Garden Lore
Passion for flowers ....
The first American mail-order seed company was established in 1806, and women sought out new plants: cockscomb, impatiens, four-o’clocks. From South America and Mexico came “tropical” plants, such as nasturtiums and zinnias. From Asia were imported roses, azaleas, lilies, primroses and rhododendrons. Women’s quilts also included such blooms, according to Carolyn Ducey, curator of the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.
(Source: “Fanciful Flowers: Botany and the American Quilt,” February 23-June 3, 2001, from the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, The Textile Museum, Washington, DC., www.textilemuseum.org.)
