1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Cauliflower

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Cauliflower

Cauliflowers, must be sown critically to a day, or else there is no dependence on the success of them. I cannot, nor do I find any one else capable of assigning a good reason for this, but the experience of this country, as well as England, verifies the proposition. We must therefore receive this fact as we do many others, rest ourselves satisfied, that the thing certainly exists, though the mode of existence is an impenetrable secret to us. Miller says, that for spring Cauliflowers the seed should be sown on the 10th or 12th of August, but in Virginia, the 12th day of September is the proper time, which is much the same as in England, allowing for the difference of climate, the ratio of which ought to be a month sooner in the spring, and the same later in the fall; our summer months being so intensely hot in this place, they should continue until the 20th of October, where they are to remain all the winter protected from the inclemency of the weather, and towards the latter end of February, the plants should be drawn and planted in a good spot of ground for a erop, about three and a half feet asunder, Miller says; but I think six much better, on account of the earth it takes to hill them up when rampant. Gardeners are divided with regard to the manner of preserving them in winter, and after they are planted out in February. Glasses are generally mentioned in the books of gardening as most proper, but later experience seems to contradict this position, because they.make the plant spindle, which is to be feared and guarded against in Cauliflowers, as they have a natural tendency towards luxuriancy, and therefore it is said that boxes, pyramidically formed, answer the purpose much better, for they equally protect plants from frost, afford them full room to germinate, and at the same time do not draw them to such an inordinate length as glasses are too apt to do, even with the best management. In order to have.Cauliflowers in the fall, you should sow your seed on the 12th day of April, and transplant them into beds to restrain their growth, and in July fix them out to stand. As they grow they should be hilled up, otherwise when they head, the winds will be apt to injure them. A rich light soil is what they delight in most. Col. Turner, of King George, who was eminent for Cauliflowers, had a method peculiar to himself for some years of managing them, which succeeded beyond any other. He dug trenches about a foot and a half wide, quite down to the clay. With this he mixed with a spade some long dung, into which he put his plants about live feet asunder, when they were fit to be transplanted; and as they grew, hilled them up with the best mould. This method answered the purpose of transplantation, for the clay repressed the growth of the plant, and the warmth of the dung afforded them just heat enough to live, as they might without it perish for want of nourishment. I have myself found this method succeed best. Virgin mould is preferable to every other sort. The gardeners near London have wholly abandoned the practice of watering their Cauliflower plants in the summer, as a thing very injurious to them, and Mr. Miller coincides in opinion with them. Radishes or Spinach sown amongst the Cauliflowers, so as not to interfere with them, will preserve them from the fly, being a more agreeable food to that destructive animal., When your Cauliflowers begin to flower, the inner leaves should be broken over them, otherwise the sun will soil their snowy colour, and as they spread, the larger leaves,should be served in the same manner. Some pin the outer leaves with a stick, but this is a malpractice, because it often binds the flower, that it cannot grow to that size it otherwise might do. In November, when you have apprehensions as to the approach of intense frosts, take your Cauliflowers up by the roots in a morning, with as much mould as you can, and put them in the ground, in a hole dug about two feet below the surface, well sheltered by straw or thatching, as near one another as you please, and cut them as you have occasion. They may be preserved in this manner the greatest part of the winter, though they acquire an earthy taste from their confined situation. They are not so delicate in the winter or fall as they are in May, notwithstanding in May they are in the midst of other elegancies, and stand without any rival in the fall. That face must be fair indeed that shines amongst a multitude of beauties, which too often eclipse one another. When you meet with a Cauliflower whose curd is hard and white, and free from frothiness about the edges, let it stand for seed, and as the flower branches, remove the leaves fiom off it, and fix three pretty strong stalks at equal angles about it, surrounded with pack-thread, in order to support the branches, which might be otherwise broken by the wind. When the seed is ripe, cut the pods off and dry them, and rub them out as you do Cabbage seed. I have been told that seeds cannot be raised in this country, but I believe the contrary may be proved by a proper culture.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Beans

