Park Seed Memories

Vintage Photographs Show the Wayside Gardens of the 1950s

I've been lucky this summer to have access to an eager young intern named D'Amishia (below right). She's spending part of her summer here, honing her work skills and helping us out on a variety of tasks. One of her assignments was to help me with the endless--but interesting!--project of archiving the many artifacts we have representing the history of our brands. D'Amishia rather literally dug right in and explored the boxes and boxes of Wayside Gardens materials stashed in the Library.

The Park Seed Company purchased Wayside Gardens in 1975, and I believe these boxes probably date from around that time. D'Amishia first created an inventory list of all the catalogs and materials they contained. I've already shared that list with my virtual friend Josh, the historian in Ohio who is documenting the saga of nursery businesses that grew up in the Lake County area of Ohio. I'm hoping it will help in his research.

The real treasure, though, was a manilla folder she found that was stuffed with dozens of black & white photographs of the Wayside Gardens nursery campus in Mentor, Ohio, where J. J. Grullemans and Elmer Schultz originally founded the business. It appears that all these photos are from the late 1950s. D'Amishia faithfully scanned all of those pictures into an electronic file, so that we can share them and preserve them. To give you a flavor of the 1959 Wayside Gardens, the place and the people, check out the photo album at left.

As you will see in the photo album, I have lots of questions about the pictures. Who are those people? What are they doing? Why are they doing that?!? If you have any answers, and especially if YOU or someone you know is in these pictures, please contact me at ckuhl@parkseed.com and tell me your story. You can bring history to life for us by sharing your information!

1947 Wayside Gardens Plans for Dual-Season Garden Glory

While researching the Garden Blox landscape designs offered by Wayside Gardens in the 1930s and 1940s, I found another interesting technique used to help novice gardeners create successful garden layouts. The 1947 catalog offers "Two Perennial Gardens for You," each of which contained a "paint-by-the-numbers" layout plan, plus all the plants needed to create two dual-season gardens. Here's what the catalog has to say:

The Early Garden: (18 feet long and 5 feet wide.) Plants were so chosen as to create two distinct mass bloom effects. During May and June, Iris, early Veronica, Clove Pinks and Lemon Lilies create a colorful effect, to be followed in July by a gorgeous lot of color largely created by perennial Phlox supported by Statice, Silver Artemisia, and summer blooming Veronica. This color lasts well into September. The varieties we have selected are easily grown and will increase in size each season and are up-to-date kinds.

The Late Garden: (18 feet long and 5 feet wide.) Here again there are two "peak" bloom periods. The first one in June and July when Delphiniums, Lilies, and Oenothera are at their best. The second or autumn display is made largely by hardy Asters, both tall and dwarf, at the best throughout September and October. In selecting varieties for this garden we have chosen the best of easy culture and fine clear colors.

The pictures above (early) and below (late) were used to show how the gardens look at each of their peak periods.

Wayside "Garden Blox" History Mystery Solved

 A good while back, I shared the story of a gracious donation to the Wayside Gardens portion of the Park Seed Company archives. In particular, it was a "paint-by-numbers" approach to gardening called Garden Blox--A Practical Guide to Some of Your Gardening Problems.

It's a great artifact, but I found one thing to be frustrating. Nowhere on the document was there a date! My guess was that it had to be published sometime between 1930 and 1950, based primarily on the general look of the illustrations.

As it turns out, my new friend and colleague, amature historian Josh Haskell, was able to solve the mystery! He investigated a number of the Wayside Gardens catalogs in his archive, and contacted me with the scoop:

Hi Claire,
 
Here's what I've found so far. The first reference I can see to the Garden Blox Booklet is an advertisement on the back cover of the Spring 1939 catalog.  Similar ads appear in the following:

1940 Spring – back cover
1941 Spring – Page 6
1945 Spring – Page 11
1945 Autumn Planting - back cover
1946 Spring - Page 11
1946 Autumn Planting - Page 10
1948 Spring - Page 11
1957 Spring - Insert inside the front cover
 
I have photocopied each of these and will mail them to you shortly.  It's typical of the Grullemans' approach to marketing, but I guess it didn't work out as expected and so they discontinued pushing it (only a guess at this point).

Josh

Gosh, thanks, Josh!  I was surprised to see a gap between 1946 and 1948, so I checked a 1947 Wayside book in our archives and sure enough, I found Garden Blox offered there, too. The advertising copy would surely resonate with me and lots of other "wannabe" gardeners today:

"I love flowers, but have no real knowledge of them. Can't you help me to arrange my garden and make it more attractive and beautiful? I wish merely to know WHAT to plant, and WHERE and when to plant it."

In that same catalog, I found another Wayside Gardens solution to garden planning. More about that later.

Victory Garden Theme Continued in 1944 Park Seed Flower Book

By the time the 1944 Park Seed Flower Book catalog was printed, the Victory Garden concept was pretty well established in the national consciousness. It's not even explicitly mentioned on the front  (right) or back covers.

