All about Flowers: James Vick's Nineteenth-Century Seed Company

"There is much that is hard and productive of sorrow in this sin plagued world of ours; and, had we no flowers, I believe existence would be hard to be borne." So states a customer's 1881 letter-one of thousands James Vick regularly received. Vick's business, selling flower seeds through the mail, wasn't unique, but it was wildly successful because he understood better than his rivals how to engage customers' emotions. He sold the love of flowers along with the flower seeds. Vick was genuin...