Park Seed Memories

Fremont Middle School Earth Club Shares Success

Last Fall, we at Park Seed hosted a contest that invited folks to submit essays about why their school should receive a $150 gift certificate to use for gardening-related projects. We received a bevy of beautiful essays, but ultimately selected an essay about the Fremont Middle School Earth Club and their efforts to get students involved in organic gardening.

Well, now that school is out, Earth Club sponsor Mr. Eddie Newmann has sent us some pictures showing his students making excellent use of their prize money! Here's what Mr. Newmann had to say:

"Wanted to send you a few pictures from the garden this year. We loved the carrot tape and bulbs that we got. They are growing great. Here are some pictures of our wildflowers and garden in progress. Thank you again!"

Thank you for sharing these great candid pix of your students making beautiful things grow in the garden while growing themselves!

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Gardening with Daddy

At lot of us have great memories of being in the garden with our fathers, or hearing our fathers tell stories of the gardens they had when they were kids. So to honor all the great gardening Dads out there, here's a delightful email and poem that I received.

Since it's GARDEN SEASON, I wanted to share a poem I wrote about my Dad who passed away in 1990. It has been displayed in a frame at our WV State Fair in the vegetable section several times. It hangs in my dining room every Spring. Hope you enjoy it.
~Elizabeth Mitchell~

             ~Gardening With Daddy~

My moments in the garden, I will always treasure
No matter how hard, Daddy made it a pleasure.
We'd start in February, discussing all our needs
Who we'd get to plow, make a list of the seeds.

Talk about the mistakes, we'd made the year before
Did we get too much rain, was the ground too poor?
We rehearsed the planting, until Spring had come
Anxious to find out, if we had a green thumb.

Like "The Little Red Hen", who'd help plant the corn?
They'd all run and hide, winter had them worn.
So we'd get out the tiller, and tune it up right
Then we'd soak beans and corn, in a can overnight.

We'd load up in your truck, to the garden we'd go
A file in your back pocket, to sharpen up the hoe.
With plenty of cold pop, and tobacco to chew
Ready for a days farming, it was just me and you.

After we arrived there, with our seeds and fertilize
You'd stand at the garden, looking with squinched eyes.
You'd start off with plowing, the tiller jerked you around
I'd offer to take over, you'd cuss Hobert the hound.

Then we'd throw out the rocks, and cuss the crab grass
Run the soil through your hands, to see if it would pass.
When I'd lay off the rows, I could hear your teeth grit
That meant they were crooked, from where you would sit.

You'd drop the fertilize, and I would drag the hoe
Then we'd sort through the seeds, to find the lettuce to sow.
We'd sip on our co-cola, under a big shade tree
Every now and then, we'd have us a Hershey.

The taters would be next, you could never stand
Dryness from the peels, left you spitting in your hand.
The onions were dropped, then set up straight
You liked them so well, but they were never ate.

When evening shadows fell, the frogs would hollar
We'd go home for supper, feeling a bit taller.
Our vegetable garden, was then sprayed and weeded
Sometimes every day, whatever was needed.

And what a big harvest, we'd have in the fall
Our backaches forgotten, it was worth it all.
Now that you're in heaven, and in God's care
I'm sure there's a garden, waiting for you there.

I will miss you Daddy, supervising me this year
I just keep believing, a part of you is still here. 
           
Written by:
Elizabeth Mitchell 
Shady Springs, WV 

Thank you SO much for sharing, Elizabeth! Here at Park Seed and Wayside Gardens, we appreciate and admire fathers everywhere who share their love of gardening with their children and plant the seeds for more generations of great gardeners! Send your family gardening memories, pictures, and poems to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com and I'll proudly post them here for all to enjoy.