The back cover (left)does emphasize vegetable seed--but that's not at all unusual for any year!

The one specific Victory Garden reference I found in this edition is way back in the back, with classified ads from various companies. And there, on page 67, is an advertisement for the Victory Garden Duster.

The ad copy says, "Centrobellows V Powder Duster is tailormade for Victory Gardens. Quickly filled through the opening of the removable nozzle. Holds 6 oz. insecticide. Light and easy to handle. $1.00 each, prepaid."

Below, you can see the Victory Garden Duster in context with other ads of the day.

"Sow the Seeds of Freedom" in 1943 Anniversary Seed Book

The 1943 Park's Spring Flower Book was notable for being published during the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Park Seed Company. By this point in history, founder George Watt Park had passed away, his sons, John Barratt Park and William John Park, were serving in World War II, and George's wife, Mary Barratt Park, was leading the company.

Mary and the marketing team of the time joined the whole country in promoting V for victory wherever they could. On the 1943 catalog cover, at right, you can see the orange V incorporated into the 75th anniversary mention. The V required no explanation to anyone receiving that book!

Upon opening the cover, gardeners immediately encountered Squirrel Buddy and Little Mr. Economy (circled, left), with their message to buy war bonds and to grow both vegetables and flowers in every Victory Garden.

A bit deeper into the book, gardeners found another admonition to "Get your Vitamins for 1943 from Your Own Victory Vegetable Garden" (below).  This headline was accompanied by a brimming Harvest basket of fruits and vegetables, "for health and economy." The text continues:

"Insure yourself of a plentiful food supply during 1943 by growing your own Victory Vegetable Garden. For, it is quite probable that there will be a scarcity of fresh vegetables due to farm labor shortage, and transportation overload. We offer here a select list of the very best vegeatbles known. From us you will get the best seeds and always the most for your money at Park's famous 'Best for Less' prices."

Among the vegetables receiving an asterisk as a variety "we especially recommend," I spotted Tomato Victor and V-1 Muskmelon, again reinforcing the Victory focus.

And rounding out that theme, the back cover (left) was devoted completely to urging gardeners to "Sow the Seeds of Freedom" by taking advantage of the "7 leading vegetables" in the Victory Anniversary Offers:   beans, beets, carrots, lettuce, peas, sweet corn, and tomato.

Next time, I'll share some Victory Garden images and ideas from the 1944 Park Seed catalog!

Do you have memories of gardening for victory during World War II? How about during World War I?

I would really love to find Park publications from the 1917-1918 era, when victory gardening was also encouraged by the government.

Contact me to share your images and stories of the gardens and gardeners in your life! The way I see it, every garden is a victory--of hope and faith in the future!

Contact me at ckuhl@parkseed.com with your memories to share.

We've been Nuts about Victory Gardens for at least 66 Years!

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!

Treasure from the Seed Vault: Part III

Time to solve the last mystery about the Graham Stuart Thomas botanical art prints from the 1980s that we recently found safely tucked away in the Park Seed seed vault: Why would a world-famous horticultuist and artist choose to work with Wayside Gardens, based in Greenwood, SC? The answer actually lies across the pond in England!

In 1982, Wayside Gardens lured John Elsley, a botanist, horticulturist, and renowned plantsman, away from his position at the Missouri Botanical Gardens to come be our Director of Horticulture. But Elsley got his start in gardening long before he began working in Missouri. You see, he grew up in England...as did Graham Stuart Thomas.

According to a delightful biography of Mr. Elsley:

Both of his parents were avid gardeners; and some of his earliest memories, at about age 4 or 5, were of going to work with his father in their wartime victory garden allotment on Sunday mornings. At age 11, John went to a Quaker boarding school near Cambridge, and, in that chalky landscape, he further developed his interested in the environment and botany. ...Hearing the siren call of horticulture, John left school at age 18 to work as a gardener at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew....

While I can't fully connect all the dots of their relationship, apparently these two fine horticulturists' paths crossed often and they became friends. As shown in the picture above, when it came time for Graham Stuart Thomas to sign the exclusive prints for Wayside, John Elsley carried them to England, to spare Mr. Thomas from traveling. Sadly, his health was declining even then. Graham Stuart Thomas passed away in 2003.

Happily, John Elsley is alive and quite well, working as the Director of Horticulture at Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery in Avalon, Wisconsin. He remains in great demand as a speaker and is well-known throughout the gardening world for his plant development efforts, such as the Royal Heritage Helleborus, which he personally developed over a period of 15 years. John has edited several books, including The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Garden Plants.

Treasure from the Seed Vault: Part II

Last week, I began telling you about how we found a cache of lovely and unusual floral prints tucked away in a corner of the Park Seed seed vault. The signed prints were created exclusively for Wayside Gardens by artist/horticulturist Graham Stuart Thomas and sold via the catalog back in the late 1980s. And now we know that they were stashed away in the seed vault to keep them safe from pests, moisture, heat, and light.

Today's question: how did we find them again, after two decades in hiding?

Answer: somebody with a good memory went looking for them!

