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The Home Gardener’s 
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Everyone immediately likens the new creations in IRIS to beautiful tropical Orchids. 
Modern Iris furnish the exotic and fascinating colorings of rare Orchids, yet can be grown 
with the utmost ease out-of-doors in anyone’s flower bed. Try for yourself some of the 
wonderful new releases of the hybridizers, or some of the alluring Aril Iris, and see if your 
visitors do not at once exclaim: “Why these look just like orchids!” 
CRIMSON BEAUTY (Austin '53) 44% Wonderful decorative possibilities. $10.00 
An extra large harmonizing red bitone with a spread of about 6 inches. Standards light 
bronzy gold with an infusion of crimson, sparkling in the sun. Falls large, spreading, rich, 
velvety dark crimson waved, and with a slight edging to match standards. Flush of bright 
amethyst at end of beard. Most striking feature is the very heavy white veining starting 
beside the beard and flowing out into the petals in a very attractive manner, setting this 
flower apart from all others. Very heavy bloomer with 2 or 3 flowers on each branch. 
Pollen abundant. M-40”. 
FANG YANG Y (Austin ’53) sex Elegance personified. $10.00 
The largest and finest self-colored Fancy | have ever seen. A little like Alladin’s Wish, but 
a flower of much more elegance and refinement. Standards silvery lilac, well-substanced, 
beautifully waved. Falls deep amethyst, veined in white over entire surface. Delicate 
brown lacework and stippling at haft. Harmonizing bronzy-gold beard. Style crests light 
lilac yellow. Superb branching with 8 to 12 flowers per stalk. A very distinctive flower 
of queenly elegance. EM-42”. 
Wi) TER FLAW E—Flaming red winter and spring bloomer, page 32. $15.00 
SCARLET TIGER and ORANGE TWOTONE—Colorful new Border Iris, 
page 9. Each $5.00 
SEPTEMBER SPARKLER—Percy Brown’s new fall bloomer, page 10. $5.00 
SANTA AN A—Dr. Lenz’s first Innominata hybrid, page 13. $3.00 
MY NEW MILESTONE SERIES, page 33. Thrifty prices for beginners $1.75 to $3.00 
Thousands of people drive long distances each spring to see my garden in full 
bloom. Each person likes to take home with him the realization that he can easily 
duplicate in his own garden various portions of my colorful displays, and thus 
add a measure of beauty and tranqutlity to his every day life. It is principally for 
those who live too far away to make the trip to Placerville that this catalog has 
been prepared. I endeavor by this means to capture and convey to you, wherever 
you are, the real-life beauty of the flowers themselves. Only lithography ts ade- 
quate for this purpose. I have tried the other methods of color reproduction and 
found them unsuttable to the exacting task of giving life-like representations of 
the delicate and entrancing colors of the Iris flowers themselves. 
My first lithographed natural-color catalog, sent out last year, brought an 
avalanche of enthusiastic comments. I am, therefore, again having my catalog 
lithographed, and am more than doubling the number of life-like color plates 
of rare and new Iris. I hope, then, that I have made it easier for you to decide 
just which of my 1,000 varieties you would like to have migrate this year from 
my garden to yours. By adding some new Iris each year, you can soon transform 
ET festa to a flowery paradise that will be your constant joy, and a mecca 
for all of your friends. 
Lhegd bustin 
“The first golden Iris bloomed today. It is so beautiful I send you this message 
of appreciation of the beauty you thusly radiate year after year into thousands 
of lives. Somehow I think that in this work of ever-breeding better tris you are 
doing something as effective as many of our clergymen.’’—C. M. Goethe, Author 
of Geogardening, Sacramento, Calif. 
OLOR INDEAING 
This catalog introduces, for the first time in any catalog, a revolutionary and entirely new 
system of directing you by means of colors to the important catalog features of special 
interest to you. For years Rainbow Offerings has been the only Iris catalog in the world 
with a full GUIDE for selecting varieties and a complete alphabetical index (page 35). 
Now with this added feature of spotlighting with colors, you have before you America’s 
most complete and informative Iris catalog with everything at your fingertips — multiple- 
indexed. You be the judge. 
HERE IS THE KEY TO THE MEANING OF THE COLORS: 
ees PREMIUMS, Surprise Gifts, Order Blanks, Guarantee, Testimonials, etc. 
See pages 17 to 20. 
[eoete] 
[ee] 
Pre-selected COLLECTIONS and group prices of choice varieties to save 
you both money and time. See page 18 for explanation. 
FLAMINGO or Tangerine-Bearded Pinks and Apricots. The most popular 
of all Iris. See pages 24-26. 
a) My Nomination of 1953’s most outstanding variety, Paradise Pink, page 24. 
Inexpensive varieties and special bargains for BEGINNERS. See pages 9, 
12, 16 and 33. 
| | 
with Choice feature varieties available this 
year in groups of 3 at very special LOW prices, some as low as 3 for LESS than the 
price of 2. See page 18. 
BLUE-TYPE VARIETY NAMES. Brand new 1953 Introductions. See pages 2, 9, 10, 13, 32 
and 33. 
To help you learn about the varieties and to plan your garden, | give the following in- 
formation in my variety descriptions: originator, year of introduction, stars to show my 
recommendations, award and symposium winners, descriptions and evaluations, fragrance 
if pronounced, season of bloom and, lastly, height in inches. 
% —One of my new listings of Iris varieties for 1953. 
x —My nominations for the most outstanding varieties and values for 1953. Some are 
exciting new creations; others are exceptionally fine standard varieties that | feel 
give you exceptional value considering their present low price. 
kk — One of the elite few to which | am this year giving my highest recommendation. 
Dykes— Dykes Memorial Medal. (Highest 
Award, yearly to the one best Iris.) 
Marked , page 27. — 
AM—Award of Merit. (Next to Highest.) 
Dykes RU and AM-RU—Runners-up. 
HM —Honorable Mention. 
HC—High Commendation. _ 
CC—Certificate of Commendation. 
Sym.—Latest Symposium (1952). 
from earliest to latest spring; EE, VE, E, EM, M, ML, L, and 
VL. To avoid the customary short Tall Bearded season, be sure to choose early, midseason 
and late varieties in each of the colors of greatest interest to you. Since the majority of 
varieties bloom at midseason, or nearly, you will need to give special thought to provide 
your garden with a good assortment of both the early bloomers and the late ones. 
| recommend particularly varieties recently 
honored by these Awards of American Iris 
Society. Varieties receiving highest awards 
during last 5 years have descriptions starting 
with names of awards in bold type. 
Everyone who orders from this catalog will automatically receive 
next year’s new revised edition without special request. If you are 
unable to order this year and desire to have next year’s catalog, 
please send 25c to partially cover the cost of lithographing and matl- 
ing. Should you desire to have copies of either this catalog or next 
year’s edition sent to some of your relatives or friends, please include 
25c for each such request. 
Here is another of the prize-winning Iris poems submitted in my 1951 con- 
test conducted with the help of The American Bard. 
The rainbow goddess visits earth 
From coast to coast when iris blooms 
And brings delight without a dearth 
In garments, woven on the looms 
So magical all colors known 
Make radiant the garden plots, 
She gives a beauty all may own— 
Transfiguring the ugly spots. 
—Anna W. Whitcomb 
One of my Iris fields. The bright blue is Chivalry and the deep yellow 
is Berkeley Gold. Among the reds are Red Amber, Red Valor and Red 
Velvet. You, too, are invited to make an annual pilgrimage to this spot 
where the Rainbow has come to earth. See page 20 for directions for 
reaching my Gardens. 
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