1947 Wayside Gardens Plans for Dual-Season Garden Glory

While researching the Garden Blox landscape designs offered by Wayside Gardens in the 1930s and 1940s, I found another interesting technique used to help novice gardeners create successful garden layouts. The 1947 catalog offers "Two Perennial Gardens for You," each of which contained a "paint-by-the-numbers" layout plan, plus all the plants needed to create two dual-season gardens. Here's what the catalog has to say:

The Early Garden: (18 feet long and 5 feet wide.) Plants were so chosen as to create two distinct mass bloom effects. During May and June, Iris, early Veronica, Clove Pinks and Lemon Lilies create a colorful effect, to be followed in July by a gorgeous lot of color largely created by perennial Phlox supported by Statice, Silver Artemisia, and summer blooming Veronica. This color lasts well into September. The varieties we have selected are easily grown and will increase in size each season and are up-to-date kinds.

The Late Garden: (18 feet long and 5 feet wide.) Here again there are two "peak" bloom periods. The first one in June and July when Delphiniums, Lilies, and Oenothera are at their best. The second or autumn display is made largely by hardy Asters, both tall and dwarf, at the best throughout September and October. In selecting varieties for this garden we have chosen the best of easy culture and fine clear colors.

The pictures above (early) and below (late) were used to show how the gardens look at each of their peak periods.

SC Festival of Flowers 2009 Promo Preview

While browsing the Internet this week, I found a nifty video promoting the South Carolina Festival of Flowers. Because the entire prize-winning festival grew out of Park Seed Company's annual open house, aka Flower Day, I though yiou might enjoy getting a preview of this promotional item:

As usual at this time of year, we are in a frenzy of preparation, getting the All-America Selections and our other row trials planted, tending all the display gardens, and gathering lots of bargains for the Garden Center sales. If you visit us on June 27th, I hope you'll stop by the Information Tent and say "Howdy!" My new hip and I will be sitting there, welcoming everyone and answering questions. Bring comfy shoes, sunscreen, and your camera!

Thank you to "Paul's World of Funky Stuff" blog for the video!

Who's the Lovely "Lady of the Hibiscus"?

Yesterday, I returned to work after a few weeks away to have my hip replaced (yes, this is other hip!). Boy, was my email inbasket full! And nestled amongst the spam and enewletters and internal memos, I found a few Memories-related gems to share with you. Today, I have a note from a reader and former Park Seed employee who has the solution to a question that I raised back on November 7, 2006.

In that early blog post, I shared this wonderful picture of a woman fully enjoying some rather large hibiscus blooms. The only clue to that woman's identity was a note writtern on the back of the photo: "Kim Rosa's grandmother in the trial garden." But having no knowledge of who Kim Rosa might be, I was stumped as to how to find out more.

Well, as oft times happens on the Internet, a bit of serendipitous searching led the actual, elusive Ms. Kim Rosa to my earlier post. She was pleased to see her grandmother's picture on the blog, and sent me this wonderful message:

Hello!
I was looking for something else on the site and found this in the memories link. http://www.parkseedmemories.com/2006/11/kim_rosa_grandm.html. Yes, employee, I worked in Wholesale, Drop Ship Dept in 2000-2003

My grandmother was a gardener her whole life and lived in PA, she loved to come visit me at work and tour the gardens. The Giant Hibiscus in the seed trials this pic is from when we had the 2 or 3 plots of them we used for seeds, I think it was summer '02 when this pic was taken. We took several pots home to her she was determined to make them grow at home.

Let me know if you are still with the company and still care! J

Kim Rosa

I was quick to reply to Kim and assure her that yes, I am still with the company and most definitely do care about solving this little mystery! I'm happy to report that Kim believes she has some more pictures to share, so stay tuned--I look forward to learning more about Kim Rosa's generations of great gardeners!

Do you have photos of your family sharing good times in the garden? We love swapping stories and pictures here! Just email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com.

Wayside "Garden Blox" History Mystery Solved

 A good while back, I shared the story of a gracious donation to the Wayside Gardens portion of the Park Seed Company archives. In particular, it was a "paint-by-numbers" approach to gardening called Garden Blox--A Practical Guide to Some of Your Gardening Problems.

It's a great artifact, but I found one thing to be frustrating. Nowhere on the document was there a date! My guess was that it had to be published sometime between 1930 and 1950, based primarily on the general look of the illustrations.

