I love it when bulbs planted in the fall burst open with color in the spring. They are such a welcome sign of cheeriness after a long, cold winter. And half of the fun is pouring through catalogs and drooling over the pretty packages at the local garden center each fall. Nowadays the catalogs and packages have wonderful photos (some of which I am always a little skeptical of) with what your chosen bulb will look like come spring.
But before the picture perfect blooms were selling the bulbs, many an unknown artist was busy creating lovely images for printed catalogs that were sent to budding gardeners each season. Many of the items in the catalogs were new and exotic, so the illustrations provided by these artists had to do the trick. I recently stumbled upon a gallery of vintage seed catalogs from the collections of the Smithsonian. They have some wonderful images preserved and I thought I would share a few of the Autumn Catalogs with you, featuring the spring blooming bulbs in all their glory.
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JM Thorburn & Co Bulb Catalog 1906
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DM Ferry & Co Autumn 1912
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The Conrad & Jones Co New Floral Guide Autumn 1898
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Undated JM Thorburn & Company
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John A Salzer Seed Co Autumn 1895
These really are works of art. Take some time to visit the Smithsonian’s Galaxy of Images to see what else you can find!
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