George Watt Park

While just a young child, he demonstrated great interest in horticulture, and his mother encouraged him to raise flowers in a corner of her garden.

In addition to giving the list to friends and neighbors, he also bought an advertisement in The Rural American for $3.50, that resulted in $6.50 in orders.

In 1882, Park left his business to attend Michigan State University, where he graduated four years later with a degree in horticulture.

From the Deep South, he acquired unusual semi-tropical plants and from the West he brought back many forms of cactus, that he propagated and offered to his customers.

During one of his trips, he stopped to visit Mary Barratt in Greenwood, South Carolina, who had written to him for advice on teaching horticulture to housewives; the two subsequently began exchanging letters.