George Ball Ruined The Cook's Garden

Y'all remember The Cook's Garden, don't you? Cute little catalog with charming woodcut illustrations and interesting seed varieties from around the world?  Brought a bazillion interesting lettuce varieties from Europe, helping to fuel the craze for interesting mesclun varieties?

Now, I know that the catalog's founders, Shepherd and Ellen Ogden, sold the catalog to Park Seed years ago, probably before I even discovered it.  But somehow, Park managed to hang onto some of the catalog's charm and personality, and for many happy years I looked forward to the catalog's personable and reliable descriptions.  They always got my biggest seed order.

And then George Ball got involved. Yes, that's George Ball of Heronswood fame. CEO of the 125 year-old Burpee seed company. When he first bought the company in 2004, it didn't seem too worrisome.  Ellen Ogden, who stuck around to run the catalog, was quoted at the time as saying that nothing much would change:

Ogden says she expects the page count and format of the catalog, which uses illustrations instead of photographs, to remain the same. “I'm sure we'll stay within the same budget,” she says. “I don't think there will be that much change. I think George is very sensible and cautious in that respect. I don't think we'll be trying to expand it too much.”

Yeah well, that was 2004.  Yesterday the new Cook's Garden catalog arrived, and I'm sorry to report that it's another mundane color catalog filled with strangely dull, disagreeable pictures of plants I don't want to grow in my garden.

What the hell has happened, I wondered, to Mary Azarian's beautiful woodcut illustrations? Where are the interesting descriptions of obscure lettuces found in some Hungarian garden?

Gone.  Gone, gone, gone.  And in their place, photos that look like they came from a 1983 Betty Crocker cookbook, accompanied by faux-folksy text that could have only been written by an intern, like "Pistou Basil:  Discovered in France, where they pair the tiny leaves with aromatic olive oil to make a highly flavorful pesto."

REALLY?  So you're saying that over in France, they put basil and olive oil together?  What an original combination!  I'm so inspired!

Or this depressing description of the Mini Magic Mix Winter Sqaush:  "They are also beautiful gathered on the porch for a fall harvest presentation." Fall harvest presentation?  Although I'm cheered briefly by the possibility that the ex-employees of Blueprint have found gainful employment again, the joy is fleeting. The catalog is awful, and the pictures make me sad in a way that I can't quite articulate.  You know those posters of bountiful piles of vegetables that you might see in cheap gold frames on the wood-paneled walls of bad Italian restaurants?  You know how faded and tired the vegetables look, and how they only serve to remind you of the sad fact that nothing you're about to eat has even vaguely resembled one of those vegetables for the longest time? 

That's how I feel about the new Cook's Garden catalog.  The magic has rubbed off. It's clear to me that there's nothing special about these seeds, that they don't come from the leathery old hands of some Italian grandmother who's been saving them just for some right-thinking eager young American couple like Shep and Ellen.  No, these seeds come from the same corporate seed vat that all seeds come from, a vat probably located in a laboratory in Japan.  Who are we kidding?

Paging through this catalog sent me into a funk from which I still have not recovered.  "Garden Peach" is "the tomato that won our live tasting on The Today Show some years ago," as if I care what happened on The Today Show today, much less "some years ago." A curled parsley is described as "the hands-down winner...based on comparative taste tests," without any indication as to why I should get excited about an unnamed comparative taste test.

I can't remember the last time a seed catalog made me feel so morose and uneasy. Even Mr. Ball's introductory note reads like barely comprehensible and poorly translated stereo instructions.  ("we extended our search for flavor to basils, root crops, legumes and fruited vegetables...")

Well, you keep on that search for flavor, Mr. Ball.  If you find it, let me know.

Comments

[Harry Roth]

I got it yesterday and was actually struck by the beauty of the photographs. I thought they were much better than any other seed catalog photos I have seen, which always look kind of overexposed to me.

[tai haku]

"They are also beautiful gathered on the porch for a fall harvest presentation." Fall harvest presentation?

Thanks Amy: that and the basil comment have resulted in a coffee stained keyboard!

