Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

January Page

A Garden in the Mailbox

In the gloomiest days of winter, beautiful flowers bloom and scrumptious vegetables grow in the mailboxes of gardeners all across the country. Mail order seed companies send out their new catalogs beginning in January.

The first mail-order seed catalog was introduced in 1834. The artists who illustrated the early catalogs took great care to draw botanically correct images. This was very important to the farmer, who paid in winter for the coming summer's harvest. If the size, shape or color of a vegetable or flower was misrepresented in the catalog, the farmer's livelihood might be jeopardized.

Learn more about seed catalogs: A Garden in the Mailbox

Explore the beautiful art in old seed catalogs at this Smithsonian site.

Listing of seed catalogs to order from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburg

January Page

Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.