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Beans

Beans...to eat, delight in a fine rich stiff soil, without dung, though that must be supplied where the lands are poor. To have fine beans, especially of the Windsor sort, which are much the best, they ought to be planted six inches asunder, in rows three feet distant from one another, in the, wane of the moon, (as it is vulgarly said) and under a hedge, which serves for a shelter. When the flowers begin to open towards the bottom of the stalk, the tops should be pinched off, though it is as good a season as any to do it in, when the blossoms are well blown and set. If you want an early crop, plant them in October, and hill them up as they grow, and shelter them; if a second crop, cut them down within two or three inches of the ground before they bear fruit. Don't pull the bean, cut it with a knife. The first production is the properest of all seeds for sowing. When the seed is ripe, you must pull up the stalks and sun them, observing to turn them every day or two. Beans, like all other seed, degenerate in the same ground, wherefore it is advisable to change your seed, and the beds they grew in.

Kidney Bean, Phaseotus, a long swift ship, which the husk resembles, may be planted in March; if sooner, they must be well sheltered, for they are easily killed, in a light fertile soil, in trenches about two and a half feet asunder, each grain two inches distant from the next, and one inch deep. They will not bear transplanting. They should be planted in a dry season. The Dutch sort, which is the common kind, should be stuck, otherwise they will lie on the ground and rot. This sort, if stuck, grow to a great height, and afford a constant succession. A second sowing will supply you sufficiently the season. If, when you plant, it should be a dry season, water the furrows or trenches before you drop the seed in. French Beans and snaps are the same. The Dutch sort are not so apt to be stringy, which the dwarf sort are.

Bushel or Sugar Beans, being of a tender nature, should not be planted till April, which is the best season, in hills made light and rich, about three to the hill, so as to admit a stake in the middle of them. They will grow round the stake to a great height, will bear very profusely, and continue till destroyed by frost. They are esteemed very delicate, and are of various colours, as white, marbled, green, etc.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Mullin

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Mullin

Mullin, Verbascum. The seed should be sown in August, in drills, about six inches asunder, and in the spring transplanted in a warm light situation.
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1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Gooseberry

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Gooseberry

Gooseberry, Grossularia, by some Uva, and by others Crispa, because villose and hairy. There are many species and seminal variations amongst the species themselves to be met with, but the two sorts principally cultivated are the hairy Gooseberry, and the large white Dutch. They are propagated from the suckers or cuttings, but the latter are preferable, as they produce much better roots than the former, which are apt to be woody. Autumn, before the leaves begin to fall, is the proper time for planting the cuttings out, taking the same from the bearing branches, about eight inches in length, and planting three inches deep, observing to nip off all under branches, so as to raise it to a head on a single stalk; in October you are directed to remove them into beds about three feet asunder, and having been one year in the nursery, they are to be removed to the places where they are to remain, six and eight feet asunder, row from row, observing to prune their roots, and all the lateral branches about Michaelmas; the London gardeners prune their bushes and cut them with shears into hedges, but this method is not approved of by Miller, who advises pruning with a knife, thinning the bearing branches, and shortening them to about ten inches, cutting away all the irregular ones; by this culture, I doubt not the Gooseberries would be as good as any in Europe; there is a small Gooseberry, very leafy, and which bears its leaves and fruit a long time, that is not worth cultivation; wherefore I would advise the banishing them from the garden.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Horse Radish

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Horse Radish

Horse Radish, Cocklearia, from Cochlear lat, a spoon, because the leaves are hollow like a spoon....is a species of the Scurvey grass. It is to be propagated from buds or cuttings from the sides of the old roats, in October or February; the former for dry land, and the latter for moist. The offsets should have buds on their crowns, and the heads planted out should be about two inches in length. The method of planting them is in trenches about ten inches deep, about five distance each way, the bud upwards, covering them up with the mould taken out of the trenches. Then the ground is to be levelled with a rake, and kept free from weeds, and the second year after planting, the roots may be used; the first year the roots are very slender. When you have cut from a root and separated as much as you have occasion for, put it into the ground again with the head just above the earth, and it will restore itself, if not pulled up soon after. It ought to be planted in very rich ground, otherwise it will not flourish. This method of planting I am so well pleased with that I never had any Horse Radish in my garden till I strictly pursued it, and I advise every one to follow it.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Celery

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Celery

Celery, Apium, quod apos eo gaudeant, or from Apex, because the ancients made crowns of it, is one of the species of Parsley. At first I was surprised to find this, but upon examining the two plants, there is, in many particulars, a characteristic likeness.

