Park Seed Memories

Park Seed's Heritage Marker

Thanks to a nifty tool called Google Alerts, I get an email whenever a new item about Park Seed Company appears on the Internet. And I was surprised to see an item about the historic marker out in our "front yard." Thanks to a kind gentleman named Brian Scott, Park Seed's Heritage Corridor sign has been recorded in an interesting website, the Historical Marker Database (http://www.hmdb.org/). Once Google alerted me, I had a nice time exploring this unusal site. If you are a history buff, you will probably enjoy sniffing around yourself. And it's a great resource to check when you are traveling and looking for sites of interest to visit.

Speaking of places to visit, Park Seed has a historical marker in our Trial Gardens because we are a Garden Destination on the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor. Check out all the interesting destinations in the corridor. And when you come see Greenwood, be sure to stop by and say hello--I'd love to see you and show you our sign! Just send me an email at ckuhl@parkseed.com and let me know when to expect you!

Stokes Asters Going Strong in Lee's Garden

I was chatting with my friend, Beverly, from Customer Service, and she shared with me this terrific letter and pictures from Lee in Oceanside, NY. It seems that she's had some good luck with our products in her garden. Here's Lee:

Dear Wayside Gardens,
About fifteen years ago, I puchased three Stokes Asters from you. In forty-seven years of gardening, I have never had such a beautiful seedling. Its shape is a perfect bouquet with one hundred flowers. It bloomed two weeks after the other Stokesias. Enjoy the enclosed pictures with me.

Thanks,
Leatrice T.
Oceanside, NY

Gosh, Lee, thank you so much for taking time to let us know about your positive experience. And thanks especially for the pictures--your garden is just lovely! Your kindness gave everybody in Customer Service a big smile! You see, when we get great letters and pictures like these, we put them on a big bulletin board in the stairwell leading up to the Customer Service department. That way, everybody can see and enjoy them as they start their workday.

Right now, I'm working on a project with the Customer Service team, so I've had a chance to learn more about what their life is like, taking orders and "meeting" our customers on the telephone every day. It's fun and it's challenging--lots of products and computer systems and procedures to master! (By the way, if you live anywhere near our National Headquarters in Greenwood, SC, we are hiring Customer Service team members now, as we get ready for the holiday rush.  Check it out at: www.greatjobsparkseed.com.)

And thanks again, Lee! We'd love to have more stories and pictures from you. And from any of our great gardening friends around the country. Send your garden memories and photos to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com.

"Looking Back" at the Radford Family Gardens

Through the miracle of email, today I have for you a wonderful story about the Radford family and their generations of great gardeners. Enjoy!

Looking Back                  
By Elizabeth Mitchell

Some of my fondest memories are those when I was a child. Being one of seven children in a two-bedroom house, we were very close. My father was a disabled WWII veteran, and my mother held down a full-time job to provide for us. Things were tight raising seven kids and believe me, appetites were growing as quickly as we were. My dad raised pigs that were butchered in the winter and stored in the can house. Unlike today's packaged meats, ours was cut up and laid out on shelves. Dad always slayed the salt to it for preserving, which kept it fresh all winter. I've yet to find any tastier bacon and rendered cracklings--great for bread sopping'--as what we had.

Looking back, although we weren’t starving by any means, my dad planted huge gardens. Yes, more than one. We had three just about every summer. It was always a ritual to get called out of bed every Saturday morning to go work in the gardens all day. Unlike most kids our age, we hardly ever got the opportunity to watch television on Saturdays.

We planted fields of potatoes; this main staple food was cooked every day in some shape or form. We had cabbage, corn, beans, turnips, hanovers, carrots, beets, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, parsnips, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. It took all seven of us, along with Mom and Dad, to complete the task of plowing, planting, hoeing and weeding the gardens. I remember a lot of times we had lunch in the garden, sampling all the fresh, crisp veggies, but by sundown we were exhausted and couldn't wait to go to bed.

We had plenty of good eating in the summer. We loved having roasted corn and potatoes in the open fire on a breezy summer night.  When harvest time came, my mother would can most of the beans, tomatoes, beets and carrots. The vegetables were very rewarding in the winter months, and you could appreciate all the hard work that went into it. The vegetables that weren’t canned were what my dad called 'Holed.' This was a procedure where you dig a 3-foot, circular crater hole in the garden and put down a bed of straw. The vegetables were placed on the straw, then tarped over and mounded until heaping with dirt. In the winter, you could go out and dig in the side of the mound with a shovel, which sometimes was hard to do, especially when the ground was frozen. With a flashlight in one hand, you would reach into the hole and pull out vegetables. We mostly holed the potatoes, cabbage, turnips, green tomatoes, pumpkins, and hanovers. They kept all winter in the hole that maintained a 50-degree temperature, and tasted fresh-picked. I often wonder if anyone still uses this type of storage.

