44 HENRY FIELD'S SEED SENSE FOR AUGUST, 1953—Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co., Shenandoah 
HENRY FIELD’S SEED SENSE 
“FOR THE MAN BEHIND THE HOE” 4 
Published by Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co. 
Field No. 1 Building * Shenandoah, lowa 
Contributors 
Pate Simmons (Seed & Nursery) 
Geo. Rose (Nursery) 
Irving Steurer (Garden Seed) 
—and our friends and customers 
Subscription Price—An Order to Henry Field’s 
Why You Should Fall Plant 
Fall planting is becoming more and more popular. We’ve 
been preaching it for years and now the state experiment sta- 
tions are heartily recommending it. With the exception of a 
few varieties of plants that should only be planted in the 
spring (these are not included in this catalog) there are dis- 
tinct advantages in fall planting and here are a few of them: 
(1) Plants get six-months head start. The roots of fall planted 
stock do considerable root growing in the late fall and 
early spring and become established well ahead of spring 
planted stock. = 
(2) Stand up better. Because they’re established, and since 
they have had the benefit of early moisture, the plants can 
take the first hot, dry summer weather better. 
(3) -Often bloom first spring. Fall planted plants often bloom 
the first spring, as Ley. are sufficiently éstablished” to 
do so. 
(4) .People can usually put in a better garden. Because most 
' + people are busier in the spring than in fall, they don’t put 
in nearly as many plants as they would like. In the fall 
you can do more leisurely, careful, and, therefore, better 
planting. 
Since you have to order spring blooming bulbs, such as 
Tulips, Hyacinths, ete., in the fall, just add whatever nursery 
stock and perennials you would like. We’ll send you first- 
class stock, in first-class condition and you can see for your- 
self how successful fall planting is. 
When We Ship Shrubs and Fruit Trees 
Each fall we receive letters from many of our customers 
asking why they haven’t received their shade trees, fruit trees, 
shrubs and roses, or why these items weren’t received at the 
same time they got their tulips, daffodils and other fall-planted 
bulbs. 
This article, we hope, will answer most of the questions you 
may have about when we ship things in the fall. 
Fall bulbs are ripe and ready to plant from about the early 
part of September on. Therefore, as soon as we receive them 
from Holland, we ship them right on to you. Most perennials 
are ready for planting by at least September 15, and these, too, 
are usually shipped out in a hurry. : 
But, with shade trees, fruit trees, shrubs and roses, it’s a 
different story. We can’t ship them until the plants are ripened 
by losing their foliage. Ordinarily it takes one or two good 
strong frosts to kill the foliage on this type of nursery stock. 
Then and only then can these items be dug and shipped. Of 
course, most people know we can’t go out and dig a shade tree~ 
in full leaf, wrap it up and send it to a customer. It would be 
a sorry sight by the time it was received. And it wouldn’t live 
anyway. So, we just have to sit and wait until Mother Nature 
gets the plants ready for us. 
Usually our shrubs, trees, ete., are ready for shipping about 
October 15—-sometimes a little later than that. But actually, 
even if we were able to send out these items before that time, 
they shouldn’t be planted that early anyway. The weather usu- 
ally is much too warm. In addition, no tree or shrub or rose 
will put on one single bit of outward growth the fall it is 
planted. It isn’t supposed to. It is going to sleep then for the 
winter—not coming to life. 
The idea behind fall planting is to get the stock into the 
ground so that it will become established before spring. Once 
in the ground it will make some root growth, and with the 
first breath of spring will be ready to shoot into full leaf— 
usually long before you could receive spring stock from us. 
We have found fall a natural time to plant nursery stock. 
We do most of our own nursery planting in the fall. We start 
about the latter part of October and-run on through November 
until freezing weather. It doesn’t matter in the least if there 
is a heavy crust on’ the ground at the time you plant. Just 
break through the frozen crust and plant the tree or shrub. 
Then mound it up well so that the frost will not heave it out 
questions you may have had about when to expect your nur; 
stock this fall. However, if we haven’t satisfactorily answ 
your particular question, please feel free to write us. 
always like to hear from our customers and we're ‘Sai 
Rappy | to be of service. : 
The “100 Most Popular Iris” 
Each year the American Iris Society conducts a poll ‘anon 
its members to determine the 100 ue popular Iris in the: 
country. 
Now it stands to reason that in aoc their favorite 
varieties, this. group of 4500 Iris lovers who make up the 
Society will pick Iris that have outstanding beauty, heavy 
blooming habits, and are good growers. Feeling that 4500 
experts can’t be wrong, we study the ‘100 Most Popular Iris”’ 
lists very carefully each year and to a great extent are guided 
by these-lists in making our selections for sales and planting. 
In the limited space that we have here we are not going to 
print the complete list of the ‘100 Most Popular Iris’ for 1953. _ 
We are, however, going to list the first 20 to show you that 
we do offer most of the very finest of all. The first 20 are: | 
No. 1—*OLA KALA. This is the fourth time this beau- 
tiful, free flowering golden yellow has led the list. — 
No. 2—*SABLE. A rich, deep black-violet all-time fa- — 
vorite. 
No. 8— GREAT LAKES. A classic blue beauty. : 
No. 4—*BLUE RHYTHM. Has taken about every award 
possible from the American Iris Society. 
No. 5—*BLUE SHIMMER. A large plicata- -white nr 
with blue stitching, 
No. 6—*LADY MOHR. 
No. 7—*ELMOHR. 
No. 8— CHIVALRY. 
No. 9—*SNOW FLURRY. 
No. 10—*SOLID MAHOGANY : 
No. 11—*PINK CAMEO. * 
No. 12—*WABASH. 
No. 13— BLUE MASTER CHARLES. 
No. 14—*MINNIE COLQUITT. 
No. 15—*BRYCE CANYON. 
No. 16—*MULBERRY ROSE. ; 
No. 17— AMIGO. ae Gy 
No. 18—*RANGER. OLA hes 
No. 19— HELEN McGREGOR. e aoa ee. 
No. 20—*AZURE SKIES. a. 
Of the above 20, we offer 15 in this catalog—either on 
pages 8 and 9 or the front cover. The varieties in the above 
list with stars in front of their names are the ones we offer. 
The 5 varieties we do not carry are all blue and were left 
out so as not to overbalance our list on the blue side. 
As you will notice, if you check the prices of these Iris, 
most of the varieties are comparatively inexpensive. ‘They 
aren’t the brand new, untested $15 and $25 varieties; nor ar e- - 
they the much publicized, frilled and bedecked debutantes that _- 4 
may or may not make the grade. Instead, they are the good 2g 
solid varieties that have proven their worth beyond a jou 
All in all, it’s not hard to see that we offer some truly o a 
standing Iris. Many of the world’s very best varieties! And, 
one of the important things to keep in mind, whether you’ re 
buying some of the above better, more acclaimed Iris, or some | 
of our other fine varieties, is that we sell our Iris as pen ee : 
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— 
as possible. We don’t think you’ll find a place in the ae a 
where you can buy fine Iris for less than our prices. Se) ee ae 
sure appreciate eaneine it. We send out a catalog to each 
by name on our list, but sometimes different members of famili 
different name is put down. So, two or more catalogs are sel . 
to the same address, and because of this we sometimes dol 
have enough copies to go around. If you do have an ra 
catalog please do us a favor by passing it on to a friend, nd 
then let us know about it on the coupon below. Thanks 
[] I received more than one catalog or copy of Seed s nse. — 
My ame dsc. a eee aoe aaah gar or Rt.. 
Maz 40 Wii face 4 oes ee ee Bae 
Duplicate is addressed to.... 
