The WILDS of Missouri proudly present NEW 
INTRODUCTIONS . . NEW PRIZE WINNING 
PEONIES, IRIS and DAYLILIES 
at new low prices from 
“THE PEONY CAPITAL OF AMERICA" 
Mr. and Mrs. Christman pose with the four Wilds’ in Field Number 18. 
Stop, look and plan your new garden with Peonies, Iris, Heme- 
rocallis (daylilies) and Daffodils as we bring you our new Fall 
1951-Spring 1952 catalog. You have never seen so many new crea- 
tions of these lovely flowers as we so proudly present to you in 
the following pages of our new edition of “Flowers from the Wilds 
of Missouri.” This colorful new Wild guide brings many delightful 
surprises to the flower fanciers of America. 
There are 11 new introductions of gorgeous Peony plants and 
many 1950 national prize winning varieties described and _ illus- 
trated. We combed the entire United States and Canada in search 
of the finest Peonies grown. We flew more than 5,000 miles to find 
one new, aristocratic origination, the DORIS COOPER. Other new 
discoveries will be available next year. Thus we have spent our 
life, along with considerable money, in specializing in these flowers, 
and feel that we have secured the most outstanding collection of 
varieties of which we know for your careful consideration. We 
have seen the beauty of all of these and would like to share their 
loveliness with you. 
Our experience with Peonies, covering the past 66 years, has 
thoroughly convinced us that the Peony is our favorite. With a 
minimum of care, the proper attention, good soil that is well 
drained, and cultivation, wonderful results may be expected. 
For hardiness, durability, beauty and general use, there is 
nothing to excel the Peony as a perennial to grace the garden. 
It can rightfully be called the “King of Perennials.” 
The orchid of the garden, the IRIS. The Iris is a flower that 
is easily grown, has an extremely wide range of colors and has 
truly become one of the most popular flowers grown. Although 
we do not introduce any new Iris, we try to stock nearly all the 
newly introduced varieties for our display gardens and fields. If 
you do not find an Iris listed, please inquire about it. 
Then, too, the Hemerocallis or daylily has a pleasing range of 
color as well as a nice range in blooming season. By a wise selec- 
tion of the daylily you can have blooms in your garden from spring 
to fall; we have daylilies in bloom in Sarcoxie from the last of 
May until the first of October with favorable weather. Each bloom 
of the Hemerocallis lasts for only a day; because of this short 
period of life each bloom puts forth great effort to be very beau- 
tiful that one day. The blooming season of each variety is length- 
ened by the great number of buds that appear on each scape. 
Children instinctively love flowers; the beauty and character- 
istics of the flowers easily become a part of those whose child- 
hood is spent among growing plants. What greater heritage can 
one give to his family than the memory of childhood hours spent 
in the quiet beauty of the garden. 
It is with these thoughts that we present the offerings in the 
following pages. It is our wish to serve you and to serve you well. 
Sincerely, 
GILBERT H. WILD & SON. 
SARCOXIE, MISSOURI 
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THE NATIONAL PEONY SHOW-1950 
The most eventful two days in the life of the Ozark foothills 
town of Sarcoxie, Missouri, were May 27 and 28, 1950, as the an- 
nual exhibition of the AMERICAN PEONY SOCIETY was held in 
Sarcoxie at that time. The press and radio of four states and 40,000 
personal invitations mailed out gave the Peony Show in Sarcoxie 
wide publicity and resulted in the overflow of our small town. 
Over three thousand paid admissions at the show and over 50,000 
visitors to our peony fields west of town. Many of the visitors 
came by car, train and plane from distant states and Canada. 
As is the long established custom, a flower tour is held in our 
Ozark community every spring. But the 1950 season was a bit 
special, aS we were one of the hosts to our many flower loving 
friends and to the prominent honor fuests of prominent flower 
authorities and the American Peony Society. The American Peony 
Society accepted our invitation to hold their National Peony Show 
of 1950 in Sarcoxie; thus the National Peony Show was unique in 
that it was held in the smallest town (population 1200), the farth- 
est south and the earliest it has ever been. 
We were very happy to be awarded the American Peony So- 
ciety Gold Medal for class number one, in which we exhibited 
between 50 and 60 varieties of peonies. The following list consists 
of the peonies shown by us in the show that were elected by the 
judges to go to the Court of Honor: 
Best semi-double from class 11. RARE CARVING. 
Best single from classes 15, 16, 17, 34. PRES. LINCOLN. 
Best herbaceous hybrid from classes 18, 19, 34. GOLDEN 
GLOW. 
The American Home Achievement Medal winner: THE 
MIGHTY MO. 
A. P. 8S. Bronze Medal for best Japanese in the show: NIP- 
PON GOLD. 
A. P. S. Bronze Medal for best single in the show: PRES. 
LINCOLN. 
A. P. 8. Bronze Medal for best herbaceous hybrid in the show: 
CHOCOLATE SOLDIER. 
OUR DISPLAY AT THE FLOWER SHOW 
