All about Flowers: James Vick's Nineteenth-Century Seed Company

by Thomas J. Mickey

A nineteenth-century entrepreneur’s bold, innovative marketing helped transform flower gardens into one of America’s favorite hobbies. “There is much that is hard and productive of sorrow in this sin-plagued world of ours; and, had we no flowers, I believe existence would be hard to be borne.” So states a customer’s 1881 letter—one of thousands James Vick regularly received. Vick’s business, selling flower seeds through the mail, wasn’t unique, but it was wildly successful because he understood better than his rivals how to engage customers’ emotions. He sold the love of flowers along with the flower seeds. Vick was genuinely passionate about floriculture, but he also pioneered what we now describe as integrated marketing. He spent a mind-boggling $100,000 per year on advertising (mostly to women, his target demographic); he courted newspaper editors for free publicity; his educational guides presaged today’s content marketing; he recruited social influencers to popularize neighborhood gardening clubs; and he developed a visually rich communication and branding strategy to build customer loyalty and inflect their purchasing needs with purchasing desire.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, History

204 pages, Paperback

Published May 7, 2021

Reviews

[Margaret Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for Library Journal. I was surprised by how fascinating I found this, but mostly I can't get over the woman who said flower gardening was good for women because they could do the work without the help of "Mr. O'Shovelem" which says so much about Victorian culture right there.

[Thomas Mickey]

This is a book I wrote last year so a review seems over the top for me.
Have a great day!!

[Karina Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly repetitive, although very interesting as a Rochester Native myself.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story about James Vick and his seed company/catalog. Very interesting to understand the beginnings of seed catalogs and the history of how gardens with flowers has changed over time.