Elda Haring

"To me a seed is a wonderful mystery."

Photo of Elda Haring from her book, The Complete Book of Growing Plants from Seed.

Several weeks ago, one of my garden writing friends, Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, sent me an Instagram post featuring a book by today’s Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Elda Haring. I had not heard of Elda, and I’m guessing a few others have also not heard of her. Let’s meet her and give her a spot in the limelight today!

Her Biography

Elda Haring was born Elda Elizabeth Claggett on November 27, 1905, in Maryland, and married her husband, Walter Haring in 1933, when she was living in Miami, Florida. She died on May 11, 1993, in North Carolina. I don’t think she had any children.¹

Quite conveniently, Elda’s biography, a bit about how she gardened, and what organizations she belonged to was included on the back flap of her book, The Complete Book of Growing Plants from Seed, published in 1967 and viewable on the Open Archive online.

“Elda Haring, born in Baltimore, Maryland, educated at Florida State University, has gardened on her present four acres in Greenwich, Connecticut, for some fifteen years. Her consuming interest has been growing plants from seed to maturity, and her enthusiasm is shared by her husband, who is so conveniently interested in photography. Through the years he has recorded their plantings—at various stages—and these pictures, with Mrs. Haring’s detailed notes of plant performance, now constitute this invaluable record and guide. Elda and Walter Haring are true dirt gardeners, relying on outside help only for the mowing of the lawn. All of their thousands of seedlings are each year separated, potted, and planted just by the two of them.

Mrs. Haring is a member of the Garden Writers Association of America, the American Begonia Society, the American Gesneriad Society, the National Chrysanthemum Society, and the American Horticultural Society. She is also an active member of the Greenwich, Connecticut, Garden Center. She lectures and writes on horticultural artistry to The Begonian, The Floral Magazine, of which she is contributing editor, Flower & Garden, and the New York State Federated Garden Club News.”

Cover of The Complete Book of Growing Plants from Seed

Her Books

As noted above, Elda is primarily known as the author of The Complete Book of Growing Plants from Seed (1967). She also wrote The Seedling Handbook, “produced exclusively for the American Garden Guild Book Club” (1968), Color for Your Yard and Garden (1971), and Begonias for Beginners!(1976).

Further online searches brought up some of the articles Elda wrote, which were numerous.

On Growing Plants From Seeds

My searches through newspaper archives brought up hundreds of articles about her book, The Complete Book of Growing Plants from Seed. I don’t think authors of gardening books today get anywhere near that kind of coverage using social media. (But I digress. No sense reminiscing about newspapers with gardening sections that will never be like they used to be!)

Most of the articles provided little information about Elda. Thank goodness there was that chatty bio on the back flap of her book. Otherwise, we might not know much about her.

I did find information in an interview about her basic seed starting method from The Stamford Advocate, April 23, 1971:

“Over the years, Mrs. Haring has developed the following recipe for her garden and seed. First she recommends turning over the garden spot and breaking up the clumps of earth. Then she scatters a “swan” of lime over the entire area. Next she adds a layer of peat moss or compost, followed by a layer of dry cow manure and a “snow” of super phosphate. The garden is then mixed thoroughly to the depth of 6-8”.

Thus the garden is ready for planting and the Harings plant their seed outdoors early in May. As a rough guide, they suggest planting when the oak leaves are one inch long. When planting in rows, they stretch twine between stakes for a guide line, Then a furrow is made and the ground lightly watered before planting.”

That’s more work then I ever do to direct sow seeds!

Looking through Begonias for Beginners!, I also learned that both Elda and her husband, Walter, had begonias named after them.

Let’s Have Tea With Elda

I suspect if we sat down and had tea with Elda in mid-May, she’d be in the middle of one of her seed sowing season. But we’ll ask a few questions anyway.

How and where did you learn to grow plants from seed?

Is there a particular plant that you’ve found difficult to grow from seed? What is the most challenging seed you’ve worked with?

Are begonias your favorite flower?

What advice would you give to gardeners who say they can’t seem to grow plants from seed?

Who’s Next?

This was admittedly a rather brief visit with Elda, but I’m happy to include her on the list of Lost Ladies of Garden Writing. I’ll remember her by this quote from her book on growing plants from seed:

“To me a seed is a wonderful mystery.” - Elda Haring

Looking through one of her books, I found two more Lost Ladies I’d never heard of. I’ve added them both to my list. Maybe one of them will be next?

Whoever she is, I’ll write about her for a post on May 27th!

1. While searching for Elda as “Mrs. Walter Haring,” I found newspaper articles from 1951 about a boy, Tommy, whose parents were “Mr. and Mrs. Walter Haring,” who died of leukemia around the age of three. They celebrated Christmas in early November that year, complete with a donated Christmas tree. The story appeared in newspapers across the country and many people sent gifts and cards. He died on November 18, 1951. However, going back through Ancestry, I figured out that this little boy was not the son of our Elda Haring. There was more than one Walter Haring!