I'm not familiar with the catalogue but I'm familiar with the scenario and this seems to be a common result.

[Carrie Coulson]

I couldn't agree more, Amy. I look forward to my Cook's Garden catalog every year. Last night after putting the kids to bed, I snuggled into bed with my assortment of catalogs to fantasize about this year's glorious potager (fantasy, right?), and was shocked at the bland and generic new formula for Cook's Garden.

I placed my order with Vermont Bean Seed this Morning...

[Dee/reddirtramblings]

Oh, how depressing. I haven't received my catalog yet, but now I don't want it. Sad, sad, sad. Another one bites the dust.

[chuck b.]

Seeds I ordered from them last year were rotten. I felt dispirited because I'd just taken my gardening habit to the seed ordering level. Buuut I got over it.

[frances]

This catalog came in the mail with several others and was not even recognized as the lovely one with the woodcut on the cover. That cover would be pulled out to be read while the others gathered dust before being recycled. Too bad. I did save a few Heronswood catalogs before Ball took over. Bad Mr. Ball.

[chuck b.]

(All that's left to happen now is for Monsanto to buy Burpee.)

[naomi duffey]

I got that catalog, and the Burpee Seed on the same day - my first plant catalogs in 2 AND A HALF years here in New Orleans! The covers were different, the prices somewhat, but as fun as it was to see a garden catalog again, I was rather disappointed. Today, I got another one - John Scheepers - hoorah! Check it out, nice drawings.

[Theresa Loe]

OH MY GOSH! When I read your comments Amy, I ran to the pile of catalogs that arrived last week. Sure enough...the cooks catalog was there in the pile and I had not even recognized it! Gone is the charm of the old catalog. It is a sad, sad day in seed-ville.

[Aurora's Garden]

I, too, mourn the passing of The Cooks Garden, but do take a look at the Fedco Seed Coop catalogue. Not as artistic as Cooks, but delightfully homespun in its own way. It is worth taking a look at and supporting if you choose to.

[Aurora's Garden]

www.fedcoseeds.com/ - 11k - Ca

[Kathy]

I noticed the same ruination, and wondered why I hadn't seen anyone rue the loss. Now I know why: the first catalogs arrived the day I got mine.

[bev]

George Ball is the Big Box of horticulture. What our society wants, they get. I haven't ordered from Burpee since they "moved' Heronswood, and I never will. I wrote him a letter to tell him so, but of course no reply was forthcoming.

[Lisa]

George Ball certainly isn't a horticultural saint, but I think his demonization has gone far enough. The retail horticulture business has been in decline for about a decade. The gardening book business is in bad shape, too.

The avid, reading gardeners of our generation are to a large degree, the last of a dying breed. There aren't that many young people coming up to replace our business at nurseries and mail-order garden suppliers.

Instead, there is a trend toward increased use of hardscaping and purchasing ready-made landscapes installed by professional (well, sometimes professional) crews. Harry and Harriet homeowner want something that will house the gas grill, a picnic table with umbrella, the kids, their playsets and the dog. They don't want beds of vegetables or mixed borders. They want something they can water on a timer and forget. They want a lawn the lawn service can handle quickly and cheaply.

Yes, I lament the decline of the specialty nursery. Yes, I lament the loss of catalogs geared toward those of us who actually read. But let's face it: we aren't the people keeping garden centers and mail-order garden suppliers in business. That's what George Ball, good or bad, is up against. He can't AFFORD to cater to us.

Yes, I know we spend what seems like a small fortune on plants and supplies every year. I've kept track from time to time, and the total amounts I've spent on bulbs, plants and seeds (thank you, Excel) give me shivers. Those sums, however, don't come close to the money others spend on professional landscaping and yard care. And if you look at individual purchases I make, it's no more than a hundred dollars here, a hundred dollars there. The non-reading, non-gardening customers are dropping thousands on their uninspired yards.

Most of the great nurseries and plant suppliers today are labors of love--barely more than hobbies that got away from their owners.

