isso^fe^SKTYjEARs Among The Roses,^P^o9 



A Visit to West Grove 



By Jefferson Thomas, Publicity Specialist. Harrisburg, Pa. 



"Grandmother's Garden" holds for me the sweetest of the memories of my boyhood home in 

 far-away Dixieland. There was "sanctuary" from all the troubles of my very early years — for even 

 needed punishment by parents waited if only I could reach my refuge in time! — and there I first 

 learned the love of flowers which, in after years, led me to visit West Grove. 



Most striking and most intimately remembered of all the flowers of that garden was a great, 

 sturdy clump of Roses. What kind they were, I don't know, but I do know that never since have 

 I seen them surpassed. The heavy masses of fragrant, rich crimson blooms decorated most of the 

 neighborhood "events" of the season, and slips given away by the generous grandmother started 

 many another Rose-garden. 



All this was so long ago that I am loth to tell just when, but I readily recall the time I asked 

 grandmother where the Roses came from, hearing from her the legendary lore of their origin, supple- 

 mented with the solidly practical fact that the start of her Roses had come to her, away "before 

 the war," in the good old days, from up in Yankeeland. Bringing from a place of honor in her cupboard 

 the current copy of the Dingee Catalogue, she explained how she had sent to West Grove her order 

 for a plant or two of the first Roses offered by mail, and how she had been treated so well in all her 

 dealings with the Dingees that she counted them as her friends, even though they lived in the North. 

 So it happened that, when, twenty years later, I found myself in the North, and closely associated 

 with the Rose-growing trade, it seemed quite familiar to hear Dingee of West Grove talked of as 

 the Rose pioneer of the world, and to note that Dingee Roses were regarded as the standard of per- 

 fection by which others were judged. As time went on, I became a direct competitor in business of 

 one of the branches of the Dingee enterprises, but I never found that the standard of Rose perfection 

 had been lowered. By and by I became acquainted, at my oflice in a western city, with the genial 

 present general manager of the Dingee establishment, and that acquaintance increased the desire 



for a visit to West Grove. 



The opportunity came at last, and, 

 on a fine autumn day, it was my 

 pleasure to make the long-deferred 

 trip. The less said about the railroad 

 service from Philadelphia the better, 

 but, whatever the faults of the road, 

 the way to West Grove certainly leads 

 through forty miles of continuous 

 beauty. From the station up the long 

 two-mile hill to the Dingee Nurseries 

 and Greenhouses, one can see the most 

 attractive part of the far-famed farm- 

 ing section of southeastern Pennsyl- 

 vania. Half-way up the hill you pass 

 the handsome residence of Charles 

 Dingee, founder of the great business 

 which bears his name. The sloping 

 lawn in front and the grove of magnifi- 

 cent trees surrounding, bear witness 

 to his love of outdoor beauty. 



The two things that impressed me 

 most on my first visit to West Grove 

 (and subsequent trips have only served 

 to strengthen the impressions) were 

 the abounding knowledge of Roses 

 which seemed to be in the very atmos- 

 phere, and the wonderful system which 

 The famous York and Lancaster Rose, grown by regulates the movements of the vast 



The Dingee & Conard Co. Dingee interests. Nowhere else have 



8 



