Park Seed Memories

Friendship Trees

The year 1868 has great significance for Park Seed Company. That's the year when fifteen-year-old George Watt Park sold his first seeds, thus planting (sorry!) the foundation for this company. I mention this because it explains why I tend to take special notice of things that happened in that year. And it so happens that one such happening was the birth of Paul Harris, on April 19th in Racine, Wisconsin.

So--who is Paul Harris?

Paul Harris is the founder of Rotary International. He grew up in challenging circumstances, and was quite an adventuresome, footloose young man. Eventually, however, he settled in Chicago, IL and hung out his shingle as a lawyer. He found the big city to be a daunting and lonely place to live.

In an effort to recreate the sense of belongingness and support that he loved about small-town living, he invited three friends to meet at his office one evening in 1905. They decided to form a club that would promote their businesses while also providing fun and fellowship. And because the plan was to meet at each man’s workplace in rotation, they decided to call themselves the Rotary Club. From that small beginning over 100 years ago, Rotary has grown into the largest service organization in the world, with 1.2 million members in 200 countries and geographic areas striving to live up to their motto of “Service Above Self.”

(And yes, in case you are wondering, I am one of those members.)

As Rotary expanded far beyond its origins in Chicago, Paul Harris traveled the globe, fostering world peace and understanding. To create living memorials to the new friendships that were being forged, he commemorated his visits by planting Friendship Trees.  In his autobiography, Paul described his tree-planting experiences thusly:

With the cooperation of Rotarians and local governments, I have planted friendship trees in the parks and playgrounds on all five continents of the world and even on some of the major islands of the seas. Our trees stood as symbols of international understanding and goodwill …{that} are intelligible to all the citizens of the various countries, whatever language they speak.

Harris planted approximately 50 Friendship Trees during his lifetime, many of which are still standing. And Rotarians everywhere still carry on the tradition, particularly on April 19th, to celebrate Harris's birthday. What a beautiful excuse to plant a new tree!

I believe that a significant number of Rotarians probably enjoy gardening. After all, both pursuits are a great way to make this world a better place! For that reason, my bosses here at Park Seed/Wayside Gardens have given me permission to pilot a fundraising program for Rotary Clubs across America. If you are a Rotarian and your club needs new ideas for raising money to support your community and international service projects, you might be interested in our program. All the details are provided at www.SupportRotary.com. Or email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com to start the ball rolling.

If you are a Rotarian who gardens, I'd love to hear your stories and receive pictures of your gardens. And if your Rotary Club has a community garden project (I know mine does!), please share those stories here!

Herb Society of American Supports Seeds in Space

I'm delighted, but not at all surprised, to find that my new friends at the Herb Society of America (HSA) are also supporters of garden-related education and especially Seeds in Space. Park Seed's Director of Seed Product, Stephanie Turner, is a member of HSA and gets their newsletter. A while back, she gave me a copy of their Winter 2007 edition. The cover story was a terrific article about a huge event, "an out-of-this-world celebration of International Education week at the U.S. National Arboretum, hosted by HSA, The U.S. Department of Education, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture." Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan was there, along with dozens of other dignitaries and a flock of fourth graders who had participated in the Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber.

Thinking that my faithful blog readers would be interested in this story, I requested and received permission to reprint it for you here. My sincere thanks to Susan Belsinger, Robin Siktberg, and Katrinka Morgan for their permission and help in allowing me to share this with you. To read the complete article, click on "Continue reading" below.

If you participated in any iteration of our 25-year Seeds in Space adventure, I would love to share your story here. And if you are a teacher--or know one--who enjoys hands-on learning experiences, there is still time to join the Lunar Plant Growth Chamber challenge and get your free space seeds! If you do sign up, please consider sharing your stories and pictures with this blog, like the sixth graders at The Orchard School have done!

"Hello, this is Barbara Morgan calling from the Johnson Space Center..."

I grew up watching Alan Shepherd, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth (and again later as the oldest American), the Apollo moon missions...well, you get the idea. As a result, I have a serious case of Astronaut Admiration Syndrome. The symtoms are fascination with what they do, how they do it, and why they do it. And a general sense of awe about all of them!

So you can perhaps imagine the level of surprise, pleasure, and giddiness that washed over me when I found a voicemail message on my telephone from Barbara Morgan. Yes, that Barbara Morgan!! The very one who took our Cinnamon Basil seeds up in Space Shuttle Endeavour last year!

As it happens, she received a link to this humble blog from Jon, a delightful gentleman at NASA who is my primary contact for this iteration of Seeds in Space. And as you can imagine, she is very impressed with the work that our friends at The Orchard School are doing.

I don't have an exact, full transcript of the message, but here are some of Ms. Morgan's comments:

"Hi, Claire, this is Barbara Morgan, calling from the NASA Johnson Space Center. ... I am so absolutely thrilled with what you are doing, and of course, thanks to all of Park Seed Company for doing the Seeds in Space with us. What The Orchard School is doing is exactly what I wish every school across this country could do. ... Obviously fabulous teachers, and what the kids are doing is just tremendous. If there's any way you could just pass that message along from me... I hope we can get the whole country taking a look at your website and seeing what the possibilities are! ... Very creative and definitely ran with the idea in a wonderful, wonderful way. Thanks so much. ... You guys have made my century!"

