Lincoln and flowers

[Donna McCreary]

(07-17-2020 04:54 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(07-17-2020 12:08 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  

(07-16-2020 10:43 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Thank you Eva. That pretty much answers my question.

Best
Rob

And yet, Mr Lincoln is supposed to have said:

“Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

― Abraham Lincoln
***************
A web-site called Answers has the following, unsupported best guess:

Did Abraham Lincoln have a favorite flower?
789
Answer
Top Answer
User Avatar
Wiki User
August 06, 2009 9:10PM

He loved tulips.
*****************
I have no information for any affinity for tulips by Mr Lincoln. Eva's post seems pretty conclusive, but I thought I'd mention those 2 things anyway.

If the thistle quote attributed to Lincoln is proven, I don't think he was actually referring to a flower, except as a metaphor. Perhaps the thistle is an errant thought and the flower a productive thought that might blossom. If so, then Mr Lincoln's favorite flower might reasonably be a useful thought.

I doubt he had seen many tulips prior to his presidency (and not that much time during his presidency). I was wondering when at all the tulip spread in the US - well, Jefferson obviously grew some, but I doubt many people in the US got to see tulips in the first half of the 19th century.
http://www.highplainsgardening.com/tulip...ulbmasters

Years ago, I visited the International Friendship Garden in Michigan City, Indiana. (Now the Friendship Botanic Gardens). When this series of gardens was being developed in 1936, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands donated 200,000 tulips. It was my understanding that tulips became popular throughout the US afterwards.