REPORT TO OUR CUSTOMERS 
Our ambition to grow the best and finest bulbs of 
daffodils, iris and lilies, is, as real life is to most men, a 
perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possi- 
ble. Our ideal is to grow bulbs second to none, of such 
high quality that good results with them must be inevi- 
table. We try to ship them at the right time, to pack 
them in such a manner that they reach our customers 
in perfect condition. We should like to have large stocks 
of all the better varieties so that we can fill all orders in 
full and yet grow no more than the demand warrants. 
Being at the mercy of the weather, subject to the 
deficiencies of soils and the vagaries of human errors, 
we realize that we often fall short of the aims we have 
set ourselves. Yet, we continually strive for perfection, 
for improvement in the quality of the bulbs, for further 
refinement and worthwhile innovation in our variety 
selection and in our services. Whatever small measure 
of success we have achieved leaves us conscious of the 
many imperfections and the shortcomings yet to be 
corrected. 
Some success we have had and we acknowledge it 
gratefully. We are also duly thankful for the support 
that you, our friends and customers, have given us. 
Without that backing and without the impressive orders 
for our bulbs we could not have financed the hybrid- 
izing ventures to which we have devoted such a major 
part of our income and efforts. Much of this work will 
never show a material profit. Yet its aesthetic rewards 
and the challenge that our initial successes give us, spur 
all of us on to greater effort and to an even more inten- 
sive application to the task before us. 
While your material recognition, your orders and 
recommendations to other buyers, are extremely valua- 
able to us, we are no less grateful to all those of our 
friends who have extended a helping hand in advising 
and counseling us in matters of variety selection, pro- 
motion and publicity. It is no easy task to select from 
among the hundreds of avenues of approach in breeding 
new plants, the few roads we can afford to travel, the 
dozen or so that will give the greatest promise of success. 
It is even more difficult to select from among the thou- 
sands of magnificent new seedlings those clones or 
strains that will meet with popular approval. We deeply 
appreciate both your advice and criticism. 
Your visits to our farms and breeding grounds are 
more than a friendly gesture. To us your presence 
means that you take an active interest in our work and 
Pace 2 
that you will give us the benefit of your experience in 
the selection of new flowers, that you will let us profit 
from your taste and preferences. It means even more 
than that, for we feel that the seedsman cannot sell his 
clients, cannot promote real enthusiasm among the gar- 
deners, if he himself is not imbued with a deeply felt 
and genuine love of new plants. To know of this material 
is not enough, even though this may also be the best 
compromise between the ideal and the possible. If you 
can come and visit, then by all means do so. See the 
new plants actually growing. For in this case seeing is 
believing. 
During the months of June, July and August we can 
show you new lilies, during April and early May the 
new daffodils and during the latter part of May the 
bulbous iris. As our listing in the back of this book 
will show, the daffodils comprise the best of Dutch, 
English and American varieties. We are furthermore 
testing a number of Australian and New Zealand novel- 
ties, which, to say the least, should be of great interest 
to all American daffodil fanciers. We also have a num- 
ber of new seedlings of our own—daffodils which we 
look upon with pride and with considerable satisfaction. 
They may never become the “King Alfreds” of the 
future. In fact, we should not wish them to be, for their 
appeal is not for the many. They come in new tones of 
pink, in odd “reversed” shades of lemon-yellow and in 
tones of copper and buff-orange. There are also some 
pure whites and good self-colored yellow trumpets and 
many little daffodils for the rock-garden. Although 
many of them have no commercial possibilities, they 
are, nevertheless, very pretty and I know you will enjoy 
seeing them. 
The iris cover the well-known range of “de Graaff” 
novelties and of the standard varieties. Naturally 
enough, it is a matter of pride to us that these fine iris 
which have found universal acceptance, are the product 
of my family’s life-long endeavor to produce better 
bulbs. To raise a number of iris, such as Yellow Queen, 
White Excelsior, Wedgwood and many others and, 
during one’s lifetime, to see them not only popularly 
accepted, but raised by the hundreds of millions so that 
in iris season they adorn every flowershop in the north- 
ern hemisphere is a great achievement. It is a source of 
pleasure for me to be able to mention that my father, 
W. H. de Graaff not only originated all these iris and 
many others, but that he first conceived the idea of the 
crosses that made these hybrids possible, that he carried 
from OREGON BULB FARMS, Gresham, Oregon, 1950 
