I went to the National Agricultural Library today; I'm going to help with a design for the space around their new sign on Route 1. Oddly, it's been almost exactly a year since I toured the facility with a coalition of my garden clubs. Weird. Or not. Susan Fugate, my contact for the design is in charge of Special Collections. This includes rare books, a collection of seed catalogs, art including an incredible collection of pomological watercolors originally done as scientific records, posters, et alia. I got another nice walk through and snapped a few pictures. The two colorful catalogs are over 100 years old and the poster dates from WW1.The poster resonated with me, not because we're at war, but because....well, everybody's growing vegetables! I wonder if the big pink jar is rhubarb?
My eyes lit up when I spotted your photo of the catalog from J. T. Lovett's nursery! I grow Alida and Mary Lovett, and a rose that we believe may be the rare-and-unavailable Bess Lovett ... all bred in Beltsville in the early 20th century by Dr. Van Fleet and named for Lovett daughters. You've made my morning.
ReplyDelete... Connie