I second Ms. Morgan's motion when it comes to admiration for what Holli Joyal, Angie Mannon, and all the folks at The Orchard School are doing! (Have you ever tried teaching a room full of sixth graders? It takes a lot of love, talent, and patience, I assure you!) And how about a big round of applause for all the students, listed alphabetically by planet:

Aero:  Anna, Baily, Bria, Dylan, Sam
Arestople: Becca, John, Nathan
Ceag:  AJ, Caity, Emily,  Gabe
Cosmico: James, Kara, Keenan, Kendall, Leah
Cosmotamia:  Amanda, Austin, Jon, McKenzie, Sara
DaCooBea: Chandler, Izzy, Kevin, Rae'johnne, Ruben
Falia: Claire, Dany, Mary, Robbie
Fenris: Dylan, Lauren, Timmy, Valerie
Grey Fire:  Annie, Ben, Mattie, Noah
Poter:  Alexis, Maddie, Nick, Shannon
Volcanon:  Jewel, Joe, Mallory, Tayler
Zeenon: Hayden, Isabella, Joe, Megan, Tyler

To enjoy the final update from our Indiana Imagineers, check out the 03-14-08 Orchard School photo album in the left column.

What's Cooking at Park Seed?

Back in January, I mentioned that I had recipes on the brain because of the recipe contest that we ran on the Success with Seed site. I guess it's still on my mind, because I remembered that a few years ago, the folks who work here at Park Seed Company/Wayside Gardens created and sold their own cookbook.

The book was created as a charitable fundraising project, with proceeds going to the United Way of Greenwood and Abbeville Counties. It is dedicated to the employees of Park Seed, "The Power Behind the Flower." The Park Seed United Way Committee did all the work: Carolyn Anderson, Henrietta Austin, Mark Litts, Ruby McCier, Scott Nurse, Sr., Sia Pickell, Faye Thomas, Wayne White, and honorary assistant, Dawn Gilbert.

The illustrations were created by Audrea Walters, who worked in Customer Service at the time. As you can see in the picture below, she came up with some cute images!

The employees also came up with some tasty recipes, and I thought you might enjoy trying one:

Roasted Vegetable Sandwich

Ingredients: 
8 medium red potatoes, sliced
6 green onions
2 red/yellow peppers, cut into rings
2 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise
8 slices of bread 1/2-inch thick (herb or sourdough)
3/4 cup garlic butter with olive oil
salt & pepper

Preparation:
Place potatoes in grilling pan; add 2 tbsp garlic butter, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Place pan on grill. Cover; grill, sirring occasionally, until potatoes are just tender (15-20 minutes). Add 1 tbsp garlic butter, peppers, green onions, zucchini, and salt to taste. Cover; continue grilling, turning occasionally, until vegetables are tender (8-10 minutes). Spread both sides of bread sliced with remaining garlic butter. Place bread on grill. Grill, turning once, until toasted (5-7 minutes). Top with grilled veggies. Makes 8 sandwiches.

We don't sell our charity cookbook around the country, but if you are looking for more recipes, I can still help you out. First, be sure and check out the amazing entries we received from gardener/chefs around the country for our contest. Go to www.SuccessWithSeed.org and look for "Recipes" in the lower left column. And if you liked the grilling aspect of the roasted veggie sandwich, you will love the Handy Mom's Guide: Grilling book. Super easy, tasty treats.

If you have a favorite recipe that uses any edible item from Park Seed or Wayside Gardens' products, send it to me, and I'll share it here and at Success With Seed. Email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. And now I have to go to lunch--suddenly, I'm starving!

Busy Week at The Orchard School

My young friends at The Orchard School have been very busy refining their Plant Growth Chambers, which are part of NASA's Engineering Design Challenge and Park Seed's most recent "Seeds in Space" dventure.

Some of the Cinnamon Basil seeds are even beginning to sprout! Click on this week's photo album (left column) to see what's new on their planets, from Aero to Zeenon!

Small Space Gardening Challenges February GardenSMART Winner

Here's a great Wayside Gardens memory, thanks to this lovely note from our February GardenSMART trivia contest winner. Meet my new friend, Betty Curran, from Omaha, NE:

"Wow! What a surprise.  I've always loved gardening, but my son and I live in a big house on a relatively small city lot, so my gardening space is very limited.  We have been concentrating on improving our 100+-year-old house and very little on landscaping of any kind.   As you can see, we still have a long way to go.

"I'm looking forward to using this certificate to start making my yard look really good.  Wayside Gardens has been a part of our family since I was a child. I can remember going through the catalogs with my mother, choosing what we would be planting next.  She always had a huge variety of beautiful plants in our yard, and I'd like to think I could do something similar.

"I've been watching GardenSMART on Iowa PBS for several years.  When I watch the program, I want one of those huge gardens filled with flowers, shrubs and fruit trees.  I guess I won't ever have that, but maybe I can have a little corner of paradise in my own back yard."
Betty Curran

Thanks, Betty for sending us your pictures and recollections of sharing garden dreams with your mother. I hope you'll send us pictures of your urban garden after you've planted your prize winnings. We'd love to see the results!

To share your own garden memories and pictures, email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. We're celebrating 140 years of great gardeners, and there's plenty of room here for YOU.