The Bloom of Lake Washington
A 64-year-old gardener secures a one-year subscription to the Post-Intelligencer by showcasing 59 varieties of flowers still in bloom during the late autumn chill.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A letter from a gardener near Houghton on the east side of Lake Washington arrived at the Post-Intelligencer office. The writer, Mrs. Whitney, who is sixty-four years old, submitted a collection of 59 varieties of flowers blooming in the open air during the month of October. The collection included asters, fuchsias, marigolds, sweet peas, and pansies. This impressive variety, grown in the open, highlights the temperate climate of the region, especially when compared to the Dakota territory where temperatures dropped below zero on the same date. The paper awarded Mrs. Whitney the premium for October, consisting of a one-year subscription to the Post-Intelligencer.
“I am sixty-four years old, and take much pleasure in caring for my garden.”
While Seattle is known for its grey winters, the horticultural tradition established in the 1880s remains a point of pride, even as urban sprawl has replaced many of the Eastside's historic garden plots with modern development.
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