At this time of year , with the earth glacial , or at least semi - rooted , catalog madness strikes many gardener with a considerable wallop . Sometimes when you are in the throe of this particular seasonal disorder , it is helpful to take metre out to regain view . I unremarkably do it by walking around my garden and reminding myself that gardening is more than just cramming as many plant as possible into the existing blank space . If I need an extra reality check , I look at my bank balance and attempt to recollect that while the hydrangea I starve will hold out a showery day with no outside assistance , only the front of liquid asset will enable me to rend off the same feat .
This year ’s dose of position comes from an unusual source — the 1947 Wayside Gardens catalogue , which I find in a used Holy Writ storage last summertime . It was so cheap and so enlightening that I bought it , knowing that a here and now would come when I would need it .
When the 1947 catalog was printed , World War II had been over for a year , the Baby Boom was in its babyhood , and “ the dollar cease ” with President Harry S. Truman . Two year onetime intercrossed tea roses could be purchased for $ 1.25 each , plus shipping and manipulation .
Catalog exaggeration has been with us since the first sight posting , and Wayside ’s mid - century verbalism is ripe with over-embellished prose .
“ Nothing reflects so favorably upon the character , prestigiousness and standing of a woman as does her garden … . ” the catalogue announced . “ She is sure to stand out in the eyes of others if hers is an attractive garden , although it need not be the largest or the most expensive , … ”
Clearly the mark customer was a woman with a love of flowers and a definite desire to strike the neighbour .
feel for the hapless male Wayside internet browser . He might have been tempted to rate under a feminine nom de guerre so that he could also “ Know the many thrills — the joy and excitement of bringing raw beauty into your life and garden . ”
Despite the dated prose , today ’s catalog client would find reasonably well-heeled thumbing the Page of the 1947 variation . From aster to zinnias , most of the familiar garden flowers , shrubs and trees are there . I found one of my preferent shrub , Japanese Kerria ( Kerria japonica ‘ Flore Pleno ’ ) on page 156 . Another favorite , Oakleaf Hydrangea ( Hydrangea Quercifolia ) is described as being “ a rather rare bush . ” I believe that the 2000 Wayside catalog characterizes it in much the same way .
Butterfly bush ( Buddleia ) has been one of the hottest bush on the market over the last few horticulture season . If you had localise an social club in 1947 , you could have chosen from six unlike cultivars , include the blade new ‘ White Profusion ’ , a dwarf bush . Now you’re able to also buy yellow - anthesis and vary varieties of Buddleia , but otherwise not much has changed .
Current catalogs have tidy sum of cultivar call ‘ millenary ’ , ‘ New Century ’ and ‘ 2000 ’ , so it is barely surprising that in a post - war year , there were a number of industrial plant varieties name “ Peace ” . There were ‘ pacification ’ Scabiosas , Buddleias and Snapdragons , in addition to the still - beloved ‘ peace treaty ’ rose . With the exception of the rose , all the ‘ Peace ’ cultivars were white .
Botanical language has changed in surprisingly few case . Hosta , that stalwart of the shade garden , was know at the time as “ Funkia ” . The plant that many multitude then and now refer to as “ Red Hot Poker ” was called Tritoma in 1947 . Sometime during the intervening long time it was rechristened Kniphofia .
Traditionally Hybrid Tea roses have often been named after notable people . Current rosiness catalogs have cultivars such as ‘ Billy Graham ’ , ‘ Barbara Bush ’ , ‘ Princess Diana ’ and even ‘ Dolly Parton ’ . Wayside ’s 1947 book feature ‘ Will Rogers ’ , ‘ Douglas MacArthur ’ ( doubtlessly at its good when constitute with seawater halfway up its cane ) , Madame Chiang Kai - shek and Edith Willkie . While many people still commemorate humorist Will Rogers and Gen. MacArthur ; and some know of Madame Chiang Kai - Shek , wife of the last pre - Communist leader of China ; few will remember Mrs. Willkie . She must have been a rosaceous devotee . Her husband , Wendell , had the misfortune to run against Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election , so perhaps the rose was a solace prize . As my Padre ( and others ) often said “ Sic transportation gloria mundi”—“Fame is momentaneous . ” It make you wonder whether ‘ Dolly Parton ’ will still be doing a whizz turn in Wayside ’s 2050 catalog .
The current Wayside catalogue , with its pick for faxing , phoning or placing orders over the Internet , goes all out to ensure customer convenience . However , it can not maybe top the 1947 variant , which offered the following :
“ If , as some have stated , you find so many beautiful matter in the catalogue that you’re able to not adjudicate which ones to order , just enclose your check and let us make the selections for you as we do for many of our customers . You will be highly pleased with the event . ”
What could be gentle than that ?
