How Do I Compare Thee To a Burpee Seed: The 1924 Burpee Contest Inspired Poetry

“Roses are Red; Violets are Blue” may be the most famous lyric about flowers and love. In fact, poetry and the beauty of flowers and gardens often seem to go hand-in-hand.  This is why it comes as no surprise that poems accompany several of the letters submitted for the 1924 W. Atlee Burpee & Company contest, “What Burpee’s Seeds Have Done for Me.”

Now located in the W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records at the Archives of American Gardens, the contest letters are not only evidence of the firm’s marketing practices, but also snapshots into the lives of everyday gardeners of the time. The personal and touching stories that contestants shared with the company were often accompanied by tokens stuffed alongside the letters, including newspaper clippings, photographs, and even seed packets.  It is the lyrical composition of the ones that included poems, in my opinion (and the opinion of the Burpee Seed Company as many were selected as potential winners for the contest), that truly made a contest letter stand out.

In honor of National Poetry Month the Archives of American Gardens has selected a few poems from the 1924 contest letters to highlight.  The majority of the poems were written by gardeners inspired by their own gardens grown from Burpee seeds.  Typically composed in a simple a-b-c-b style, the poems recount the joys of gardening and using Burpee seeds.  One poem in particular that caught my attention was written by a Miss Blanche Billings of Vermont who writes of growing a garden for the benefit of selling produce.

1924 contest letter submitted by Blanche Billings.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records,
Box 330, Folder 12. Unassigned Letter Number 4, Page 7

Occasionally, those unable to craft their own poetry would submit a poem penned by someone else or a well-known poet.  One such person was Miss Mary Rowan of Logansport, Indiana who submitted a poem by George Elliston (1883-1946), a Cincinnati poet and female American journalist. In the contest letter Rowan expresses her inability to compose a poem that could accurately reflect her experiences with gardening and Burpee seeds, but felt that Elliston’s poem perfectly described her love of gardening.

1924 contest letter submitted by Blanche Billings.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, W. Atlee Burpee & Company Records,
Box 330, Folder 4. Letter number 4418

Several hundred 1924 Burpee contest letters have been digitized and transcribed in the Smithsonian Transcription Center.  Take a look and see what you may find! If you are lucky enough, you might even stumble across one of these wonderful poems enclosed with a contest letter.  And who knows, perhaps you will be inspired to write your own poem about your own garden!

Melinda Allen

Archives of American Gardens 

2015 Winter Intern