Plants in Early American Gardens - Peruvian Zinnia

 Peruvian Zinnia (Zinnia peruviana)
Although zinnias did not become popular garden plants until late in the 19th century, Peruvian Zinnias were grown in 18th-century gardens and were sold by Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1804. This South American annual produces flowers in shades of red and yellow throughout the summer. The small but attractive flowers are perfect for cutting and are very different from the improved hybrids now so popular.

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Peruvian Zinnia (Zinnia peruviana)

Plants in Early American Gardens - Johnny-Jump-Up

Johnny-jump-up (Viola tricolor)

Johnny-jump-up, or Heartsease, is a showy, self-seeding annual with small pansy-like flowers, each of them showing three colors: deep purple, yellow, and white. The plant was established in American gardens before 1700, and Jefferson sowed it at Shadwell on April 1, 1767, calling it “Tricolor.”

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Empress of India Nasturtium

Empress of India Nasturtium (Tropaeolum minus cv.)

Eastern North American seed companies were offering this showy, award-winning variety by the 1880s. Empress of India Nasturtium has a dwarf, bushy habit, dark purplish-blue foliage, and brilliant crimson-scarlet flowers. The 1884 Burpee's catalogue described it as "the most important annual in recent introduction."

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Black-Eyed Susan Vineello

Black-eyed Susan Vine (Thunbergia alata)

This summer-blooming annual vine was introduced to Britain from India in 1823. Black-eyed Susan Vine is included in a charming book, The Parlor Garden, which Thomas Jefferson's granddaughter, Cornelia Jefferson Randolph, edited and translated from French into English (1861); she noted, “it becomes covered with charming flowers, of a fine nankeen yellow, set off with a black spot in the middle."

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Nasturtium

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)

Nasturtium, also known as Indian Cress, was often grown as an edible plant in the 18th century, as seen by its inclusion in Jefferson's vegetable garden. The young leaves and flowers can be enjoyed in salads, and the seeds can be pickled like capers, just as they were in Jefferson’s day. These attractive plants will bloom in an array of colors--reds, oranges, yellows--and with the trailing habit typical of the species before mid-19th century breeding.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Striped French Marigold

 Striped French Marigold (Tagetes patula)
The species French Marigold was introduced to European gardens from South America in the late 16th century. A handsome striped form of this annual flower was first illustrated in the London-based periodical Curtis' Botanical Magazine, 1791, and was being grown in America by that time. Striped French Marigold is perfect for cutting, with flowers that vary from yellow streaked with maroon to solid yellow and occasionally all red; prune and deadhead to prolong flowering.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Sweet William Catchfly

Sweet William Catchfly (Silene armeria)

Sweet William Catchfly is a showy, self-seeding annual flower native to Europe with blue-green leaves and a long succession of purplish-pink flowers from late spring into summer. Sometimes called Lobel's Catchfly or None-So-Pretty, it was established in American gardens by the 1820s. The 1804 broadside of Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon offered seed for both red and white forms.

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History Blooms at Monticello

Thomas Jefferson's “Plane-tree” (or Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis) 

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, tells us that -

Jefferson noted “Plane-tree” (or Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis) in a list of ornamental plants in his only published book, Notes on the State of Virginia. In 1812 he sowed Plane-tree seeds in his nursery, eventually intended for the Monticello landscape. Jefferson was captivated by the quality of shade that different species afforded.

In July 1793 Thomas Jefferson wrote from Philadelphia to his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph “I never before knew the full value of trees. My house is completely embosomed in high plane-trees, with good grass below; and under them I breakfast, dine, write, read, and receive my company. What I would not give that the trees planted nearest round the house at Monticello were full-grown.” The mottled bark of American Sycamore (Jefferson’s "plane-tree") makes a dramatic statement in the winter landscape.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Floss Flower (Ageratum houstonianum)

Floss Flower Seeds (Ageratum houstonianum)

Peggy Cornett, who is Curator of Plants at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, tells us that -

Floss Flower was discovered in Central America by William Houston (c. 1695-1733), a Scottish botanist, plant collector, & ship’s surgeon. Houston sent seeds to England in the early 18th century & British author Philip Miller referenced the species in a 1768 edition of his Gardener’s Dictionary. It was first documented in American gardens in 1836. This self-seeding species forms a spreading, loose-growing plant. The pale blue, & occasionally white, tassel-like flowers bloom from midsummer until the first autumn frost.

William Houstoun (occasionally spelt Houston) (1695?–1733) was a Scottish surgeon & botanist who collected plants in the West Indies, Mexico and South America.  Houstoun was born in Houston, Renfrewshire. He began a degree course in medicine at St Andrew's University but interrupted his studies to visit the West Indies, returning circa 1727. On 6 October 1727, he entered the University of Leyden to continue his studies under Boerhaave, graduating M.D. in 1729. It was during his time at Leyden that Houstoun became interested in the medicinal properties of plants. After returning to England that year, he soon sailed for the Caribbean & the Americas employed as a ship's surgeon for the South Sea Company. He collected plants in Jamaica, Cuba, Venezuela, & Vera Cruz, despatching seeds & plants to Philip Miller, head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London. Notable among these plants was Dorstenia contrayerva, a reputed cure for snake-bite, & Buddleja americana, the latter named by Linnaeus, at Houstoun's request, for the English cleric & botanist Adam Buddle, although Buddle could have known nothing of the plant as he had died in 1715. Houstoun published accounts of his studies in Catalogus plantarum horti regii Parisiensis.

