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Al Garden Didgeot Lue LE the Loa ates 
Roses of ©esterday 
“Fashion may have changed but beauty never.” 
Here in a picturesque setting of redwoods, maples, alders, and 
mountain stream, the Lesters have planted, through the long, devoted 
years, a host of lovely “roses of yesterday.” Many a bygone and 
forgotten California garden has contributed to this collection. 
More recently, beds of modern hybrid teas have been established 
so that their merits might be judged first hand, under conditions 
similar to the average garden. These roses, old and new, are the parent 
plants from which the annual crop is propogated. 
The gardens are at their best bloom in late May or early June. It 
is then that we record, annually, our “garden notes” which will be 
quoted frequently in the descriptions which follow. We think you 
will enjoy the mellow words of the old-time writers who loved these 
roses well and wrote the “King’s English.” Our special gratitude to 
Mr. Roy Shepherd, whose views are much repeated herein; no-one 
is better qualified to judge the merits of the “yesterdays” as they 
bloom in his large and beautiful garden at Medina, Ohio. 
“Old roses are not competing with modern roses, any more than 
are iris, peonies, cotoneasters or snowballs .. . Pleasure in them is 
different ... their uses and garden habits serve different ends... 
says Mrs. Keays, in “Old Roses,” 1935. And no rose-garden, how- 
ever small, is complete without at least a few of them, in separate 
grouping, to add the charm and fragrance of days long past. 
