Spring opened in the middle of February with a fine stand of primrose seedlings. 
The advances, especially in pinks and blues, were so great that it was difficult to 
decide which ones to keep for breeding. Among the blues which have reached 
the state of large polyanthus only in the last two years, were several plants with 
individual florets 2” across, a goal at which I have been aiming for many years. 
As the bulk of our plants are channeled to retail nurseries all over the Pacific Coast 
for resale, I watched the trucks being loaded as the first lots went out. There were 
primroses among them that I would have given almost anything for a few years 
ago to add to my breeding stock. We were cleaned out of 80,000 plants in four 
weeks and could not satisfy half the demand. If you wish to see our primroses at 
their best and select your plants, March 1 is the best date. 
The new crop of delphinium seedlings in July reached a purity of color and 
uniformity of fine spikes approaching at last the standard for which I have been 
shooting. Black Knight and King Arthur were perhaps the best. A complete new 
series of Cameliard gave me finally the coloring I wanted. Among the Guinevere 
series were some of the biggest delphiniums I have ever seen, the individual 
florets reaching as much as four inches across with proportionately large flower 
spikes. The blues are more difficult to breed and less spectacular in advances, yet 
our Summer Skies is more in demand than any other color or type. The new 
Astolat series gave unusual color effect when blooming in a mass, and some of 
them in the evening light looked quite red in the young stage. In strong sun- 
light these colors lose a great deal of their charm, but from the enthusiastic letters 
we have been receiving from people who have grown them, I feel that the work 
of the year was justified. Do not judge Astolat in the strong sunlight. This is a 
flower of the early morning and evening light. Time your visit during early July 
to catch both our delphinium and tuberous begonias at their best. 
The tuberous begonia show in our greenhouses during June, July, and August 
was the finest we have ever had. The weather was extremely favorable, cool and 
foggy most of the summer. The young seedlings in our lath houses came into full 
bloom already in July. By far the greatest advances were made in the lighter 
shades of the ruffled novelties which are really spectacular begonias. The rose 
form is far more difficult to breed, and the percentages of good seedlings is always 
less than in the ruffled forms. The exception in the rose form is the new Picotee, 
an example of which we are presenting on the cover of our catalog. Although 
when we started breeding, the picotees were the poorest of the double types, they 
are now among the finest. A hundred thousand visitors inspected our nursery 
during the summer. You really haven’t seen what begonias can be until you 
come and see our greenhouses at their best in early July. We close our green- 
houses after Labor Day as the flowers then are past their best, and we are very 
busy with crosspollinating. However, our fields reach their peak in August and 
September, and there will still be plenty for you to see if you come later. 
VETTERLE & REINELT 
