Park Seed Memories

Giant Zinnia: an Alternative Theory

We've been having fun here with the giant zinnia grown by Adelene Prisby. My horticulturist pals in Customer Service said that their best guess is that Mrs. Prisby planted some Zinnia Big Red seeds in a very salubrious location. The great conditions, combined with her gardening skill, yielded this twice-as-tall-as-usual giant specimen.

Our beloved Queen of Seeds, Stephanie Turner, weighs in today with a new theory. As Director of Seed Product, she has the inside scoop on all things seedy. Stephanie says, "It is probably Lucky Ladies, a seed from Everett Wallace, Jr., who won the Guiness Book record for the world's tallest Zinnia. We no longer offer it. We managed to purchase a small amount of seed from him and offered it as an Internet-only offering. The newsletter is still floating in cyberspace."

Sure enough, I used Google to search the Internet and found the newsletter. Here's what it has to say about Mr. Wallace and his bloomin' plant:

"The tallest plants in a rainbow of colors!
An heirloom variety grown by Guinness Book record holder Everett Wallace Jr. of North Carolina, this is a zinnia that tries to keep up with the sunflowers.  Zinnia My Lucky Ladies reaches 3 to 5 feet in height and spreads to about 20 inches. Both double and single 3- to 5-inch blooms display bright shades of pink, red, orange, and white on thick, sturdy stems. Wallace trained one plant to reach over 12 feet! He inherited the heirloom seeds from his mother, some of which had been passed down for more than 50 years."

Sadly, we don't have the Zinnia Lucky Ladies any more, but Zinnia Zowie, Zinnia Uproar Rose, and all the accessories mentioned in the newsletter are still available for the Zinniaphyles among us.

Now, Mrs. Prisby said that the only zinnia seeds she received from Park Seed were some freebies that we sent along with her order. We very often enclose free seeds, and I suppose it is possible that some of the Walker Lucky Ladies might have been included in a giveaway.  So there you have two perfectly good theories as to why Mrs. Prisby's garden includes Zinnias that are taller than she is!

If you'd like to offer yet another opinion on our mystery, please email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. I am always delighted to hear from you! And as you can see, if you have questions about what's growing in your garden, I am happy to pass them along to the plant experts with whom I work. You surely don't want answers from me--I've been known to kill silk plants! I'm part of Park Seed's diversity hiring. I'm horticulturally impaired. <sigh>

Meet Adelene "Giant Zinnia" Prisby

You've seen the giant zinnia, now meet the graceful gardener who grew her! Bush Prisby was kind enough to give us this wonderful story from his Mum, Adelene Prisby,  who lives and gardens in Zelienople. PA. Bush tells me that they have restaked and remeasured the mystery zinnia, and it now comes in at a whopping 77 inches in height! Here you can see Adelene peeking through the zinnias and morning glories in her colorful corner garden. Here's her story...

I am an 83 year old woman, who has always dreamed of having a beautiful garden. This year's garden fulfilled that dream and then some!

For approximately 50 years, I have dealt with Park Seed Co. and have had many successes & some failures. year ago, we moved to a new apartment (corner lot) that has a very large spruce tree at one corner of the lot, which makes the lot quite shady. There were some evergreen shrubs also. The landlord, knowing my love for gardening, said he would remove the shrubs for me--which he did.

The next job was tracking the sun to see where we could plant my flowers. We made good use of the sunny spots & shade areas, and I have had a wonderful garden this year--black-eyed Susans, victoria blue sage, salvia patens, salvia Whopper Lighthouse (terrific), large yellow marigolds, lobelia fountain blue, plus lobelia cardenalis - green leaved & maroon leaves - the hummingbirds' favorites, hostas, ferns, violets, pansies, impatiens, heavenly blue morning glories, diascia, veronica speedwell, coleus, snapdragons, & more zinnias, and one spectacular red zinnia, 77" tall with 5" flowers!!!

I was sure I had ordered the seed from Parks, but on looking over my order sheet, the only zinnias I had from Parks was a free pack they sent with my order! Could they be the source of 'my' giant zinnia? The other zinnias I planted are all lovely, but normal size.

