Jun

From the Archives: Men and Their Flowers

What better way to honor Father’s Day than by celebrating men and their flowers? Meg Biser offers a few fun photos from Smithsonian Gardens Archives of American Gardens, a collection of tens of thousands of images and records documenting historic and contemporary gardens and landscapes across the U.S.

Black and White photo of Burpee in field of flowers — David Burpee, circa 1935-1940

David Burpee was a seedsman with a strong interest in ornamental plants. He was the second president of W. Atlee Burpee and Company, once the biggest mail-order seed company in the world. Here he is inspecting Calendulas on the grounds of Floradale, a test farm near Lompoc, California.

Man wearing hat in greenhouse full of hydrangeas — Man at Greystone, circa 1940

This unknown man stands among hydrangeas in the conservatory at Greystone in Yonkers, New York, home of Samuel Untermyer, the first American lawyer to receive one million dollars in fees for a single legal case. Untermyer once expressed a wish to establish “the finest garden in the world,” and hired landscape architect William Welles Bosworth to help him do it. Much of the property, now known as Untermyer Park and Gardens, is now a public park.

Man in suit and hat poses under rose arbor — Rosarian Dr. T. Allen Kirk, 1937

This dapper individual is Dr. T. Allen Kirk, a physician, surgeon, and decorated rose breeder. Based in Roanoke, Virginia, he was a founding member and first Vice President of the American Rose Society. Kirk received the Legion of Honor medal for his rose development work in France. The American Rose Society once honored him as “the ideal American rosarian.”

Hand tinted photo of old black man and little white girl in garden — Gardener at Foxcroft, circa 1910

This gardener once tended the chicory-lined paths and grounds of Foxcroft, a grand house between the Blue Ridge and Bull Run Mountains of Middleburg, Virginia. The property became a school for girls in 1914. The hand-tinted lantern slide on which this image appears identifies him rather simply as the “Old Gardener.”

Man working among hyacynths and crocuses — Worker at Phipps Conservatory, 1901

This gentleman arranges hyacinths and croci for display at a glasshouse at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Phipps Conservatory. Founded in 1893, the conservatory stayed open on Sundays so working people could visit on their weekly day off. It is still open to this day.

Meg Biser is Digital Content Curator for Smithsonian Gardens. This post originally appeared in Gardens’ June newsletter.