NYWF: Parade of Modern Roses

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The JACKSON & PERKINS

ROSE GARDEN

at the NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR

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CELEBRATE THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1939-40 WORLD'S FAIRS
In New York and San Francisco
Look for more World's Fair Postcards on the Postcardy Blog on Fridays.
To view past World's Fair posts, click here or on the exposition label.

Irish Flowers For St. Patrick's Day

These three postcards are part of  ST. PATRICK SERIES NO. 5 by Nash.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Fans & Flowers Greetings

Fans, often combined with flowers, were common motifs on early twentieth century greeting postcards. A fan shape could serve as background, frame, or both.

I even have two postcards in my "cat collection" that include fans.

 

 

Fans are most common on everyday and birthday greetings, but they are also found on holiday postcards.

Next, and last, is a novelty postcard made up of a variety of materials and add-ons.

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To See More Vintage Images

Flowers on Stamps

This postcard is part of a five card series featuring stamps of the world, ©1965. The stamps appear to be from the late 1950s to early 1960s. The Luxembourg stamp in the center commemorates a 1959 flower festival. Above and to the left of center is a British stamp commemorating the 1964 International Botanical Congress in Edinburgh.

I looked up the British stamp and found a post about that stamp and its designers: Stamps and plants make for a lasting union. The stamp shown has a "dog rose" and is part of a four stamp set that also includes Spring gentian, Honeysuckle, and Fringed Water Lily. The designers were Michael and Sylvia Goaman, who also designed other stamps featuring plants and flowers, including the Queen's 1953 Coronation stamp with floral emblems of the UK.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Lilies of the Valley

This is a recent Russian postcard with a creative view of a 1973 Soviet Lily of the Valley stamp. The title on the back of the postcard is "Lily of the Valley in May." Lilies of the Valley bloom in the Spring, and I am more than ready for Spring. I love their smell and wish they would bloom for a longer time.

The words at the top of the stamp "лекарственные растения" mean "medicinal plant," and this stamp is part of a series of medicinal plant stamps (large scans of the stamps are shown here). I never knew that Lilies of the Valley were medicinal plants. You can read about their medicinal use here. Lilies of the Valley are also poisonous. The flowers, fruit, and leaves of the lily of the valley plant are poisonous when eaten. There is a long list of symptoms here.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

A Happy New Year - 100 Years Ago - 1913

Year dates were popular on New Year postcards in the early years of the twentieth century. This type of postcard seems to have peaked around 1908-1910. There are relatively few after 1910.

Floral Racket & Ball

In honor of the Wimbledon tennis tournament (June 25 - July 8) I am posting a postcard with what I think is a tennis racket and ball. It doesn't look like any racket I have seen, but I think the artist intended to represent a tennis racket.

This postcard has an example of a floral object. The object is covered with small flowers. The most common flowers used on cards of this type are roses, violets, and forget-me-nots. Some fine examples of floral object postcards are shown on the postcardiva postcard blog.

I found the back of this postcard quite interesting. First, it appears to be a sample card giving sales information for this and similar postcards: Post Card No. 624, Assorted Designs 12 for 12 cts. Second, the message written by a schoolgirl looks like it could be a school assignment on how to write a postcard. The phrases written are very typical of those seen on many old postcards. The only bit of news is that the writer has a bad cold (which contradicts the beginning statement that she is well).

Dear schoolmate, I thought I would write and tell you that I am well and hope the same of you. I have a bad cold. Well I guess I will close.
Give my love to all the folks.
With love
From you loving schoolmate
Emma.

Well, dear bloggers, I guess I will close now with a link to a selection of vintage photos celebrating the sport of tennis. The photos are from Life Magazine and were posted as the 2012 Wimbledon championships were about to begin: Love All: Life Plays Tennis.

For More Vintage Images
Visit Sepia Saturday

Highway Scene & Beds of Roses - Tyler, Texas

The vintage Greyhound Bus is what attracted me to this postcard, but it is the roses that are the attraction in Tyler, Texas. Tyler is a city in east Texas named after President John Tyler and nicknamed "The Rose Capital of America.”