When Houstoun returned to London in 1731, he was introduced to Sir Hans Sloane by Miller. Sloane commissioned him to undertake a three-year expedition, financed by the trustees for the Province of Georgia 'for improving botany & agriculture in Georgia', & to help stock the Trustee's Garden planned for Savannah. Houstoun initially sailed to the Madeira Islands to gather grape plantings before continuing his voyage across the Atlantic. However he never completed his mission as he 'died from the heat' on 14 August 1733 soon after arriving in Jamaica; he was buried at Kingston. Houstoun was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in January 1733.

Houstoun's writings & plant specimens, preserved in the botanical department of the British Museum, passed from Miller to Sir Joseph Banks, by whom the manuscripts were published as Reliquiae Houstounianae in 1781.

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History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett, who is Curator of Plants at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, tells us that -

The male and female Ginkgoes at Monticello are showing their golden fall color. In 1806, William Hamilton wrote to Thomas Jefferson that he intended to send him three trees that he thought Jefferson would "deem valuable additions" to his garden. Ginkgo biloba or the China Maidenhair tree was one of the three. Hamilton went on to say that it produced a "good eatable nut."   The Gingko is a large, hardy, deciduous tree with delicate, fan-shaped leaves that turn bright yellow in fall, and it has been used medicinally for thousands of years. The female trees produce edible fruit, which many find malodorous.

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History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett, who is Curator of Plants at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, tells us that -

During cool autumn days the lush, blue-green leaves of the Sea Kale revive. Crambe maritima was among Thomas Jefferson's favorite vegetables; he first planted seed of it at Monticello in 1809. Native to the seacoast of Great Britain, this hardy perennial of the cabbage family is grown for the early spring sprouts that arise from well established plants (2 to 3 years old).

Sea Kale is also quite ornamental with showy white flowers in summer. Sea Kale has a pleasing, mild cabbage taste. At Monticello the shoots are often covered with large blanching pots as they emerge in spring. When the leaves get six inches high, they are cut from the ground and can be prepared like asparagus.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Halberd-leaved Rose Mallow

Halberd-leaved Rose Mallow (Hibiscus laevis)

Halberd-leaved Rose Mallow, a large, native perennial with light pink, hollyhock-like flowers, was noted by John and William Bartram during their explorations of the South in 1765-66. “Halberd,” the name of a 15th century weapon, was given to describe its spear-shaped, triangular leaves on tall, straight stems.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Great Red Hibiscus

Great Red Hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus)

Great Red Hibiscus, a perennial native to the coastal swamps of Georgia and Florida, was adopted as an ornamental in American gardens by the end of the 18th century, when George Washington ordered a plant for Mount Vernon. The species bears palmately-lobed leaves and bright scarlet blossoms that are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Yellow-Horned Poppy

Yellow-horned Poppy (Glaucium flavum)

This unusual short-lived yet self-seeding perennial – native to the coastal regions of North Africa, Europe, Britain, and Western Asia – was observed naturalized along the New England coast as early as the 17th century. Thomas Jefferson planted seeds of Yellow Horned Poppy at Monticello in an oval bed southeast of the house in 1807. It has attractive, bluish-gray foliage and bears bright golden-yellow, poppy-like flowers followed by strange, “horned” seed pods.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Blanket Flower

Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)

As the Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed the Continental Divide on July 6th, 1806, this showy native species was collected. Blanket Flower blooms from summer through autumn, with yellow ray florets sometimes tinged red at the base, and reddish-orange central disk florets that are attractive to pollinators. Deer and drought tolerant.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Purple Coneflower is native to the central and southeastern U.S. and is valued for its showy pink daisy-like flowers, attractiveness to pollinators and birds, and its drought and deer tolerance. It was first exported to Europe in 1699 by John Banister, the Virginia botanist. In the 19th century, American garden writer Thomas Fessenden commented on Coneflowers: "many flowers . . . very durable . . . and much admired."

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Narrow-Leaved Coneflower

Narrow-leaved Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia)

Narrow-leaved Coneflower is a summer-blooming perennial bearing daisy-like, rosy-pink flowers with reflexed petals; attractive to butterflies. Like the common Purple Coneflower (E. purpurea), this species is native to the Midwestern U.S. Also known as "Mad Dog Plant" because the Plains Indians prized it as a remedy for rabid dog and rattlesnake bites, this species was likely included in an 1805 shipment of plants sent to Jefferson by the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Deer-resistant and drought-tolerant.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Small Yellow Foxglove

 Small Yellow Foxglove (Digitalis lutea)

Small Yellow Foxglove (Digitalis lutea)

This charming, self-seeding perennial bears pale yellow tubular flowers in late spring. Small Yellow Foxglove, native to the Mediterranean region, has been cultivated since the 16th century in Britain and was established in American gardens by 1800. Deer-resistant and attractive to hummingbirds, it was recommended by American garden writer Joseph Breck in his book, The Flower Garden (1851).

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Rusty Foxglove

 Rusty Foxglove (Digitalis ferruginea)

Rusty Foxglove (Digitalis ferruginea)

The early summer-flowering Rusty Foxglove is native to southeastern Europe, Turkey, and Lebanon, and documented in the 16th-century British herbals of Parkinson and Gerard. Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon listed it as "Iron-coloured Fox-glove" in The American Gardener's Calendar (1806) and he sold it by 1810. The plant sends tall flowering spikes above its dark, evergreen foliage, and bears showy, golden-brown flowers with unusual rusty-brown veining.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Fringed Pink

Fringed Pink (Dianthus superbus)

Fringed Pink is a native European and Asian perennial with flowers in shades of pale pink to white in early summer. Its flowers have a spicy fragrance and deeply cut petals, thus the common name pink, for pinking shears. Although recorded in European gardens by the 17th century, it remained uncommon both in Europe and America until the early 19th century.

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