About 20 years ago, the brilliant longtime archivist of our state showed me the print above saying, "Where are all the plantings and gardens?" I just expected that private dwellings and public buildings in the 18th century British American colonies seldom had any plants placed near their foundations. But, perhaps it needs to be noted, for the sake of those who haven't poured over these images for long years.
James Madison's Montpelier, Orange County, Virginia by Baroness Hyde de Neuville. c 1800
Princeton, New Jersey, in 1764
George Washington's Mount Vernon, Virginia, c 1800
Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1786
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Virginia, in 1820s