In short, I don't LIKE the trend, but I understand all too well why George Ball has "wrecked" yet another great company and another great catalog.

[Kathy J, Washington Gardener]

Harry R. said: > I thought they were much better than any other seed catalog photos I have seen, which always look kind of overexposed to me. <
I have to completely agree - so many photos of edibles in these catalogs look devoid of life. Flat and washed out - yuck. I don't know if it is bad photos along - part of it is bad (cheap) color printing.
If you can't afford good photos and printing - go with illustrations and decent descriptions.

[bev]

Lisa;

your points are well taken, but George didn't have to buy perfectly good companies and ruin them. I wonder if he will make money on these purchases in the long term. There should be room for both big box horticulture for the know-nothings and niche companies for us.

Of course, maybe that's why Hinckley and the Cook's Garden people sold out to him - because they WEREN'T making money. But I suspect it was just overwork and a very sweet price he offered.

[Lisa]

bev, I'm with you on the reasons that Hinkley and Cook's Garden sold out, and to George Ball of all people.

About 25 years ago, a wonderful new perennial nursery emerged in Southeast Nebraska, about an hour away over mostly dirt roads from where I lived in Kansas at the time. It was called Pinky's Perennials. "Pinky" had been running a florist's business in her small town for several years, and had slowly expanded into gardening. The perennials became a retail business, then retail, mail and wholesale. I only bought from Pinky's for about two years, when she sent out a card announcing that she was closing at the end of the season.

I naturally drove up to get those plants I couldn't otherwise obtain, and asked her WHY. She explained that it wasn't the money--the business was still sufficiently profitable, but that the joy had gone out of it. She went on to explain that she was a cancer survivor, and if there was anything she had learned from that experience, that you shouldn't waste energy on things you don't love. The love was gone, and Pinky's Perennials became a memory.

I'm worried about Tony Avent and Plant Delights at the moment, because his latest plant descriptions are a bit unsettling. While Avent has always been cheerfully snarky and iconoclastic, more recent plant descriptions are sometimes disturbingly dark. I hope that he isn't on the brink of throwing in the horticultural towel (or trowel) as well.

But I can't fault those who sell or close well-loved horticultural businesses once burnout sets in. I don't think that Heronswood or Cook's Garden would have held on much longer in the face of the proprietors' burnout in any case. If Ball hadn't bought the businesses, they would just as surely have died a slow death or closed suddenly, effectively "ruining" them all the same.

[Michele Owens]

I second Aurora's Garden. Fedco Seeds is the way to go.

[naomi duffey]

Not a big deal, but I wrote the comment from New Orleans - the city the post office forgot. The Botanical Garden here does have wonderful plants for sale to locals, for great prices, so despite a lack of catalogs (many plants grown too far North to do well here anyway), we have sources.

[Lucinda]

All is not lost - check out Nichols Garden Nursery and for heaven's sake, order something!

[naomi]

I think I'm giving up on posting here - my comments are credited to others - are they usually off, or am I off on how I hit send?

[naomi]

As is the above comment regarding giving up - that's not Lucinda, that's me, Naomi. Rather odd.

[John]

Naomi, maybe you're looking at the name above the post? That's the wrong one--your name is below your post.

You're not alone; I'm continually confused by this too. A few graphic design tweaks to the blog-software templates here could make this clear for all. (Just adding some white space above each post text would be one way to do it.)

[naomi]

Thanks. I finally figured it out, and feel a bit foolish.

[bonni]

Thank goodness, I'm not alone. I, too, got the catalog and was so disappointed. It's obvious that they could care less about everything the company had stood for.
I hadn't realized it when the company had been sold a few years ago, but that would explain why I had such lousy germination the last couple of years -- a problem I've never had with Cook's before so I'd figured it was just me or the wacky weather.
I feel like I went out for dinner to find my favorite restaurant boarded up.
Sigh.
Thank goodness for google. Here's a site with links to dozens of mouthwatering seed catalogs.
http://www.williamrubel.com/gardening/online-vegetable-seed-catalogs