Now that my parents are gone, my brothers and sisters have continued to traditionally plant a garden of their own, with their children and grandchildren.  Although I think it's slowly fading out with the next generations, I hope one of my three children keeps gardening going. Just recently I printed a free, 'Park Seed Planter's Guide' for my daughter as a Christmas gift. I believe she will use it and grow her own story someday.

I am endebted to Elizabeth Mitchell for preparing and sharing this fascinating look at her childhood gardening experiences and techniques. That's Elizabeth and her sisters in the picture at the top of the post, and the other picture shows her hard-working parents. If you have great gardening memories to share, please send them to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. We love hearing from you!

Sharing Grandmother's Garden Favorites

My colleagues in the eCommerce Department work hard to create newsletters that tell a compelling story while offering great products. They did a particularly nice job of that recently with their "Grandmother's Heirloom Treasures" edition. In fact, they even got fan mail! Here's a lovely note and warm remembrances of another family celebrating generations of great gardeners:

Dear Claire,

Just a note to tell you that I much enjoyed the newsletter about Grandmother's garden favorites. The picture of Grandmother Park is so lovable. Is she still alive? With her silver curls and dignified black dress, she represents an age of quiet poise and dignity which I sometimes long for. Truly, these ladies loved their flowers. Seeing the flowers reminds me of them.

I have researched and collected antique varieties of flowers for many years. Some of those in the newsletter, like the double hibiscus, were not developed in grandmother's day. The Japanese single peony was also not common. I can remember when they became popular.

My Mother and Grandmother grew iris, roses, peonies, daffodils and tulips, lilacs, bleeding heart ferns, flowering quince, flowering almond, hollyhocks. My Mother's prize peony was a double white flecked with red called Felix Maximus. Another old-time favorite peony I had always wanted was Sarah Bernhardt,a shell pink favorite of the storied actress.

All around the house in spring wafted the scent of lilacs.I picked them in a two-gallon galvanized bucket and brought them inside to perfume the house.

There were two antique varieties of iris my grandmother grew which were still there when we inherited the property. One was a warm purplish lilac and the other a chrome yellow striped with dark brown--smallish, but lovely. There were baby blue eyes, a species of zebrina,and of course, roses. There was a velvet gallica and a stunning pink damask Grandmother had planted. My father grew hybrid teas, but I grew up with the older roses.

Since then, I have lived all over the country and have planted everything from cactus to figs. Still the older plants are the favorites.

Thank you,
Laura Peterson

Laura, thank you SO much for telling us about the gardens you grew up with! First, to answer your question, Mary Barratt Park, lovingly known as Grandma Park, passed away years ago. I will do some research and get an actual date. And in a future post, I'll also tell you about how she and Mr. Park met. It's interesting to note that she was actually the president of the company from 1935, when Mr. Park died, up through 1945, when her sons came back from World War II. Truly a woman of courage and dignity to have led the company through the Depression and war years!

Do you have stories about the gardens that your parents and grandparents grew? Share them here! All you have to do is email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. If you have pictures, we'd love to see them, too.

Three Generations of Parkers in the Garden

I've been harvesting customer letters from my friends in Customer Service again, and I just love this one. Mr. Grover Parker, from Foley, Alabama, was kind enough to share his positive experience with our tomatoes and even better, he sent along this delightful picture of an impressive crop! Here's what Mr. Parker has to say:

Dear Park's:
Last year, I planted Parks' Whopper CR Improved Tomato for the first time. It was the best tomato crop I've ever had. I planted them again this year, and this crop is even better. Some of the plants had 45 tomatoes and some had over 50 tomatoes per plant. This is the best tomato I have ever planted. They not only made a bumper crop, they are a delicious tomato.

I'm sending you a picture of one of my Whopper plants with three generations of Parkers enjoying the bounty of Park's good seed. With me is my son, Jimmy, and his two sons, Jessie and Zack. Park's has the best seed money can buy.
Thanks,
Grover Parker

That's a fine crop of Parkers, for sure--congratulations on your beautiful family! At Park Seed Company, we are always delighted to see generations sharing the fun of gardening together. If you have pictures of your family in the garden, please send them to me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. We'd love to see your picture posted here!