The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Publicity for Spring THIS WILL PROBABLY not be the first advertisement for spring you have seen. Back in February I counted a dozen kinds of birds crowded...
...When our people moved west from New England and Virginia, the women took care not only of all their household effects but also of symbols of beauty...
...Another outfit exhibited some very effective posters which illustrated the evil effects of great roadside signboards...
...The good man seemed to be afraid of politics...
...Back in February I counted a dozen kinds of birds crowded competitively about my feeding-station...
...There were at least two lively organizations represented, however, which did not scorn the power of politics...
...When I inquired whether the Society ever tries to influence the Governor or the Legislature, he fended off the question as quickly as possible...
...But it was only yesterday, when I attended the Philadelphia Flower Show, that spring officially, noisily and frenetically arrived...
...Almost all of them were put together by private gardeners, people who love to see things grow and devote their time, money and energy to the development of gardens...
...During exhibition week the Hall is crowded with thousands of worshipful devotees...
...A number of them had exhibits in the Philadelphia show...
...Commercial florists and nurserymen had only a minority interest in the Philadelphia affair...
...There were thousands of exhibits, lovely gardens of all sorts, special shows of particular flowers or plants...
...In my area of Delaware alone, we have about a dozen garden clubs...
...In Philadelphia the Flower Show is held in the city's big Exhibition Hall...
...It has always seemed to me that we owe our flowers and our love of flowers chiefly to the women...
...In Philadelphia, I saw thousands of women rushing from exhibit to exhibit, comparing and criticizing arrangements, discussing awards...
...I suppose impure water kills the flowers and billboards hide them...
...My friend would, I suspect, have been horrifled at the notion...
...No, no,' he shuddered, "we try to spread our influence through educational means, through social influence, never through politics...
...If you have never seen one, you had better try it next year...
...According to Carlton B. Lees, Director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which puts on the show, the great concourse is no accident...
...In fact, though I have attended many a garden show, this one gave me an entirely new notion of the depth and social sweep of the annual spring outburst...
...The energy they displayed was awesome...
...These women really are, as they say, "crazy" about flowers and gardens...
...The descendants of our pioneer flowerlovers are now running garden clubs and phenomenal shows...
...It might turn out to be one of the most satisfactory experiences of your life...
...His organization has been actively promoting local flora for more than a century, and now has more than 5,000 members spread pretty well over the world...
...The great cement structure has been so draped and hidden in greenery that its rigid and rugged shape is thoroughly concealed...
...I am reminded of another lot of American women...
...My wife Edith belongs to one such club, and I have seen something of what goes on...
...The word "Pennsylvania" is part of the Society's name, but Lees and others emphasized that it has no political or geographical significance...
...some won prizes in the flower-arranging competitions...
...They gave tender care to the roots, seeds and bulbs of roses, lilacs, snowballs and daffodils...
...And a few weeks later I noted dainty green shoots shyly peaking above the rude frozen soil, a herald of the gay daffodils to come...
...One society was carrying on a dramatic campaign against the pollution of our water supply...
...The daffodils actually appeared some days ago...
...I had intended to ask Lees whether the United Nations has taken an interest in his group's work, but never got around to it...
...Not that the Philadelphia show was more impressive than those I have viewed in New York, though I would say that it was equally immense, magnificent and overpowering...
Vol. 45 • April 1962 • No. 7
