‘Dear Ed: You help us grow joy'

Any Northwesterner who owns a trowel knows Ed Hume.

He taught us how to garden.

For 47 years, we’ve tuned in to his radio and television shows and learned how to do right by our dirt.

We trust his seeds to provide us with a reasonable chance of rainbow chard, jewel mix nasturtiums, Early Girl tomatoes.

This whole Sexy Beast thing, though, is new to us.

Myrna Hume was mulling a proper surprise to mark her husband’s 80th birthday, and wasn’t having much luck.

Birthdays, family and co-workers are important to the Humes, and every year they look to top the one before.

Last year, they had all of Ed Hume Seeds’ employees come to the party.

It was on Maui.

Myrna’s sister popped up with a plan: They’d make 800 postcards of Hume from a photo taken on Maui.

In it, Ed Hume has rolled up the sleeve of his aloha shirt to reveal a tattoo of a muscular unicorn labeled “Sexy Beast.” Ed is grinning like a cat with a secret stash of teucrium marum. The arm art was, naturally, plant-based, a henna temporary tattoo, and great fun for the two weeks it lasted.

Myrna and the couple’s two sons made the self-addressed cards, stamped, and sent them out in packets of 10 or so to friends all over the country. The friends gave them out to their friends, asking them to write a whimsical note back to “Eddie.”

Five hundred greetings came back.

When he pulled the first ones from his South Hill mailbox, Ed was puzzled, then tickled.

He heard from fans who, thanks to his advice, had planted their alcea rosea, iridacaea and lantana camara the right way in the right place.

He heard from nieces and nephews and the neighbor who was happy to let her apple trees be the “before” shots on a show on pruning.

He heard from celebs a faux as his tattoo.

“Barack Obama” declared him “not quite shovel-ready.”

“Angelina Jolie” yearned to trade up from Brad Pitt.

“AARP” expressed interest in hiring him as a cover model for their magazine.

“The Blue Man Group” colored his picture blue, and recruited him.

Cards came from 32 states, Ukraine, Mexico and England, Myrna said, and three weeks after his Oct. 25 birthday, they still are arriving.

It was nice, some of the folks who signed them wrote, to have a chance to thank their longtime garden friend.

Ed was 19 when he got a job with Malmo Nursery in Seattle.

“I started as a clerk, and in six months I was a department manager,” he said.

He was with Richmond Nurseries, for which he designed and opened four stores, when a friend who had a radio gardening show called. The friend had cancer and wanted Ed to take it over.

“Myrna and I decided to do it,” he said. “Myrna and I work as a team.”

When one of the show’s sponsors guaranteed advertising if Hume would go full time, the team took the chance and made “Ed Hume’s Gardening in America” one of television’s first and best gardening shows. It reached 50 million homes across all 50 states. Japan’s top network picked it up for two years, and through the magic of dubbing, made Ed instantly fluent in Japanese.

At 80, Ed is retiring from lecturing. Too much driving, said Myrna.

They no longer lead tour groups through Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and North Africa.

They sold their seed business to the sons who vowed they never wanted it but grew into fine gardeners and asked to buy it.

“I work for them, and I love it,” Ed said.

When the company was new, he found that seed firms burned their unused stocks. He donated his to World Concern, which sent them worldwide.

Helping Earth’s neediest people grow their own food has been one of the Humes’ greatest joys.

Helping the world bloom has made it sweeter.

“The charities wouldn’t take flower seeds at first,” Ed said.

Then there was a mixup at his loading dock, and World Concern sent black plastic bags of flower seeds to Mexico.

“The farmers grew them, sold them as cut flowers and made more money than they did growing vegetables,” Ed said.

It was a surprise as welcome as 500 birthday cards.

Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677
kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com

WORDS OF WISDOM

Snippets from Ed’s Sexy Beast birthday cards:

 • “You have made gardening fun.” Paula Wolf, Portland.

 • “Thanks for years of fun and knowledge. You plant seeds of happiness!” Joyce McFarland, Salem, Ore.

 • “You’re a NW icon.” Jack and Roberta, Burien.

 • “I am a great fan of yours. I have read your most recent book (Loved it). I plant your seeds every spring in my garden. They are the best for the Northwest! I hope you have a wonderful birthday. P.S. Nice tattoo!!!!” Katie & LaFaye, Tacoma.

 • “What did the one hat on the hat rack say to the other hat on the hat rack? You stay here, I’ll go on a-head. Happy birthday!” Cal Charlet, Nashville, Tenn.

 • “Don’t forget to smell the roses, or any flower of your choice!” Debbie, Phelan, Calif.

 • “Old as dirt – wonder who came up with that saying. Maybe it’s a gardening term.” Kurt, Big Island of Hawaii.