As it turns out, my new friend and colleague, amature historian Josh Haskell, was able to solve the mystery! He investigated a number of the Wayside Gardens catalogs in his archive, and contacted me with the scoop:

Hi Claire,
 
Here's what I've found so far. The first reference I can see to the Garden Blox Booklet is an advertisement on the back cover of the Spring 1939 catalog.  Similar ads appear in the following:

1940 Spring – back cover
1941 Spring – Page 6
1945 Spring – Page 11
1945 Autumn Planting - back cover
1946 Spring - Page 11
1946 Autumn Planting - Page 10
1948 Spring - Page 11
1957 Spring - Insert inside the front cover
 
I have photocopied each of these and will mail them to you shortly.  It's typical of the Grullemans' approach to marketing, but I guess it didn't work out as expected and so they discontinued pushing it (only a guess at this point).

Josh

Gosh, thanks, Josh!  I was surprised to see a gap between 1946 and 1948, so I checked a 1947 Wayside book in our archives and sure enough, I found Garden Blox offered there, too. The advertising copy would surely resonate with me and lots of other "wannabe" gardeners today:

"I love flowers, but have no real knowledge of them. Can't you help me to arrange my garden and make it more attractive and beautiful? I wish merely to know WHAT to plant, and WHERE and when to plant it."

In that same catalog, I found another Wayside Gardens solution to garden planning. More about that later.

Victory Garden Theme Continued in 1944 Park Seed Flower Book

By the time the 1944 Park Seed Flower Book catalog was printed, the Victory Garden concept was pretty well established in the national consciousness. It's not even explicitly mentioned on the front  (right) or back covers.

The back cover (left)does emphasize vegetable seed--but that's not at all unusual for any year!

The one specific Victory Garden reference I found in this edition is way back in the back, with classified ads from various companies. And there, on page 67, is an advertisement for the Victory Garden Duster.

The ad copy says, "Centrobellows V Powder Duster is tailormade for Victory Gardens. Quickly filled through the opening of the removable nozzle. Holds 6 oz. insecticide. Light and easy to handle. $1.00 each, prepaid."

Below, you can see the Victory Garden Duster in context with other ads of the day.

"Sow the Seeds of Freedom" in 1943 Anniversary Seed Book

The 1943 Park's Spring Flower Book was notable for being published during the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Park Seed Company. By this point in history, founder George Watt Park had passed away, his sons, John Barratt Park and William John Park, were serving in World War II, and George's wife, Mary Barratt Park, was leading the company.

Mary and the marketing team of the time joined the whole country in promoting V for victory wherever they could. On the 1943 catalog cover, at right, you can see the orange V incorporated into the 75th anniversary mention. The V required no explanation to anyone receiving that book!

Upon opening the cover, gardeners immediately encountered Squirrel Buddy and Little Mr. Economy (circled, left), with their message to buy war bonds and to grow both vegetables and flowers in every Victory Garden.

A bit deeper into the book, gardeners found another admonition to "Get your Vitamins for 1943 from Your Own Victory Vegetable Garden" (below).  This headline was accompanied by a brimming Harvest basket of fruits and vegetables, "for health and economy." The text continues:

"Insure yourself of a plentiful food supply during 1943 by growing your own Victory Vegetable Garden. For, it is quite probable that there will be a scarcity of fresh vegetables due to farm labor shortage, and transportation overload. We offer here a select list of the very best vegeatbles known. From us you will get the best seeds and always the most for your money at Park's famous 'Best for Less' prices."

Among the vegetables receiving an asterisk as a variety "we especially recommend," I spotted Tomato Victor and V-1 Muskmelon, again reinforcing the Victory focus.

And rounding out that theme, the back cover (left) was devoted completely to urging gardeners to "Sow the Seeds of Freedom" by taking advantage of the "7 leading vegetables" in the Victory Anniversary Offers:   beans, beets, carrots, lettuce, peas, sweet corn, and tomato.

Next time, I'll share some Victory Garden images and ideas from the 1944 Park Seed catalog!

Do you have memories of gardening for victory during World War II? How about during World War I?

I would really love to find Park publications from the 1917-1918 era, when victory gardening was also encouraged by the government.

