When I was a kid I used to have these books about a garden full of living flowers, I loved them. I even begged my mother to purchase what I thought was the loveliest flower child of them all, Daffodil. One day I buried her in the front yard so no one could steal her from me. She's probably still there.


In the early 80's Kenner Toys introduced a new line of toys they called Rose Petal Place. This was no doubt riding on the coat tails of Strawberry Shortcake, the dessert themed cartoon. The new line of toys was based on a "legend" that went something like this:

Once there was a young girl who tended a garden full of beautiful flowers. She loved the flowers greatly, especially the roses. Then one day her parents told her they were moving far away, and that she would never see her garden again. Heartbroken the girl ran to the garden and cried. As she sobbed she made a secret wish that her flowers would live forever. Everywhere a teardrop fell a flower came to life.
There were six flower characters in all, Rose-Petal, Daffodil, Sunny Sunflower, Iris, Lily Fair and Orchid. Friends of these characters were Pitterpat the purple persian cat and Tumbles the hedgehog. The foes of the friendly bunch were Nastina the spider and Horace the horsefly. (Incidentally, Iris was the only African American in the bunch. There were no other minorities represented in the cartoon.)

Needless to say that Nastina was jealous of everything Rose-Petal had and was always trying to steal from her or was frequently kidnapping the characters with the help of her bumbling idiot minion Horace.

Parker Brothers released a set of books that were wonderfully illustrated to go with the toys. I still have several of them in "like new" condition in the attic. The titles are:

  • Rose Petal's Big Decision
  • A Garden of Love to Share
  • The Fantastic Fashion Show
  • Love Helps You Grow
  • A Matter of Music
  • Lily Fair Learns a Lesson
  • Fun is All Around You
There were also some scratch n sniff books, some lunch boxes and of course some video tapes featuring Marie Osmand as Rose-Petal's voice. Typical kids stuff.


Reference:
Toys N Toons, http://www.loftysplushparadise.com/80s/rosepetalplace.htm

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