Roses have long been a major industry in Tyler. Tyler is the site of America's largest rose garden, an annual Rose Festival, and a Rose Museum. The 79th Texas Rose Festival, scheduled for October 18-20, 2012, will celebrate the places, faces and facets of the Orient.

There is a Greyhound Station in Tyler, so it is still possible to travel to Tyler by Greyhound Bus.

H. W. Buckbee - Rockford Seed Farms

Growing Buckbee's American Beauty Roses

Here are some of the free advertising postcards that Buckbee Seed Farms of Rockford, Illinois was offering customers circa 1910-1912. The company sent out cards illustrating sets of "six beautiful Souvenir Post Cards" that could be obtained free by returning a coupon with an order from their catalog.

Buckbee company history goes back to 1871 when Hiram W. Buckbee began selling cabbage plants as a boy. The business later grew into a huge operation that included a 350,000-square-foot warehouse, greenhouse complex, and trial area, along with a 15,000-acre seed farm. The company mailed out 750,000 catalogs In 1921, the year of Hiram’s death.

Growing Buckbee's "full of Life" Beans

Growing Buckbee's Great Ruby Strawberries

Growing Buckbee's Pedigreed "Full of Life" Onion Seed

An enlargement of the Buckbee's trademark from the back of the postcards is shown below.

The last two images are from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Digital Collection. They show the front and back covers of the 1896 H. W. Buckbee Seed & Plant Guide.

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Danish Flower Stamps

This postcard shows two stamps issued by Denmark in 1973 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Jutland Horticultural Society. The flowers are Rhododendron impreditum and Rosa Dronningen af Danmark.

These stamps were engraved by Czeslaw Slania (1921 - 2005) who was an expert and prolific engraver of postage stamps and banknotes. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he was the most prolific of all stamp engravers, having engraved more than 1000 stamps. Some collectors specialize in stamps engraved by Slania. There is a website showing Slania's stamps and other engravings here.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Beautification of America Stamp & Washington Cherry Blossoms

Above is a maximum card with the 5-cent Beautification of America commemorative postage stamp that was issued on October 5, 1966. This stamp was issued to publicize President Lyndon Johnson's "Plant for a more beautiful America" campaign.

Both the stamp and the postcard have a view of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. framed by blooming cherry trees. The Jefferson Memorial was dedicated on April 13, 1943 on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson.

This year is the 100th anniversary of Washington's Japanese cherry trees. The trees were a 1912 gift from Japan given in an effort to enhance the friendship between the United States and Japan. The 2012 National Cherry Blossom Festival is being celebrated from March 20 – April 27. The average peak bloom date is April 4. Due to warmer than usual weather this year, the peak bloom date is estimated to be March 20-23.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Tulip Time - Holland, Michigan

The Michigan Historic Site Marker on this postcard tells the story of the Dutch in Michigan:

On February 9, 1847, The Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte and a band of Hollanders founded the city of Holland. Within two years, the other four original colonies - Graafschap, Zeeland, Vriesland, Overisel - had also been established. Plagued by illness and not accustomed to the task of clearing a wilderness, the settlers found their first year a hard one, but their suffering was to be repaid in the bountiful days ahead.

Holland, Michigan has held a has held a Tulip Time Festival in May since 1929. The festival is a celebration of Dutch heritage and culture. This year's celebration is particularly special because 2011 is the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of the founder of the Holland, Michigan, Reverend Albertus C. Van Raalte.

The dates of the 2011 Tulip Time Festival are May 7-14. According to the tulip update of May 10, "The tulips are in full color in downtown Holland and blooming at about 80% in the rest of the city."

This video is a short documentary about growing Tulips in Holland, Michigan during the 1940s.

I'm participating in Signs, Signs

Tulip - Farmer Seed & Nursery Co.

This tulip postcard was published by Manz Engraving Company, Chicago. There is advertising for Farmer Seed & Nursery Co., Faribault, Minnesota below the picture:

Tulips, Narcissus, Hyacinths and other early spring blooming bulbs must be planted in the Fall. Nothing in the line of hardy flowers can be grown as easily and will give better results. Write for illustrated price list.

