Fancy Leaved Caladiums 
We must give credit to Dr. Henry Nehrling who first 
brought the Fancy Leaved Caladium to Florida and 
started to develop it for commercial use. Dr. Nehrling 
writes in his book "My Garden In Florida”: 
“The year 1893 may be properly called a red letter year 
of my life. It was the year of the World’s Columbian 
Exposition in Chicago. Here I saw, for the first time in my 
life, masses of the new Fancy Leaved Caladiums. They 
came from the largest hybridizer of these brilliant foliage 
plants, Adolph Lietze in Rio de Janeiro. When I admired 
the richness and brilliancy of these often translucent col- 
ors, 1 was reminded of art, not of nature. My collections of 
various plants of all kinds of Fancy Leaved Caladiums 
surpassed them all. 
“After receiving a few specimen bulbs, I started hybridiz- 
ing and succeeded in developing many new varieties, 
which are today being grown in Florida in large quan- 
tities. 
“In the summer my fields have been visited by thousands 
of people where I had a planting of 250,000 Caladiums 
every year and the admiration for these beautiful foliage 
plants by the visitors encouraged me to continue hybridiz- 
ing and where I finally produced as many as 1500 new 
kinds. No pen or pencil can give an idea of the indescrib- 
able beauty of these colored masses when they are at 
their best. The color ranges from the purest white to the 
deepest red, and from the most delicate transparent bluish 
and pinkish white to the deepest translucent claret, scarlet 
and purple.” 
Florida owes to Dr. Nehrling a reward that unfortu- 
nately his passing deprived him of receiving. In Florida 
there are about five million bulbs being produced every 
year. We, the American Bulb Co., are supplying bulbs 
throughout America and many European countries. This 
year there will be from three to five million bulbs distrib- 
uted throughout America and foreign countries. 
About 12 years ago, I personally introduced Fancy 
Leaved Caladiums in a large way. While many florists 
have grown them in a small way, today several hundred 
thousand bulbs go to the State of California to florists, as 
they have recognized it is one of the most valuable pot 
plants they can grow. 
Many growers have seen the advantage of this beau- 
tiful foliage plant. It is being used for window boxes 
where it performs well all during the Summer in any 
climate. We, the American Bulb Co., compliment our- 
selves on the largest crop, having growers who grow for 
us exclusively the best selected varieties. 
In 1954 we will introduce about 10 new varieties that 
are now in cultivation that we are developing stocks of. 
We assure florists, who are desirous of getting the latest 
and finest Fancy Leaved Caladium bulbs, that we can 
supply them. 
A. MILLER, President 
AMERICAN BULB CO. 
FOR PRICES SEE 
INSIDE FRONT COVER 
