Grandma Pickett visits First Graders

Grandma Pickett (aka Patty Jacobson) made her annual visit to the first graders at AJ Mitchell Elementary School this morning. As the story goes, Grandma Pickett arrived in Boulder City in the 1930s from Arkansas, making her way with her husband, who had found work at Hoover Dam. She talked about her first home in Boulder City, not more than a shack, really. On the trip out west, Grandma Pickett brought some of the seeds, plants, and flowers she had prized and set to planting a garden near her new home. Water was at a premium, as it is now, but Grandma Pickett was resourceful. She planted hollyhock seeds outside her front window, where she would pour out water from the dish basin or baths. Before she knew it, she had several strong, young, hollyhock plants shielding the front of the house from the sun. Grandma Pickett's beautiful flowers became the talk of the town and other women asked for hollyhock seeds of their own to grow. The rest, as they say, is history.

Fast forward to May 2012, when the hollyhock was named Boulder City's official flower. We told you more about that HERE. Through the efforts of people like Ihla Clements-Davey, Laura Smith, Patti Sullivan, Cheryl Waites, Patty Jacobson, and other longtime residents and gardeners, hollyhocks continue to bloom throughout Boulder City. If you're interested in growing hollyhocks of your own, reach out to Master Gardener Cheryl Waites at the email HERE.