A very talented gentleman I'll call "Les" worked at Park Seed/Wayside Gardens during the time when Graham Stuart Thomas agreed to share his talent with our customers and work with a company in Greenwood, SC--rather a long distance from Thomas's home in Woking, England.

Fast forward a decade or two, during which Thomas's botanical prints have been stashed away in the Seed Vault, and Les has pursued several significant and successful career opportunities. As sometimes happens, Les found his way back to Park Seed/Wayside Gardens and started working here again. He spotted some of the art prints decorating a colleague's office walls, which jogged his memory.

"I knew the prints were probably still somewhere in the Seed Vault," said Les, "So we went searching. Sure enough, there was a locked cabinet that hadn't been opened in years. When we opened it up, there were the prints, looking just as beautiful as ever!"

So--two mysteries solved and one to go!

Unexpected Treasure from the Seed Vault

If someone told me that a treasure had been found hidden away in the Park Seed seed vault and asked me to guess what it was, I would naturally guess that it was some sort of rare (or at least old) seed.  But a recent "find" in our vault turned out to be treasure of a very different sort--rare botanical art prints.

One of our directors found, stashed away in a locked cabinet in the bowels of the seed vault, some signed and numbered, limited-edition prints of flower drawings that were created exclusively for Wayside Gardens back in the late 1980s. After being offered a few times in the Wayside Gardens catalog (see left, from 1987), they were stored and forgotten about until a few weeks ago.

The prints are quite lovely--the example shown here features Rosa rugosa 'Fru Dagmar Hastrup' and Rosa rugosa 'Roseraie de l'Hay'.

So...history-mystery-lover that I am, this raises two questions in my mind. First, why were these prints stored in the seed vault, of all places? Second, how did they resurface after all these years?

 And actually, now that I think about it, a third question comes to mind. What inspired well-known British horticulturist, artist, and garden designer Graham Stuart Thomas to create an exclusive collection of botanical art prints for a little company down in Greenwood, South Carolina?

As it turns out, the answer to the first mystery is pretty simple. Heat, moisture, and insects are enemies of seeds and, as it turns out, of art works. To keep Park Seed seed products in peak condition, they must be stored in a pest-free place where both temperature and humidity are kept at low levels. Our seed vault, therefore, has very strict pest and environmental controls. So it makes perfect sense that these these unique artworks were kept in a locked cabinet in the cool, dry seed vault, snug and safe for a couple of decades.

So how did the prints resurface after all that time? More to come...

Learning More About Wayside Gardens and Our Ohio Historian

I recently introduced you to a new virtual friend of mine, Ohio historian Josh Haskell, who is researching and writing about the history of Wayside Gardens, which actually started out in Mentor, Ohio. I asked him to tell me more about himself and his project, and received this great email. So here's Josh!

Claire,
Thank you for your recent email. I was pleased by your interest and enthusiasm for the subject.

I have spent most of my life in Lake County, Ohio, which at one time was known as the "nursery capital of America." Located here were not only Wayside Gardens, but also Storrs & Harrison, Klyn Nurseries, Wyant Roses, Bosley Nursery, Cole Nurseries, and literally hundreds of others. There are still well over a hundred nurseries in the County. Some of the largest are Cottage Gardens, Losely, Lake County Nursery, and Klyn.

Several years ago, the Perry (Township) Historical Society decided to do a history of Perry Township Nurseries. Because of the migration of nurseries within the County from West to East, it was soon realized that a countywide history would make much more sense, and I have been working on the project for the last five years.

At present, I am writing chapters on Storrs & Harrison, the first nursery in Lake County established in 1854, and Wayside Gardens. I have practiced law since 1975 and have represented several of the nursery operators. I am also very interested in landscape horticulture and have a Certificate in Landscape Horticulture from the Holden Arboretum. This means I am a certified amateur. Working on this project, therefore, has been a fascinating avocation.

I would be very interested in a copy of the 1986 brochure. It would also be helpful if you could provide a list of the catalogs, by title and date, from the 1920's and 30's.  Attached is a list of catalogs I have collected thus far; I have not added the more recent ones to the list yet. As you can see there are still a number of gaps.

Many of the catalogs contain historical information. In that regard, the 1955 catalog is of special interest. I will photocopy the historical pages and mail them to you shortly. I would really appreciate it if you could put something about our project on your blog. It would not surprise me to find many readers who are able to provide contributions.

I am hoping to visit Biltmore in Asheville sometime in the next year or two, in which event I will be delighted to take you up on your offer to visit and peruse your catalogs. In the meantime, I will try to provide you with copies of some of the information I have collected.
Josh

Wow--five years investigating nursery history. My hat is off to you, Sir! I appreciate and admire your dedication to your avocation. As I've highlighted above, Josh and I are hoping that YOU can help track down artifacts and ancedotes about the history of Wayside Gardens. (Or for that matter, any of the nurseries included in the project.) Email me at ckuhl@parkseed.com. We look forward to adding your recollections, memorabelia, and so forth to the project!