
and for comparison with our own seedlings. We hope not to name any new irises that 
are even similar to those already in commerce. With thousands of seedlings, many of 
them in the eighth generation of carefully bred lines, we believe we can choose worth- 
while new ones that are different and better than any we have named before. We have 
no breeding secrets. The parentage records of all Whiting irises are given with the 
descriptions. The seedling number is also given to show what year each seedling first 
bloomed and was numbered. This shows how young or how old an iris is better than 
the date of introduction. The first two figures indicate the year—thus Rocket was 
No. 4215, which means that it was the 15th seedling to be numbered in 1942. The 15 
indicates that it was numbered fairly early in the season, so blooms early. 
We began breeding iris for fun and it still is a most fascinating pleasure. We have 
been, and still are, rugged individualists in choosing irises for naming. We breed iris 
for the garden, not for shows or for awards. That some of them have been given 
American Iris Society awards is a great joy and satisfaction to us, but it has never been 
our goal. Our constant aim is to produce new and pure colors in flowers of lasting 
substance and beauty in the garden. We do not apologize because some of our irises are 
of medium size and height or because some are not widely branched. We think that 
these characteristics are a distinct advantage in some varieties of garden iris. How 
monotonous a garden would be if all irises were held to a preconceived standard of 
height, size and style of stalk! Yet some judges would restrict us to just that. 
We were encouraged by what Mr. Fothergill wrote in the English Year Book for 
1947. “Garden Glory is a most emphatic self, unmarked at the hafts, in a rich deep 
wine color with a brown yellow beard; its texture is velvet and taffeta; classic flaring 
form and fine finish; a great iris and as it is a thirty-incher or thereabouts and has 
been widely praised, it seems, with Helen McGregor, to indicate that the fashion-period 
when nothing of moderate stature had a chance of recognition is now fortunately a 
thing of the past”. 
Garden Glory does grow to 34 or 36 inches occasionally here, but it is definitely 
one of the lower growing irises. Yet we are very proud of it. 
Wider branching would improve some of our irises, especially for show purposes and 
higher ratings. And yet when a gale blows many of the wide branched varieties to the 
ground, we are glad that some at least, have closely reefed sails and can weather the 
storm. Any flower looks better standing up than lying flat. 
Perhaps we have named too many irises. But with a very few exceptions, all of 
them have gained in popularity each year. We have risked the censure of many by 
naming and introducing some at very low prices. We have done this after serious 
deliberation because we think that everyone should have a chance at a few good new 
irises. The irises in our Personality Parade are almost as fine as the higher priced ones. 
They have bloomed so well in our garden that visitors have begged that we name and 
introduce them. Even at the 1947 Annual Meeting of the American Iris Society, two 
speakers made a plea for more moderately priced irises. So we give them to you. 
Variety is the spice of life. Let’s have variety—and spice. 

TERMS OF SALE 
CASH WITH ORDER—Check, draft or money order. 
POSTAGE FREPAID. Orders not accepted for less than $5.00. 
ORDER EARLY. Stocks are scarce and in great demand. 
TIME OF SHIPMENT. JULY or SEPTEMBER. We do not plant or ship during the 
hottest part of summer, usually in August. Please state which time you prefer—JULY 
or SEPTEMBER. 
WHOLESALE PRICES TO AUTHORIZED DEALERS ON REQUEST. 
