Something Old

My friend, Sandy who is still working nights at the job place, presented me with a gift today of a catalog printed in 1907 from The Conrad & Jones Co., West Grove PA. I am so tickled over this, I'm almost speechless. In this catalog, Conrad is introducing new roses such as Yellow Soupert, Striped Reine Marie Henriette (MME Driout), Ever-blooming Uncle John, the Hybrid Tea, Cardinal. They are also featuring the new Irish introduction, Killarney, La France and Helen Gould. They also feature roses such as Frau Karl Druschki, Clotide Supert and Papa Gontier. And American Beauty. All are around $.50 each. Own root, extra large plants are $1.00.

The Conrad & Jones Co., West Grove PA would later be known as Conrad Pile Co., West Grove PA and then eventually known as Star Roses. This very old catalog states at the bottom of each page "Growers of the Best Roses in American". This is no exaggeration. Even in later years when the company was known as Conrad Pile Co., it was still "Growers of the Best Roses in America". This is also the company the kept safe from Hitler and nurtured Meilland's Peace rose.

This catalog is truly a treasure.