Dic=DuNG 
PUBLISHED BY 
WAYLAND DAHLIA GARDENS 
EK. R. & H. M. Ryno, Props. 
Wayland, Michigan 
SEASON OF 1952 
Dahlia Classification 
While many of the Dahlia Societies 
and Shows have their own classifica- 
tion on dahlias, we have always fol- 
lowed the method of classification 
used by nearly all commercial grow- 
ers. This is as follows:— 
POMPONS — This class includes 
the small button dahlias up to 2 
inches in diameter. 
MINIATURES — This class in- 
cludes the small blooms, usually of 
the decorative type, which grow from 
2 to 3 inches in diameter. 
LARGE FLOWERING DAHLIAS 
This class includes the several types 
known as 
1. Art or Peony Flowered, blooms 
having broad petals and usually open 
centers. 
2. Ball or Show, blooms well round- 
ed and with quilled petals and full 
centers. 
38. Cactus, this type is usually 
found in three forms, the Straight 
cactus, having straight pointed quil- 
led petals, the Incurved cactus hav- 
ing pointed quilled petals curved in- 
ward toward center of bloom and the 
Hybrid cactus having petals broad at 
the base but with pointed quilled tips. 
4. Decoratives, blooms of this type 
have broad petals with full centers 
and are either Formal, having petals 
arranged formally in the blooms or 
Informal, having petals arranged in 
a more or less fluffy or shaggy man- 
ner. 
The blooms of the large flowering 
class range from 3% inches in dia- 
meter up to the so called dinner- 
plate size which is 9 inches or more 
in diameter. 
It will be noted that we refrain 
so far as possible from giving di- 
mensions of any variety as the size 
of the bloom depends so largely upon 
the grower and his methods of cul- 
ture. Some growers produce blooms 
as large as 14 inches using heavy 
fertilization and disbudding while 
others produce biooms of half the 
size under ordinary culture. 
Many growers such as florists and 
cut-flower growers do not want ex- 
tremely large blooms while others, 
growing flowers for exhibition pur- 
poses, prefer the giant blooms and 
naturally follow the methods of cul- 
ture necessary to produce such 
blooms. 
There are several other types of 
dahlias which we do not grow be- 
cause we have not found them of 
sufficient commercial interest These 
(Continued from first page) 
In making up a list of varieties for 
mail order catalog trade it is quite 
important for you to consider the 
availability of the different varieties 
listed. New varieties are being 
brought out every year and as many 
of these are listed in the various 
Honor Rolls published in the leading 
flower magazines there is a strong 
tendency toward listing these new 
varieties in your catalog. If you is- 
sued a thousand catalogs this would 
be all right. You could include almost 
any variety in your list because you 
wouldn’t sell more than a few roots 
of a kind; but when you come to is- 
sue from a million to a million and 
a half or more copies, as many of 
our customers do, you have to have 
thousands of roots of each variety 
listed available and this means sev- 
eral years growing after a variety is 
introduced. 
We try out practically all the new 
varieties as soon as they are offered 
and if they make good under field 
culture we list them just as soon as 
we have enough of them to make 
them of interest to our class of trade. 
If you will look over the list of 
varieties we offer you will find in- 
cluded therein the very best dahlias 
which have ever been produced. 
Nearly all of those listed at 10c or 
more each are Honor Roll varieties 
which are generally recognized as 
those having the highest ratings in 
the trial grounds. 
In this connection it might be well 
are such dahlias the Anemone type, 
Duplex type and the various novelty 
types such as the green flowered 
dahlias, Verdi-Flora, the Collarette 
type, the Single or Century type and 
the so called Dwarf or Bedding dah- 
lias known as Unwin or Coltness Hy- 
bee which are usually grown from 
seed. 
NOTE THIS 
Dahlias 
Be sure each dahlia tuber has an eye ~ 
(A) where it joins last year’s stem, 
or it won't grow. Tuber (B) should 
feel plump or rubbery, never soft or 
mushy. Buy top grade and ignore size 
and shape (C) of tubers since varieties 
often differ greatly in this respect 
BETTER HOMES & GARDENS, MARCH, 1950 
for us to say something about prices. 
We base our prices solely upon cost 
of production. Many of the factors 
entering into this cost are staple 
and the same for all varieties. For 
example, rent, fitting the ground, 
planting, fertilizing, cultivation and 
harvesting cost exactly the same for 
one variety as for another. The 
newer a variety is the higher the 
cost of planting stock and the more 
roots a variety produces the lower 
the cost of the resultant crop 
Our Slogan 
Grown where Dahtlias GOW heat 
A-good slogan is not necessarily 
the work of some clever advertising 
writer but rather an application of 
the old rule of the poet, 
“Though old the thought, and oft 
expressed, ’T is his at last who says 
it best.” 
This idea is also well stated in 
Pope’s “Essay on Criticism,” as fol- 
lows: 
“True wit is Nature to advantage 
dressed, 
What oft was thought, but ne’er so 
well expressed; 
Something, whose truth convinced 
at sight we find, 
That gives us back the image of 
our mind.” 
In our slogan “Grown where Dah- 
lias grow best,’ we think we have 
met these requirements perfectly be- 
cause we actually believe.we grow 
better dahlias here in Michigan than 
we could grow in any other part of 
the country. We do not have quite 
so long a growing season as in states 
farther south and consequently do 
not grow so large a root as is grown 
in such states; but we do get a fully 
matured root and our crop is not 
bothered with cucumber beetles, aster 
flies, tarnished plant bugs, etc., 
which are very prevalent in warmer 
climates and usually necessitate 
spraying, an extra expense which we 
do not have. As to the size of roots, 
the smaller size root is much more 
desirable for mailing purposes, es- 
pecially with postal rates advancing 
as they are and we really believe 
the smaller root produces a better 
plant and a better flower than too 
large roots. We call your attention 
to the clipping from Better Homes 
and Gardens as reproduced elsewhere 
on this page. Remember all our stock 
is Strictly top grade and we feel that 
we must be giving very satisfactory 
stock to our customers or they would 
not buy from us year after year as 
they do. 
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