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GARDENER'S
READING ROOM
More Gardening Topics
50
Years Ago...
 Date
line February 1953. President Eisenhower settles into office.
Jazz singer Diane Schuur is born and J. Fred Muggs becomes
a regular on the “Today” show. Sky Nursery opens
its doors as Highlands Hay and Feed. Straw, baby chicks, paint,
and U-dig shrubs mark the first sales of a fledgling business
in the boonies of North Seattle.
The Burpee seed catalog of 1953 has a color enhanced photo
of their new Burpee Giant Hybrid Zinnia. Promising the largest
flowers ever in a zinnia and new colors never seen in this
genus makes this an irresistible bargain at $.35 a packet.
In fact Burpee’s 1953 catalog offers a stunning 70 varieties
of zinnias, 80 petunias, 58 asters and 53 types of Sweet Peas.
Line drawings and hand-colored pictures grace the pages of
America’s favorite seed catalog. Dahlia tubers, many
of them the same varieties we sell today, went for $1 to $1.50
each. A package of pickling cukes was $.10 to $.15. Five pounds
of grass seed, $6.75. And a 50-foot “space age”
plastic hose sold for a whopping $9.95.
While doing research for this article what struck me was how
little the common genuses of horticulture have changed in
one half century of commercial nurseries. Juniper, especially
the one known as ‘Tam’, was the shrub of the decade.
It’s hard to believe that this prickly shrub was once
‘exotic’! Forsythia, hydrangeas, abelia, azaleas,
and rhododendrons rule the day. Wayside’s Fall ’52
catalog lists a 12” (one gallon) rhododendron selling
for $4.50. IN ONE HALF CENTURY, THAT PRICE HAS JUST NOW DOUBLED.
Grafted tree peonies (a novelty in the 50’s) cost between
$9 and $12.00—today they retail for barely more. So
I don’t want to hear you whine about how expensive plants
are!
No self-respecting gardener worth his or her compost would
be without a few roses in a sunny corner. The All American
Rose Selections for 1953 included the hybrid teas ‘Fred
Howard’, a stunning, sunny yellow with sharply turned
petals; ‘Helen Traubel’, an exotic salmon pink
promising “florist perfect” stems; and ‘Remembrance’,
a barely-remembered pale cream with a clean pink picotee edge.
Jackson and Perkins were the Kings of roses in the ‘50’s.
The world’s most popular rose, ‘Peace’,
cost $2.00 mail order. Gorgeous illustrations of roses and
perennials fill their catalog. A fairly new introduction,
‘Funkia’ (subcordata album), made its debut in
their catalog. We call it “hosta” now, and enjoy
it in many, many subtle variations.
Jackson and Perkins also offered a “miracle pesticide”…
a bang-up combo of Fermate, “aerosol” quality
DDT and sulfur. Also sold for use on veggies! YUM!
In the half-century that Sky Nursery has been doing business,
we’ve seen many changes. Births and deaths, expansion
and near financial disaster. Government regulations, changing
rules, laws, tastes and fashions in horticulture. We hope
to keep on changing and adapting, serving the gardening public
and always making plants and people our priority. We thank
you for your patronage and look forward to our next milestone.
By Chuck Pavlich, W. C. N.
Skylights Spring 2003, Vol 17, No. 1
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