Contact me to share your images and stories of the gardens and gardeners in your life! The way I see it, every garden is a victory--of hope and faith in the future!

Contact me at ckuhl@parkseed.com with your memories to share.

We've been Nuts about Victory Gardens for at least 66 Years!

Since last year, everyone at Park Seed Company has been having fun reviving the Victory Garden concept that is associated with home vegetable gardening during World War I and World War II. 

One thing that really sparked a lot of excitement was finding some vintage wood blocks that were used for printing pictures in our catalogs back before photographs were cheap and easy to print. The picture at left shows one of our favorite wood blocks--we call it Squirrel Buddy. And we're all nuts about it! <yuck, yuck, yuck>

Of course, while finding the antique wood cuts was interesting, it led to yet another quest:  find any catalogs that actually used the images. I'm pleased to report that I did indeed find our squirrel buddy, front and center in the Spring 1943 Park's Flower Book!

As you can see, Squirrel Buddy appears on page 1 with Little Mr. Economy above the headline "Certainly I'm Buying War Bonds!' Here's the text from Mr. Economy's message:

But I''m doing more than that, I'm stacking up against the 'rainy day' when there'll be a shortage of food by growing vegetables. Last year I sold enough from my garden to buy a couple of war bonds, too. I'm stacking up, too, against that time when there may not be enough good cheer to go around--you know how, don't you? Why, by growing plenty of cheerful flowers. I've found that I can have just as many flowers as ever and still have plenty left for the 'rainy day.' You've heard of Geo. W. Park Seed Co., haven't you? They offer every kind of seed I've ever needed and the beauty of it is that they cost only a nickle a packet.

Well, you can't find many seeds today for a nickle a pack, but any way you slice it, vegetable seeds are a great value. Hmmm...is it time for you to start digging into a Victory Garden of your own? The newly redesigned Park Seed website (ParkSeed.com) has a nifty new section of the Park's Garden Library called "Know Before You Grow" that's intended to help new Victory Gardeners learn the ropes and achieve success with seed!

And if you happen to think that Squirrel Buddy is cute, you can find him on a free downloadable wallpaper for your computer!

Stay tuned for some more nifty Victory Garden examples from our 1943 and 1944 Park's Flower Books. And if you have photos or stories of your own childhood Victory Gardening experiences, please send them to me to post here. I love celebrating generations of great gardeners like you!

Treasure from the Seed Vault: Part III

Time to solve the last mystery about the Graham Stuart Thomas botanical art prints from the 1980s that we recently found safely tucked away in the Park Seed seed vault: Why would a world-famous horticultuist and artist choose to work with Wayside Gardens, based in Greenwood, SC? The answer actually lies across the pond in England!

In 1982, Wayside Gardens lured John Elsley, a botanist, horticulturist, and renowned plantsman, away from his position at the Missouri Botanical Gardens to come be our Director of Horticulture. But Elsley got his start in gardening long before he began working in Missouri. You see, he grew up in England...as did Graham Stuart Thomas.

According to a delightful biography of Mr. Elsley:

Both of his parents were avid gardeners; and some of his earliest memories, at about age 4 or 5, were of going to work with his father in their wartime victory garden allotment on Sunday mornings. At age 11, John went to a Quaker boarding school near Cambridge, and, in that chalky landscape, he further developed his interested in the environment and botany. ...Hearing the siren call of horticulture, John left school at age 18 to work as a gardener at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew....

While I can't fully connect all the dots of their relationship, apparently these two fine horticulturists' paths crossed often and they became friends. As shown in the picture above, when it came time for Graham Stuart Thomas to sign the exclusive prints for Wayside, John Elsley carried them to England, to spare Mr. Thomas from traveling. Sadly, his health was declining even then. Graham Stuart Thomas passed away in 2003.

Happily, John Elsley is alive and quite well, working as the Director of Horticulture at Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery in Avalon, Wisconsin. He remains in great demand as a speaker and is well-known throughout the gardening world for his plant development efforts, such as the Royal Heritage Helleborus, which he personally developed over a period of 15 years. John has edited several books, including The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Garden Plants.