My flowers this year are from many sources - nurseries, seeds - some from Parks - I'd like to think it was the Park seed that produced this 'wonder', as I have dealt with Parks for so long. (I'm waiting to see if my Helleborus will bloom this winter/spring.)

I have always admired pictures in newspapers and magazines of people's gardens, but I wonder how much of it do they do themselves? I would like to see some small gardens from ordinary people, who do their own digging & planting as I do! Then that can be an inspiration to us do-it-yourselfers!

Am already planning next spring's seed order! Maybe another amazing flower is waiting for me!!

Mrs. Prisby, in our book, YOU are amazing! And your son agrees.

According to Bush Prisby, "While she says she's always dreamed of having a beautiful garden, she's had a beautiful garden every year for as long as I can remember--we all (her nine kids) grew up with her beautiful gardens."

Thank you both for this delightful peek into a seasoned gardener's world of beauty. By the way, our professional horticulturists in Customer Service think that the mystery zinnia might be Zinnia Big Red. It usually grows to about 3 feet, but in the hands of a talented gardener, blessed with good growing conditions, a 77-inch giant could surely grow! Thanks, Bob and Stephan, for your investigation into the mystery of the giant zinnia.

The Case of the Giant Zinnia

I admit it--I get so excited when I find an email from one of you in my inbox...especially when there's a picture attached. This week, I received this fantastic picture of a giant zinnia and the great gardener who grew it!

It's also true that I enjoy a good mystery. (Maybe because my husband watches every CSI and Law & Order ever made?) The mystery is--what kind of zinnia is this?  Here's the message that accompanied this great picture:

"Hello--

My mom (Adelene Prisby,   Zelienople PA) is looking for her receipt to see what variety this is - we've never seen anything like it, a zinnia that is 72" tall! Let me know if this is of interest, and Ill have her tell you more!

Thanks, B. Prisby"

You can bet that I've asked the Prisbys to be sure and tell us more. And I'm going to ask some of our horticulturists if they know which zinnia might produce such tall plants. I looked at the Park Seed website, and found 66 different zinnias listed, but I didn't find mention of any giants. Mostly dwarves, actually. (Sounds like we're talking about fairy tales, doesn't it?)

In any case, I am hoping to hear more from Ms. Prisby, and when I do, I'll enjoy sharing it here with you.

And if you have giants, dwarves, or other interesting creatures and items in your garden, please share with me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. After all, it's almost Halloween, and there's no telling what we may find lurking out there!

Cathy's Crazy Calla

Last week, I shared the story of the pink flower lurking amongst the red. This week, a Wayside Gardens customer has an even stranger example--a leaf that thinks it's a bloom.

On of my buddies in Customer Service passed along a lovely note and photo from Cathy in Los Molinos, California:

"Dear Wayside Gardens, I ordered this Calla called Captain Prado. It has been sending up blooms for 2 months now, and I just love it."

Cathy enclosed a picture showing that one of the Calla leaves is exhibiting color as if it were a bloom. Just another interesting example of how creative and unexpected the plant world can be!

Did something unexpected pop up in your garden? Send your pictures and stories to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com so that we can all experience the fun of seeing something surprising!

Why is there a PINK flower on my RED Cardinal Climber??

There's a great song in the musical The Fantasticks that talks about the difference between growing vegetables and growing children. It's called "Plant a Radish," and the point of the lyrics is that when you plant a seed, you know exactly what you're going to get. But when you "plant" children, they may grow up and become anything--whether you approve or not.

  While that makes for a great production number in the play, it turns out that when you plant things in a real garden, sometimes you do get surprises! Consider, for example, Debbie Detwiler's recent experience with a Red Cardinal Climber. As the name suggests and the catalog photo illustrates, this lovely plant is known for its bright red blooms.

