1948 
Cell’s Jris Gardens 
(Tell Muhlestein, owner and hybridizer) 
691 East 8th North — Provo, Utah 
ae 
Foreword 
GREETINGS IRIS FRIENDS, 
Some of you are friends and customers whom | have known for several 
years, while many are reading my greetings for the first time. 
Im wondering what some of you will think when you view this unpreten- 
tious catalogue this year. Those who know me, of course, know my great love, in 
this iris fancy, is hybridizing; so you have the answer when you see these pages 
crowded with pedigrees and explanations of the merits of these lovely flowers as 
parents. | might tell you to beware----- it is contageous (this “disease” of hybrid- 
dizing) for as one lady in Idaho wrote last year: “I just couldn't understand why 
you emphasized any iris breeding qualities when it was the flower I wanted for 
my garden, but this year I could resist no lon ger----I have become an iris hybrid- 
izer and you can bet” I'Il select the parents from now on. Write some more about 
hybridizing and the good parents. 
Some of you will recall that last year I gave some hints on breeding Wm. 
Mohr by opening the buds early (the day they are to open) and to pollinate all 
three stigmas before they have had a chance to dry. Well, several hybridizers 
wrote they had obtained their first seed from Wm. Mohr by using this method. 
I realize, of course, we cannot all give time and thought to hybridizing and the 
Hower is sought for its own beauty, so those who are “seeking the flower” may not 
like my short and unpicturesque descriptions, but I have endeavored to discard 
from my garden, and this list, varieties lacking in quality. I believe you will find 
almost every offering in this catalogue to bea good iris. Some of course are better 
than others, and | have tried to give a frank and honest opinion of their beauty or 
worth as they have performed in my garden. Not only do | STOW approximately ten 
thousand seedlings yearly, but | try to keep “up-to-date” with the best of the new 
introductions and many varieties are grown here ‘‘on trial’ even several years be- 
fore their introduction, so I think living with them as I do and having to discard 
severely, one learns to appraise the worth of any iris---old or new. Some varieties 
do better here than others, but we can grow them all even to the species oncocyc- 
lus so our judgment is in no way stinted. Anyone dislikes buying a new iris, 
thinking that a high price must make it good, only to find that some old timer 
“beats it every way for Sunday.” I not only find this true, but very often I have 
discarded hundreds of seedlings better than some of the new ones, and I cannot 
sell these inferior sorts just to get my money back, for it will cause “heart-aches’”’ 
elsewhere, and I know that I shall make more in the long run by the good things 
(1) 
