OREGON BULB FARMS 
GRESHAM, OREGON 
Report To Our Customers: 
Again the time has come to prepare our annual 
catalog of the daffodils, lilies and iris that we have 
to offer. Every year this date comes earlier. Our 
customers are anxious to have advance information 
on prices and descriptions of the varieties that we 
shall have available; our printers need the copy 
earlier than ever if they are to have the finished 
books ready on time and, finally, the magazine 
editors and garden writers like to have our latest 
descriptive list before them so that they too can 
draw information from itfor articles theyare planning 
for the coming year. 
The present list is more comprehensive than ever 
in the offerings of our own originations. For the 
first time in all the years we have worked in this 
country we feel confident enough to include a large 
group of our own daffodil hybrids. We offer new 
doubles, new triandrus hybrids, pink and lemon- 
colored daffodils. As we shall explain in the intro- 
duction of the daffodil section, we have hesitated to 
extend the already long list of daffodil varieties. We 
do, however, have these beautiful new flowers that 
stand comparison with all we have seen from abroad 
and, perhaps more important, are very different from 
any we have seen from other sources. For these 
reasons they are included in this book. 
We are also adding a very few new lilies to our 
already extensive list of introductions. The farther 
we go with our lily breeding, the more cautious we 
are to name and introduce still more varieties or 
strains. Stocks of these new types accumulate, how- 
ever,and theyare far too good to be discarded again. 
We shall set forth our theories and standards in 
their proper place in this catalog. Suffice it to say 
here that we believe that if the balance were struck 
between what we did and did not introduce during 
the past ten years, we shall be found to have erred 
on the side of conservatism. 
The sections referring to our commercial type 
daffodils, the novelties of ten and fifteen years ago 
and those referring to our iris are largely unchanged. 
In both we have arrived, by a laborious and long- 
drawn-out process of trial and error at a list of 
basically sound offerings. By dint of rigorous selec- 
tion we are keeping our stocks up to strength and 
free from all diseases and pests. While it may be 
debated that there is a place for some of the old 
varieties we offer, we do feel that a well-grown John 
Evelyn, a Silver Star or an Aerolite daffodil is very 
hard to beat. The general public is still not con- 
vinced that anything but yellow daffodils exists. We 
must educate them by supplying excellent standard 
varieties at reasonable prices. We have deliberately 
tried to keep our listing free from superlatives of 
conventional catalog writing. 
Packaged bulbs will still be found in this cata- 
log, much as we should like to abandon that venture. 
We do, however, have the attractive boxes and we 
have the stock to fill them. We are convinced now, 
after we made the original investment, that such 
packages have no place in our scheme of growing 
and selling selected high-quality bulbs. The public 
seems to connect a packaged-bulb offer almost auto- 
matically with cheapness. Ours are competitive, as 
are all our offerings, with any other offer of bulbs 
of good quality. They are not as cheap as some that 
are on the market. We do not intend to give our 
bulbs away at prices that are below the cost of 
production of good stock. 
What the future holds for us and our customers, 
no one can say. That there are vast opportunities 
for horticulture in this beautiful country of ours can- 
not be gainsaid. There are still large, well-populated 
sections of our country where no outlets for high- 
quality horticultural merchandise exist; there are 
others where substantial improvement could be made. 
The success of the few forward-looking garden cen- 
ters, established bynurseries or seed stores in some 
sections of our country, points to similar poss ibili- 
ties elsewhere. All over the country we see older 
houses being remodeled and brought up-to-date. We 
see large sub-divisions with thousands of new 
homes. Gardens are being renovated or newly built. 
The growing subscription lists of our garden mag- 
azines, the success of many of our larger nurseries 
and of the garden stores, all point to a renaissance 
of garden interest. This is, in fact, a return, all over 
the country, to that requisite of good citizenship 
and a happy family life—a pleasant home and a well 
cared for garden. Our vigorous, selected varieties 
of daffodils, lilies and iris can play a role in that 
picture. Since our business is exclusively whole- 
sale, we must look to our customers to do the actual 
selling. We stand ready to cooperate with them at 
all times. 
Sincerely fours, 
de 
AND AF id 
Gresham, Oregon N DE GR F, President 
January 1952 
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