Florist Harney Brought Joy To The Masses
ohtadmin https://www.journal-topics.com/author/ohtadmin/#author LAUREN BARRYnJournal &amp; Topics
Harney (left) with Johnny Carson.James Donald Harney, arguably the most famous florist in the Chicago area, died in his Des Plaines home on Dec. 27 at the age of 77. Born in Oak Park on Nov. 9, 1938, Harney attended Schurz High School and North Park University in Chicago before opening Aberdeen’s Wedding Flowers at
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James Donald Harney, arguably the most famous florist in the Chicago area, died in his Des Plaines home on Dec. 27 at the age of 77.

Born in Oak Park on Nov. 9, 1938, Harney attended Schurz High School and North Park University in Chicago before opening Aberdeen’s Wedding Flowers at the age of 19.

In 1969, Harney planted his shop in American pop-culture when he cornered the tulip market. He became the provider of decorations for Tiny Tim’s wedding on the Johnny Carson Show. At that time, the wedding was the most watched television event in history.

Though NBC producers denied Harney’s first request to decorate the wedding, they quickly came back to him when they realized that Aberdeen’s had purchased every single tulip in Holland.

During the wedding, singing sensation Tiny Tim, a regular guest on Carson’s show as well as the Ed Sullivan program, married Victoria “Miss Vickie” Budinger, surrounded by 10,000 tulips supplied by Harney.

According to the florist’s notes, Carson was so impressed by the flowers that he commissioned a painting of them, which Harney kept behind his desk at Aberdeen’s. He wrote that Carson said, “I’ve never seen decorations as beautiful as this on our show.”

Two years later, Harney got creative again when he decided he would be the florist for President Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia’s wedding in the White House Rose Garden. He partnered with a California rose grower to develop a new hybrid rose named after Nixon’s daughter.

Harney visited the White House to show the family the “Tricia” rose, ivory flowers trimmed with pink at the edges. The bride loved them and Aberdeen’s sent them the roses they used in the wedding.

In addition to weddings with a national audience, Harney provided flowers for a number of high profile local nuptial ceremonies. Mayor Richard M. Daley’s son Michael was married in the company of Aberdeen flowers, as was Malcolm X’s daughter.

The cameras were also focused on Aberdeen’s blooms for the “Garden of Eden” wedding of Rev. Little’s daughter at the Greater Monument Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side. Harney decorated the event with fruit trees, caged doves and a smoke machine.

His marketing acumen may draw comparisons to Don Draper of “Mad Men,” but Harney’s son-in-law, Frank Davis, said the man had more in common with the George Bailey character from “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

“He was one of the most caring, unique people I have ever known,” Davis told the Journal & Topics.

According to Davis, Harney was an active member of Christ Church in Des Plaines. He provided a flower-covered cross for Easter celebrations each year. Harney also collected gifts to give to children in Chicago area hospitals each Christmas.

One year, burglars stole a number of gifts from Harney’s office, Davis recalled. After word of the crime got out, Harney received so many donations to replace the presents, that his family remembered it as “the year Chicago beat the Grinch.”

In fact, there was so much extra, that Harney was able to start the 100 Percent Foundation. This charitable institution, founded in 2005, provides children in hospitals and special care programs with literacy programs and recreational activities. “Every single penny goes to the children,” said Davis.

“He never forgot anyone,” Davis said of his late father-in-law.