é 
Ss ort ALTE 
It’s been a favorite subject with us 
for a long time, and since so many 
of you have written to us we believe 
that it is of interest to you, too. 
Here’s what it says about them 
in Bailey’s Standard Cyclopedia of 
Horticulture: 
“Hedera—ancient Latin name of 
the Ivy, Araliaceae. Evergreen 
shrubs, climbing by areal root- 
lets; lvs. alternate, long-peti- 
oled, etc., etc.” 
Well, that’s fine, but it is not the 
kind of information our garden 
friends ask us about, so we shall 
close this excellent reference guide 
and talk shop in common garden 
terms. We'll give you the practical, 
down-to-earth advice that comes out 
of our years of experience growing 
these plants here at Thorndale. 
WHAT'S SO GOOD ABOUT 
THORNDALE SUB-ZERO 
ENGLISH IVIES? 
THEY ARE EXTREMELY 
HARDY. Reports from all parts of 
the United States indicate that 
these Ivies have withstood severe 
weather conditions where many 
other hardy vines failed. Here’s 
what a veteran horticulturist says 
in his garden column “Things Out- 
Of-The-Ordinary” (Flower Grower, 
January 1952) 
“Last winter was the first time 
we have had a plant of Hedera 
helix come through the winter 
with foliage intact above the 
snow line. It may have been 
the luck of the Irish, good lo- 
cal weather conditions or the 
natural sturdiness of Thorn- 
dale Farm’s (Woodstock, Illi- 
nois) strain of English ivy. 
The situation—a brick surface 
of an outside chimney facing 
north—is a trying one and we 
may never be able to attain a 
long-held goal of covering the 
chimney with ivy foliage. 
However these Thorndale 
plants give us hope.” 
It gets cold up there in Michi- 
gan, and it gets cold and rough in 
Woodstock, which is 50 miles N.W. 
of Chicago. 31°F. below (winter 
1951) but in the summer, it goes 
as high as 102°F. in the shade. 
THEY ARE THE TESTED 
PRODUCT OF A PLANT 
SPECIALIST 
Years ago a nurseryman would 
grow a little of everything, or tried 
to. That was all right in “the good 
old days”. But today’s better in- 
formed gardeners are no_ longer 
satisfied with inferior plants. Spe- 
cialists in Roses, Iris, Peonies, 
Chrysanthemums, to name just a 
few, grow these popular plants to 
a perfection which the general nur- 
seryman seldom matches. 
The specialist knows the im- 
portance of “good blood” and 
works unceasingly to improve his 
stock by selection and development 
of hardy parent plants. This is 
Thorndale’s real capital — tested 
parent stock plants from which all 
our plants originate—the plants we 
send to you. 
The more routine work of plant 
propagation is also important. 
Through years of experience and 
observation, he knows when it is 
just the right time for the next step 
in developing the plants he sends 
to you. It is imperative, for exam- 
ple, that a plant, especially a 
potted ivy or vine, be transplanted 
