1954 Greetings 
Dear Iris Friends: 
First of all I want to say “Thanks” for the hun- 
dreds of letters of appreciation from all of you who 
have purchased stock from me. I have enjoyed them 
more than I can say and it pleases me greatly to know 
that you like the rhizomes and find them so hardy. 
To those of you receiving this catalogue for the first 
time and who are not already customers; may I say, 
why not send us a trial order and let us show you 
what midwestern quality and value can be. 
Again I want to invite you to visit our gardens 
during the blooming season, you are welcome, one and 
all. Many of you will be going through, either on your 
way to or from the Salt Lake City convention and I 
believe that should you be able to stop here you would 
find our bloom at nearly peak. I think you will find 
much of interest as we have close to three hundred 
new varieties on trial and fully as many guest seed- 
lings, and we have the largest fields of our own seed- 
lings to bloom this year that we have grown for several 
years. For those of you interested in the dwarf iris, 
“Oy should I call them Miniatures?” I might add, that 
we will bloom over two hundred varieties as well as 
some seedlings of our own. And we are looking forward 
to bloom on the Lilliput hybrids originated by Mr. 
Douglas. 
As I write this we are having a springlike first 
of March which has of course already produced that 
urge to poke around and snoop under the covering on 
the fields and beds with the result that I am happy 
to be able to say that everything looks fine and gives 
promise of much bloom this season. 
Among the new things we are looking forward to 
is the new black Top Hat from Bob Schreiner, Lady 
Rogers from Judge Guy Rogers, Pink Fulfillment, New 
Adventure and others from Tell Muhlestein, Rose 
Garland and Right Royal from Mr. Wills, Blue Cascade 
and Satin Finish from Mr. Howe, Bright Gem and the 
much talked of Rehobeth from the DeForests, Crepe 
Suzette, Concordia and the very heavily ruffled and 
frilled Frivol from Mrs. Whiting, many new seedlings 
from Henry Sass including No, 53-156 that stunning 
new color break with the rich brown standards and 
clear blue falls. Well, there are just too many to list 
here but I do hope you can come and enjoy them with 
us. 
Once again requests for extra copies of the cata- 
logue with our ‘““Hybridizing Hints” have exceeded our 
supply. Since we cannot incorporate it into this years 
catalogue due to a hurried change over in size we are 
having the article, which has keen lengthened and 
brought up to date, added to our article on “Garden 
Pictures With Iris”. We are having these printed 
separately in a small booklet which we will be glad 
to send you upon receipt of twenty-five cents to cover 
cost of printing and mailing. 
In closing I want to thank you once again for your 
many letters of appreciation and for your patronage 
and I am happy too, to know that you enjoy the extras 
that we send. Last but certainly not least, I hope that 
for each of you, this year may ke the very best. 
Sincerely, 
Chet “Jomplius 
THRIES—-Cash with order, Check, draft or money order. 
POSTAGE PAID—On all orders of $5.00 or more. With orders for less, 
add 50c¢ for postage. Residents of Iowa please add 2% sales tax. 
SHIPILENT—Will be made on iris orders beginning July Ist and will 
continue until mid-October. Hemerocitllis orders will-be ‘shipped in mid 
August and September until late fall. : 
EXTRAS—There are no discounts on varieties marked NET. On orders 
of $20.00 or more, you may add 30% of the value of the order as your 
extras but to this list of extras please add several alternates as we may 
be short of stock on some items. On orders for less than $20.00 please 
suggest some extras you would like and if possible we will choose from 
your list or send some similar variety we may consider better. 
We guarantee healthy stock, true to name. If plants do not arrive in 
good condition return them to us at once and we will make restitution by 
supplying fresh plants or a refund, whichever we deem best. Any errors 
will be corrected at once. 
THE AMERICAN IRIS SOCIETY 
Membership to the society will bring you four very fine bulletins each 
year. You will find every bulletin simply packed with articles on Hybrid- 
izing, Iris Culture, Planting, Varietal Comments, Questions and Answers 
and accounts of various gardens and the activities of the different regions. 
Dues are $4.00 per year. You may mail your checks to The American Tris 
Society, Franklin Road, Brentwood, Tenn. or you may mail the dues to us 
and we will make your remittance, 
In.—-Karly Sib.—-Sister Seedling 
M.—-Midseason H. C.—High Commendation 
M. L.—Midseason to late Il. M. —Honorable Mention 
L.—Late A. M. —Award of Merit 
V. L.—vVery Late D. M. —Dykes Medal 
