Old Gardens
- Subject: Old Gardens
- From: Linda L Wallpe l*@juno.com
- Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 01:22:03 -0500
A story about one man who knew what to do with an old garden. For a
number of years John Van Beck was a member of The American Daffodil
Society. His name regularly came up, usually accompanied by a wink,
because he insisted that he was successfully growing daffodils in
Tallahassee, Florida.
Uh, Florida? Hot, humid weather and soil, death to most daffodils, that
Florida? Yep.
John developed 3 goals:
1. Find daffodils already growing.
2. Rescue daffodils growing in abandoned sites.
3. Plant daffodils in public areas to increase interest.
John and his wife Linda went to abandoned gardens all across the south
and dug those bulbs that had survived and thrived despite neglect and
less than ideal daffodil conditions. Tens of thousands of them,
truckloads.
The list of recipients is long but includes: Maclay State Gardens in
Fla., Goodwood Historical Museum and Gardens, Coastal Gardens in Ga.,
Hampton House National Historic Site and Fort McHenry in Md. He gave
them to public and private schools, reasoning that it was never too early
to expose children to the thrill of daffodils. Many public buildings in
northern Florida and southern Georgia now sport plantings. And
expressways!
He also started the Florida Daffodil Society and their membership stands
at about 350. This last year, the ADS named a medal for exhibited
Historical Daffodils after him because so many of the daffs that he
rescued were historical varieties.
Unfortunately this spritely, energetic man died about 2 years ago. Bill
Lee and I both counted him as a friend and miss his verve.
Linda Wallpe
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