Farmer Seed & Nursery Co. has been in business in Faribault since the 1880s, and their building is on the National Register of Historic Places. They have a website and an online catalog.

This type of Manz Engraving Company flower postcard was available with advertising on the front or back, or with no advertising. My postcard has advertising only on the front. It has a handwritten message on the back and was sent from Winnebago, Minnesota in 1916 to a sister in Vernon Center, Minnesota. Another postcard of this type that I saw on the web has no advertising on the front and has a form printed on the back used to announce a shipment in 1914 from a New York seed company.

North American Wildflower Stamps

These are two postcards in Cartwheel Company's Stamp Collector Series™. These cards reproduce two of the stamps from the 1992 Wildflowers Issue, the Harlequin Lupine and Shooting Star. Here is the description of the Wildflowers Issue from Arago: People, Postage & The Post, an educational website about United States stamps:

Fifty colorful, blooming native plants dotted the philatelic landscape with the 29-cent Wildflowers commemorative stamps issued July 24, 1992, in Columbus, Ohio, host city for the AmeriFlora '92 International Floral and Garden Exposition. Each of the fifty states can claim one or more of the lovely wildflowers represented on the stamps.

The stamps were issued in panes of fifty different designs. The selvage of each pane includes a promotional message for a special Wildflower album, featuring fifty mint stamps and sixty-four pages of informative text and colorful artwork. Designed by Karen Mallary of Anacortes, Washington, the stamps were produced by Ashton-Potter America, Inc., in the offset lithography process.

All fifty of the wildflowers stamps are pictured on the Arago website.

I have a couple of other wildflowers postcards from this series. I don't know if all of stamps from the Wildflowers Issue were reproduced on postcards. This postcard series would have benefited from better art directing and editing. Even "wildflowers" is misspelled on the front of the card as two words, and the description on the back doesn't make sense.

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

March 8 Postcard and Belarus Stamps

This week I received this lovely March 8 International Women's Day postcard from a Postcrosser in Belarus. On the back of the card are three spring flower stamps in the same spring colors as the postcard. The names are given in both Belarusian and Latin. The Latin names are Paeonia lactiflora (Peony), Narcissus hybridus (Narcissus), and Tulipa gesneriana (Tulip).

Three animal stamps, not so springlike, but equally nice are also on the back of the card.

Belarus Post has a nice online catalog in English where you can see stamp issues since 1992, including these and other stamps in the Garden Flower and Wild Animal series.

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

International Women's Day - Russia Celebrates

March 8 is International Women's Day. This day isn't celebrated much in the United States, but is popular in Russia. This Russian International Women's Day postcard is dated 1982.

Russia celebrates International Women’s Day

PFF - Florida Tulips

This postcard is titled Tulip Time in Florida. On the back is this description: "It is a beautiful sight to see the Holland tulips during February in full bloom in the Mead Botanical Gardens." The card was published in 1940 in the same year that Mead Botanical Gardens was dedicated.

This card leads one to believe that tulips grow well in Florida, which is not true. It is possible to grow tulips in Florida, but the climate is unfavorable. The bulbs need a period of cold for eight weeks in a refrigerator before planting, and they probably will not bloom more than once. For instructions, see How to Plant Tulips in Florida.

VTT - Wild Roses - Western Women, Tea, & Pyrography

This artwork on this postcard was designed for Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Rose Herb Tea, ©1980. The artist is Norman Green.

After much searching, I still haven't figured out whether "wild roses" and "cinnamon roses" are the same thing. Most, but not all, pictures of cinnamon roses look like the wild roses on the wood burnt plaque. The roses on the postcard don't look like the typical wild rose. Some wild roses smell like cinnamon, but I don't know whether all of them do. Can anyone clarify what a wild and/or cinnamon rose is?

Wild roses seem to be frequently associated with western themes. Does anyone know why?

size 12" X 17"

Pyrography, the art of wood burning, was very popular in the early twentieth century. This "Wild Rose" plaque was manufactured by the Flemish Art Company, the largest and best-known manufacturer of pyrographic tools and wooden objects with designs to be burned by hobbyists. Plaques and boxes were the most common objects. More information on the Flemish Art Company and the manufacturing process is at the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays