One of my colleagues brought in a 1972 Park Seed catalog for me to admire. In studying the cover, I learned that the South Carolina Festival of Flowers in those days had something that we don't have today--a beauty queen! Here's the About Our Front Cover... write-up:
"The annual South Carolina Festival of Flowers was in full swing in Greenwood when the beauty queen, Miss Pam Foxx of Gaffney, S.C. appeared at one of the our trial gardens and posed for the camera man. Growing along the border is Marigold Irish Lace with a bed of Bloomin' Big Begonias behind. Backing these up is Marigold Gold Galore. Against the wall is Sunflower Italian White with Hollyhock Silver Puffs and Begonia Danica in front. To the right of the sundial is Marigold Aquarius."
In the spirit of "my, how things have changed," I started looking for other differences. After all, in the grand scheme of things, 1972 doesn't seem that long ago! But in reality, a lot can happen in three and a half decades!
First, while we certainly still offer marigolds, the specific Irish lace, Gold Galore, and Aquarius cultivars are no longer on our list. Likewise for the specific begonias and hollyhocks. Interestingly, we do still offer Sunflower Italian White--pretty impressive longevity for a plant product!
Second, the 1972 catalog has a nifty little section called "Make Cacti a Hobby." It features several types of cactus and an assortment of other succulents. Although we still offer succulents and other low-moisture plants, we don't try to handle cacti anymore. And we definitely don't put plastic dolls in our catalog pictures (left). Presumably, her role was to show how tiny the cacti are.
One last different to highlight, and that's the constantly evolving Park Seed brand logo. For the past several years, the Park Seed corporate logo has basically been an oval containing the company name, with or without a tag line or slogan of some sort. But for a long time, the logo featured a line drawing of a boy pushing a wheelbarrow brimming with flowers and a girl holding an umbrella to protect them. The picture had a really old feeling to it, almost Victorian.
At some point, the boy and girl were updated to have a more modern look (left). It's my understanding that the revamp was done by Hanna-Barbera animators! The updated kids appear on the order blank envelope that's inserted into the 1972 catalog. For you Seeds in Space fans, note that the kids got a very special update for the LDEF project--spacesuits!
Where were you in 1972--and what kind of garden did you have? I'd love to have pictures of you and your gardens from "back in the day." And I would particularly love to find out what happened to Beauty Queen Pam Foxx. Please contact me at ckuhl@parkseed.com if you know Pam or to share your best gardening memories from the 70s!
