Burbank redux

Luther Burbank was one of the most popular figures of his day, attracting throngs of the curious to his gates, eager to catch a glimpse of the Wizard of Santa Rosa conjuring up magic with nature.
And yet in recent years there has been little in popular literature written about one of Santa Rosa’s favorite sons. Now Jane S. Smith, an author and cultural historian who teaches at Northwestern University, and a blogger for The Huffington Post, has taken a fresh look at the horticulturist in a new book, “The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants” (Penguin Press).

We had a chat with the author in the rose garden of the Burbank home during a recent visit from Chicago, where she lives.

Q: How is your book different from other works about Luther Burbank?

A: Everybody says this is a biography. And it does follow Burbank’s life. But what I was trying to do is show Burbank in the context of all the different kinds of national trends at the time — not just in the garden but in the whole economy and westward movement that he participated in and embodied in so many ways. It becomes a way of talking about so many different things, with this completely unique charismatic figure at the center — somebody who hits every single important historical button along the way.

Q: What were some of the social, economic and cultural forces at work during his day?

A: It was the age of invention, the age of national expansion. When Burbank moved from Massachusetts to California it was as though he was personally embodying the whole economic and agricultural shift of power. When he moved to Santa Rosa ... this was not an agricultural paradise by any means. The whole cornucopia of

California products weren’t there yet. Burbank not only came because of the lure of California, but he also created the products people would be able to grow and eat and profit from.

Q: What about the point you make that his work spanned a major change in American life?

A: As the economy shifts and fewer people are farmers and more people have ornamental gardens and suburban gardens, the horticultural part of his career comes into greater importance, as well as his personality, which is so rooted in his New England past. He becomes this kind of California prophet of peace and harmony with nature. My sense is that he was a much more approachable person than (writer Henry) Thoreau, whom he was very inspired by. But this was a Thoreau you could actually go talk to. Burbank was a kind of businessman who at the same time embodied a oneness with nature. When you get both Henry Ford and John Muir saying this is a person who actually is close to my heart, that’s a very interesting person.

Q: What are some of the other forces that come into play in his success?

A: There was a rise of the suburbs and the flowering of the middle class, so people were very interested in ornamental plants. Another thing was the rise of the postal system. A lot of his plants were sold either by him or other people through mail order catalogs. The postal service had discount rates for plants and seed long before they they had them for anything else. So you could mail plants and trees and cuttings and seeds cheaply. And that is something that made it possible to market his goods both by himself and to other people who were really expanding business.

Q: How did you settle on Burbank as a topic?

A: I had been to Santa Rosa and I had visited this very place. And like so many people I had been startled by the whole scope of his career and particularly by that wonderful photograph of (Thomas) Edison, Ford and Burbank — and wondered why they still are so famous and he’s not.

And then I was thinking a lot about the kind of garden wars that have come up between bio-engineering and heirloom plants and whether or not we have to have small gardens or large gardens, old-fashioned varieties or novelties.

I very much believe my grandparents and my great-grandparents weren’t idiots. If they were so enthralled by the idea of plant improvements there probably was a reason and it’s a reason we’ve lost sight of.

Q: Why did a figure so popular in his lifetime fall off the public radar?

A: Part is the decline of interest in agriculture, which was once not just something people engaged in but saw as the engine of the economy. It’s become so remote from popular experience. I live in Chicago and the commodities market is there. But it’s so de-natured. It’s all futures and all abstract. Nobody is thinking these pork bellies might arrive at their front door at some point.

The other part is that Burbank didn’t have a business that continued after his death and a name that continues to appear on products. That’s partly a result of the fact that there weren’t patents (on plants) and his products often continue under different names.

Q: Aren’t some of his creations still with us today?

A: The Shasta Daisy is still very much in the market. The Santa Rosa plum is still very much in the market. And there are many, many other Burbank products we don’t even think about. For example, his early experiments transformed the gladiola. ... When he started selling them in his first catalog in 1893 or 1894, a kind of amateur plant breeder bought his entire stock of gladiolas and became the national expert in breeding. He took that as his base material.

Q: What fact about Burbank surprised you?

A: The way he was impressed by (Charles) Darwin. Many people read Darwin but they all pretty much read Darwin as an explanation of the way things had evolved in the past. Burbank is the only person I know who read Darwin and said, “Oh, this is a blueprint for the future.” It’s that combination of creativity and commerce that’s so interesting and that we really need to explore. It’s something we’re coming back to. Every day you open the paper and read how we need new ideas, new inspirations, never inventions, a new way of approaching things. Just look to Burbank.

Q: How did a single plant breeder become so famous in his time?

A: Certainly he marketed himself. He was in the business of selling his creations. When he was starting out he would write articles for newspapers and do press releases for himself. He was always happy to give interviews.

Another thing was that he was selling his creations to retail dealers and they were charging a premium for Luther Burbank inventions; it was very much in their interests to make him into a wizard.

A third was that it was the absolute moment of the expansion of popular journalism. So there was an increasing number of outlets for publishing anything at all. And because he had so many different kinds of reputations, he could be written up in a religious magazine, in a business magazine, in a horticulture magazine, in a children’s magazine. He appealed on a lot of levels.

He was just an enormously charming person. Everybody who writes about him, including people who were very mistrustful, say when you were with him there was this immense feeling of calm and generosity and virtue. These are attractive qualities.