Preface 
TO MY MANY FLOWER-MINDED FRIENDS AND 
CUSTOMERS.—The 1952 year has just closed and it is time 
to get out another catalogue. This year I am in a much 
better frame of mind than I was last time I prepared a 
catalogue. I am at a loss to understand it, but the past season 
was a good one for mums despite the fact that we had an 
almost completely “dry” summer. How the mums managed 
to bloom with only an occasional “light” shower throughout 
the entire summer and fall I probably will never know. How- 
ever, they did just that, so I guess I should not try to find 
out why—just accept the good fortune and let it go at that. 
BLOOMING DATES 
Blooming dates are very much desired by most people 
who grow mums outside (as most of my customer-friends 
do), and I have included them. However, they are approxi- 
mations only and I have leaned over backwards in trying not 
to convey the wrong impression as to blooming dates. If 
there is any error it will be that the variety blooms earlier 
(not later) than the date I have given. In figuring blooming 
dates for your locality, remember the blooming date advances 
as one goes north and recedes as one goes south. For instance 
a variety in full bloom here will not reach a similar stage 
in New Orleans until a week later. This should enable you to 
adjust the dates to your locality. 
DELIVERY DATES AND TYPE OF PLANTS 
Delivery will be made this spring—from the last of 
March on and will consist of small “plants”—not the ordinary 
“rooted cutting” that requires potting up and growing on 
some time before they can be set in their permanent location. 
The plants I will ship you may be either a root division 
taken off and grown in a cold frame until it has reached the 
“plant” stage, or a rooted cutting that has been grown in a 
cold frame until it also has reached the “plant” stage. In 
either case the plants may be set in their permanent location 
promptly on arrival. They will be shipped bare root, wrapped 
in damp moss and then carefully packed in excelsior. When 
the weather warms up holes will be cut in the package to 
provide good ventilation. In the far western tier of states 
shipment by air is strongly recommended, and if you desire 
this please be sure to include sufficient postage to cover air 
shipment. Air shipment is not nearly as expensive as would 
appear at first glance, as plants so shipped are shipped in 
cellophane bags without any packing material whatever. 
Since they stay cool while en route they can be shipped 
across the US and arrive at destination just as fresh as when 
they started their journey—yet not a particle of packing 
material is around the roots. In fact last year I shipped a 
package of mums so packed to Namur, Belgium, and they 
arrived in good condition. 
RAIN-PROOF PLANT LABELS 
While I am so very careful to label each plant that I 
ship correctly and recommend to all my customer-friends 
that they permanently mark each variety, I receive each fall 
a number of letters from customers who wish me to identify 
a certain bloom that they particularly like—stating usually 
that they just left the paper label on the plant and naturally 
it was not there when the plant bloomed. Since so many 
customers don’t permanently label their mums, this year I 
have decided to use a different kind of label—a paper label 
all right, but one that is very resistant to water and one 
that will enable the name to be read with ease in the fall. 
These labels will not “go to pieces” as will the ordinary paper 
label, and while I still say you should permanently mark 
