Every Plant has a Story!

by Danny Summers

When Karen and I were at the new SNA Conference at MANTS last month, the Conference Chairman, Dr. Richard Olsen, Director of the US National Arboretum, suggested one of the roundtable topics of "sharing more of the story behind the plants." Obviously, when I heard this I immediately thought of Robert's constant encouragement. But how does this relate to the plants we sell or help us in the garden center?

We all know from personal experience, knowing more about the plant, where we got it or who gave it to us, can mean much more than just buying it at a store and planting it. The story behind the plant brings much more connection.

Every Plant Has a Story...

I want to share a couple examples. I am a long-time customer of seed catalogs. I love to peruse each page during the winter to get ideas and making big plans for the garden when spring is here (seems like the "big plans" are always much bigger than the actual garden output). It's funny how that works out in with a busy life!

Recently, as I was pouring over the tomato pages, I read just a tidbit of a story that made me more curious to search for more. It was the story about "Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter" tomato and how a radiator shop owner, M.C. (Charlie) Byles, in Logan, West Virginia bred this tomato (must have been in the 50's). There is even a recording of "Radiator Charlie" telling the story of how he developed this heirloom tomato of today.  Here's a Link to the story I found. Be sure to see how the Mortgage Lifter name ties in.

But there are many more stories, even with new plants. Dr. Olsen's emphasis was that we must search for these background details, these stories, or we will loose the story forever. Growers know many of these but we are not asking about them. Almost every plant has a story, so let's put this on our to-do list and ask our growers to provide us with as many as possible. How can this bring the plants we sell closer to our customers and the plants in their garden? I believe a lot, and as Ben Franklin says (below), it can mean a lot for how they feel about you who are telling the story.

By the way, here in the south, there is at least one book written on this subject. Legends in the Garden - "Who in the World is Nellie R. Stevens" helps to fill in the blanks on 40+ well-known plants. Here's a preface: "Oftentimes, we wonder not what our gardens grow, but who our gardens grow. Legends in the Garden is a collection of the history, places, people, and stories behind the names of some of America's most well-known plants. These anecdotes, researched and written by authors Linda L. Copeland and Dr. Allan M. Armitage, are a compilation of forty-six of these little known origins of plant names. This was a Cool Springs Press publication. I believe the hardback is out of print now but it looks like the paperback is still available. I contacted Linda Copeland this past week but have not heard back from her yet. Check it out HERE. So, my tagalong encouragement to Robert's Tell Your Story is... 

COLLECT THE STORY CONTENT - find the stories behind the plants you sell and let's tell those stories!

Danny