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!