However, one day, as Debbie was inspecting her Climber, she found a blossom that is definitely bright PINK! Being curious about such a phenomenon, she emailed us here at Park Seed Company to ask if we'd ever heard of such a thing. As it turns out, we have. Almost any plant can experience an unexpected genetic mutation. And those mutations manifest themselves in a variety of ways. An unexpected color is an easy-to-see example.

Now, the expert horticulturists here tell me that they don't have enough information about Debbie's plant to make a firm judgement about her specific situation. But in exploring the whole area of unexpected plant developments, I learned about an interesting concept. In some cases, significant, unexpected variations are called sports. Astute gardeners, upon finding a sport they like, can sometimes breed it to create a whole new variety. This is why in our Park Seed and Wayside Gardens catalogs and websites, you may find a plant described as being a sport of another plant.

Consider, for example, Hosta Sleeping Beauty, available from Wayside Gardens.  In the Sleeping Beauty picture, you see pretty ivory edging and spots. The description states that it is "a sport of the classic 'H. Halcyon.'"

To see what the original plant looked like, I visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens website and used their Plantfinder. As you can see in the picture I found there, the Hosta Halcyon does not have edges or spots!

  So, Debbie, if your pink flower actually is a sport, and if you are into plant propagation and hybridization, you just might be able to create a whole new variety. Just promise me that you'll let Park Seed and Wayside Gardens have first dibs on selling Detwiler's Hot Pink Climber!

Is something unusual growing in your garden? Send a picture and a description to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com so we can all enjoy admiring the new development.

"A Practical Guide to Some of Your Gardening Problems"

It's funny the things you find stashed away when you move or when you clear out a garage or attic. With some regularity, I get emails from folks who've found old Park Seed or Wayside Gardens catalogs hidden in a dusty corner. "Just too pretty to throw away!" is the usual reason given for keeping catalogs, closely followed by "We use them to look up information about our plants." 

Not too long ago, I was contacted by some thoughtful folks in Minnesota who found a Wayside Gardens treasure while cleaning out a parent's garage. They were kind enough to pass it along to me for our budding corporate archive. I've never seen anything like it. And it has no date on it, so I'm hoping a blog reader somewhere may see this and have some answers to share.

  The document is 22 and 1/2 inches wide by 17 inches tall. It's entitled, "Garden Blox--A Practical Guide to Some of Your Gardening Problems." It was published while Wayside Gardens was still located in Mentor, Ohio. The photographs and general style look to me like they are from the 1950s at the earliest. (To see more detail, click on the images to magnify them.)

As the name clearly states, it's intended to help gardeners find the right plant for their particular home architecture and setting. For example, a Modern House with "alkaline soil if facing south" should use Climbing Rose, Buddleia, and Pyracantha. But if facing north, substitute Euonymus, Vibernum, and Clematis. The varieties may have changed over the years, but the general advice still holds!

In addition to suggesting plants for particular landscape situations, the book also contains garden layouts, showing exactly where each plant belongs. Here's a layout for a a small herb and kitchen garden. To make things extra convenient, the Garden Blox book includes plant shopping lists showing how many of each plant you'd need to complete the design.

One full page is devoted to a "Lazy-Man's Garden." Yikes! None of them look like easy designs to me. One design, for use on sloping terrain, suggests that "raised beds help aging backs...." And another "Easy Border" design promises "plants requiring minimum care, featuring hemerocallis."

Perhaps the plants are easy to care for once you actually get them into the ground--but I'm not sure I'd survive the process!

I owe a debt of gratitude to those lovely folks in Minnesota who decided to donate this choice collectible rather than toss it into the fire pit! If you have old catalogs, gardening guides, or other memorabilia from Wayside Gardens or Park Seed that you are willing to donate to our archives, please let me know. Gardeners and historians will join me in thanking you!

Please email me (ckuhl@parkseed.com) about your Park Seed and Wayside Gardens treasures. If you would prefer to keep your memorabilia, photographs or scanned pages are also valuable to for our electronic archive. You can email them or mail them to me on a CD. Address items to Claire F. Kuhl, Special Projects Director, at Park Seed Company, 1 Parkton Avenue, Greenwood, SC 29647.