Peggie Schulz

From Beautician to Garden Writer: Growing Plants Under Lights

Peggie Schulz in 1966, from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

While researching another Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Florence Knock, I learned that her neighbor, Peggie Schulz, was also an avid gardener and garden writer, and even named a Sinningia after Florence. As soon as I found out about Peggie, I added her to my list of potential Lost Ladies of Garden Writing. This week, I present her story.

Her Biography

Information on Peggie’s books, articles, and speaking engagements was easy to discover online via newspapers.com and other sources, but her biography was a bit more elusive, until I discovered that her name was really Kathryn, per her obituary, or Katherine if you are looking at her Find-a-Grave website. Her full maiden name was Kathryn Mildred Krueger, and her husband was Archie Schulz.¹

Whether it was Katherine or Kathryn, on her grave marker and to the garden writing world, she was Peggie.

On the Find-a-Grave website, someone wrote a nice article about Peggie. I’m quoting it here, with a tiny bit of clean-up.

She grew up in Dunn and Saint Croix Counties in Wisconsin, and attended Beautician and Cosmetology College in Watertown, South Dakota, where she met and married her husband in 1932. The couple then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she owned and operated her own Beauty Salon, with a greenhouse on the front.

In 1953, she and her husband built a home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, with a large greenhouse attached to the rear. She started writing in 1946 for Bible Story Books and the Work Basket under the name Peggie Schulz. If you can find an old Work Basket magazine from the early 1950s, there will be articles written by her, or under one of her pen names: E. Robbins, G. Krueger, P. Moe, E. G. Robbins, G. Nicholson, and others.

During the 1950s and into the 1970s, she wrote and edited books and magazine articles on flowers, plants, and growing them. Some of these books are: "Gloxinias and How to Grow Them," "Amaryllis and How to Grow Them," "Growing Plants Under Artificial Light," "Make Money from your Home Greenhouse," "Gesneriads and How to Grow Them,” edited by Peggie Schulz. There are 26 Chapters in this book, each written by a different author, herself being one of them.

She was a co-founder of the American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society in 1951. She was also Co-editor of the magazine "The Gloxinian."

During the writing of her book "Growing Plants Under Artificial Ligh," she was instrumental in the development of the first "Grow Light" that was put on the market.

At the peak of her career, she was considered by many to be the leading authority on Gesneriads. She had the honor of having a daylily named after her; it was named "Peggie Schulz" and was registered in 1956 by the hybridizer Kraus.

She and her husband developed the first mail-order, pre-seeded, grow-your-own, plastic planters. They shipped thousands of these throughout the country and overseas, pre-seeded with African Violets.

She was very ill at the end of her life. When told she had very little time left before she passed away, she is reported to have said: "Well, that will be a new experience." She passed away in Kerns, Utah, at the home of her daughter. Her body was cremated and her ashes buried next to her husband in Minnesota.”

I’ll add she was born on February 26, 1913, and died on August 3, 1989, at the age of 76. Her husband, Archie, was also helpful when it came to growing plants indoors under lights. Per the Find-a-Grave website:

Archie owned and operated his own cabinet shop in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He built the house and the cabinet shop there with help from an uncle. He worked mostly with Oak and Maple.
Built high-end, custom cabinets. Also built free-standing custom planters with galvanized or leaded trays, and wired with grow lights and timers. He did some truly beautiful work.

Her Books and Articles

I’ve never found any of Peggie’s books at used bookstores, but I’d be tempted to buy one of them if I did. They include:

Gloxinias and How to Grow Them (1953)

Amaryllis and How To Grow Them (1954)

Growing Plants under Artificial Light (1955)

How to Make Money from Your Home Greenhouse (1956)

Gesneriads and How to Grow Them, edited by Peggie Schulz (1967)

I also found several articles by Peggie in my set of Horticulture magazines from 1959.

House Built Around Indoor Gardening

I found an article in the February 21, 1960, edition of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Star Tribune that helped me get better acquainted with Peggie.²

Let’s Sit Down and Ask Peggie Some Questions

Peggie, how did you manage to write four books in four years?

While we can see you have a passion for growing plants indoors, what do you like to grow in your gardens outside?

Did you ever imagine your “silly little article” would change your life in such a way?

What advice would you give to someone who has a passion for growing plants indoors?

I met you through Florence Knock. Who else should I meet and include on my growing list of Lost Ladies of Garden Writing?

Of course, I’ll only get answers now through more research, but it’s fun to imagine a chat with a garden writer from the past!

Who’s Next?

I don’t have a particular Lost Lady of Garden Writing in mind for the next article. Either I’ll go through my list and pick one, or one will pop up and grab my attention between now and the next article, which I’ll publish on January 7, 2026.

In the meantime, as always, if you know of a garden writer from the past that you think I’d like to know too, let me know in an email or a comment.

Finally, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Thank you for reading about the Lost Ladies of Garden Writing through all the seasons and for your many suggestions of who to include.

1. No relation to Charles Schulz, of the Peanuts gang, at least that I could find.

2. In the article, they noted that Peggie was a member of Garden Writers of America, an organization that still exists and is now called Garden Communicators International or GardenComm. I’m also a member!