This Is The Year To 
Become Acquainted With Aril Iris 
| offer this year an array of special bargains in ARILS on pages 4 to 8 to get to 
just try these fascinating Iris that are so different from anything you have seen before. For 
| know full well that once you give them a good try you will be telling all your friends about 
them, and will be back for more each year. ; 
This year 2 ARIL varieties are SECRET VARIETIES, available (if you can find them) 
at 2 for the price of 1, as explained on page 35. There are 20 Aril varieties 
available in my , and also at greatly reduced prices in groups of 3 (See 
page 8). Then there are various tempting and money-saving COLLECTIONS of Regelias 
and Oncogelias, and my sensational 1954 Aril offer: page 8. 
Don’t miss GATESII, page 4. Also, don’t miss offer of 5 Aril varieties FREE to members 
of Garden Clubs, or other groups. (Page 32). 
You 
Iris is the one best flower for the 
and beautify, and little money to spend—because: 
1. With no other flower can you buy just a start of each variety and get such rapid, 
automatic multiplication. 
2. Ten or twenty dollars worth of Iris will go a long ways in beautifying bare grounds, 
even the first year. 
3. Ina few years, with this rapid increase, and only moderate additions of new varieties 
from time to time, you will have Iris to clothe large areas of your garden with at- 
tractive verdure and immense, gorgeous flowers in every rainbow color. 
4. By making up at least half of each Iris order (and better 24) of my UNUSUAL IRIS, 
you can easily and quickly develop an Iris garden that will give you bloom year 
round in moderate climates, and even in cold climates by using a hot bed or cold 
frame in winter. 
5. Iris are hardy long-lived plants that are very drought-resistant and that stay put, 
don’t require moving every year and almost take care of themselves. 
Iris is also the best flower for purchase by the who al- 
ready has many flowers and relatively little room, but still a desire to keep up an active 
interest by making occasional additions of exciting new developments—because: 
1. At the present time the Iris is evolving faster than any other flower. 
2. New creations and startling innovations are becoming available at a rapid rate, and 
it is easy to find herein wonderful new, unheard of varieties that will be a sensa- 
tion in your particular garden setting, and among your friends. 
3. | offeR Iris in-so many different types and colors, that one can easily find just what 
is needed for a particular part of the garden, or for a particular use in the home— 
yes, IRIS is the VERSATILE flower! Use it in many ways. | have designed this 
catalog-guidebook to help you. 
Iris is the best of all flowers for the amateur 
1. Technique for hybridizing is easily learned. 
2. New creations usually bloom in 12 years from seed. 
3. Any amateur can compete with theexperts by just being careful to use good parents. 
(Many hybridizing hints in this catalog and in my Rainbow Iris Manual). 
-Do You Know ? 
with lots of space to landscape 
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 25¢ to partially cover the cost of lithographing and mailing. 
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 25¢ for each such request. 
OLOR INDEXAING 
This catalog introduced last year, 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 (page 38) for selecting varieties and a complete alphabetical 
Index (page 39). Now with this added feature of spotlighting with colors, you have before 
you America’s most complete and informative Iris cataiog, with everything at your finger- 
tips - multiple-indexed. You be the judge. 
HERE IS THE KEY TO THE MEANING OF THE COLORS: 
(—_] SPECIAL OFFERS for '54—Don’t miss any of these. They include PREMI- 
UMS, GIFTS, free offers of MANUAL and SUPPLEMENT, 
See pages 33 and 35. 
(______] Money-saving GOLLECTIONS-—these save you time, too. 
The 15 varieties that are my for 1954, considering 
both quality and price. | have purposely selected all moderate priced kinds, 
within reach of every Iris lover—priced from 75¢ to $2.00. 
Ges ~The in Iris Bargains, page 36. 
[______] Three pages of FLAMINGO or Tangerine-bearded Pinks and Apricots. The 
most popular of all Iris, pages 22-24 for the most comprehensive listing 
ever published. 
[a «My nomination for 1954’s two most outstanding varieties: PINK SENSA- 
TION among the popular Flamingo Pinks; and ALLINE ROGERS among 
the other Tall Bearded Iris. 
[_____] !nexpensive varieties and special bargains fc 
17, 18 and 31. 
L_____] ORDER BLANKS; also TESTIMONIALS from enthusiastic customers 
throughout the civilized world, attesting to the wonderful results obtained 
with IRIS stock from the RAINBOW GARDENS. 
[5555] ‘This year’s feature offering—Ys Price Sale of ARILS, page 8. 
with Choice feature varieties available 
this year in groups of 3 at very special LOW prices, many aslowas 3 for LESS than price of 2. 
BLUE-TYPE VARIETY NAMES. Brand new 1954 introductions. Pages 3, 6, 8, 17 and 19. 
. See pages 14, 
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 1954. 
x —My nominations for the most outstanding varieties and values for 1954. Some are 
exciting new creations; others are exceptionally fine standard varieties that | feel 
give you exceptional value considering their present low price. 
x — One of the elite few to which | am this year giving my highest recommendation. 
—My very best values for | 
Dykes— Dykes Memorial Medal. (Highest 
Award, yearly to the one best Iris.) 
Marked x, page 28. 
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 (1953). 
| 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. 
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 mid- 
season, 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. 
DID YOU GET TWO CATALOGS? ee 
In spite of the pains we take in checking our extensive mailing lists, It 
sometimes happens that two or more catalogs accidentally go to the same 
person. If this happens to you, won’t you please drop me a postal, giving 
the exact addresses on the different copies, and indicating which is the right 
one, so we can correct our files. Please give the extra copy to a flower- 
loving friend. Thank you. 
MOVING? 
Don’t forget to notify me of your new address. But be sure to give the 
old address, too. Hundreds of catalogs are returned to me every year be- 
cause people forget to notify me of the change in their address. 
One of my Iris fields. The bright blues are Chivalry and Blue Valley, 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 34 for directions 
for reaching my Gardens. | added over 100 new Iris creations to my garden 
last year. Quite a number of these already appear in this catalog, and all 
the rest that | find worth while will appear within the next couple of years. 
2 Remember: “Every garden was once a dream.” 