Celery is the Apium dulce, the seed of which should be sown in a successive manner to have it fine for any time; for after it is blanched it will not remain good longer than three weeks, or a month. but will rot or grow pithy. Let the first sowing then be in March, the second about a fortnight after, i. e. the last of March, the third in the beginning of April, and the fourth about the beginning of May.

In about three weeks or a month, the seed will come up, and if your plants grow stout, as probably they will in good land, you must transplant them into beds, and in June those of the first sowing will be fit to be put out for blanching, and the rest should also be put out as they appear strong enough to sustain a removal.

When they are transplanted for fruit, dig a trench by a line about ten inches wide and eight or nine deep, loosening the earth at the bottom, and levelling it; and the earth taken out of the trenches should be laid on the sides, for the convenience of earthing. These trenches should be about three feet asunder, and the plants should stand six inches distant from one another, in a straight row, cutting off the tops of the plants, when planted out. As the plants grow up, they should be carefully earthed up in a dry season, else they will rot, not above the crown or heart of the plant, and in a light rich soil, they will grow to twenty inches in height, but in poor land they will not exceed, ten.

Your first plantation should be in a moist soil, but not the latter, because the additional wet of the winter will rot your plants. The sun is a great enemy to Celery, when it is very hot, wherefore F would recommend the covering of your plants with brash, at all seasons of their growth, whilst the weather is hot, from nine in the morning until six o'clock in the evening. When you desire to raise seed, draw one or more of your flourishing plants, and plant it out in the spring,, let it be supported against the winds; aiid in August the seed will be ripe, which should be then tut up, dried, beat out, and preserved in bags.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Celeriac

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Celeriac

Celeriac,...Radice rapacea, Turnep rooted, is to be treated much in the same manner as Celery, except that the drills of these should be shallower, as this plant does not exceed ten inches in height, and requires but one earthing. The excellence of this consists in the size of its root, which is often as large as turneps. In summer water your plants, if the season is dry, and in winter cover them with haum, or any open covering to protect them from frosts.
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1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Parsley

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Parsley

Parsley, Apium hortense...if intended for the table, should be sown in drills pretty thick, in light rich land; but if for medicinal use (the roots being prescribed on many occasions,) the seed should be sown thin, and the plants drawn and treated as is directed in the culture of carrots.

Where you breed Rabbits it may be sown in the fields; Hares and Rabbits being remarkably fond of it, will resort to it from great distances. It is a sovereign remedy" to preserve sheep from the rot, by feeding twice a Week on this herb, about two hours each time. If intended for the table, the seed shauld be sown early in the spring; if for medicinal purposes, or for rabbits, the latter end of February in England, but about the middle of March in Virginia.

The gardeners have an advantage as to this plant, that the seed goes nine times to the devil before it comes up, alluding to the length of time it lies in the ground before it germinates, which is generally six weeks. In this it resembles celery, as also in its foliage, and the head where the seed is produced. There are several kinds of parsley, but these I have mentioned seem the most useful and particular.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Cabbage

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Cabbage

Cabbage, &c. Under Brassica is included all the several species of the Cabbage, among which Cauliflowers and Brocoli are classed. The proper time for sowing the seed of Brocoli is in the latter end of May, and transplant them into beds when they have eight leaves, and plant them out about the latter end of July, in a place well sheltered, not under the drip of trees, in a soil rather light than otherwise. About December, it is said, they will have purple heads, which are eaten, though I myself could never make them head before March. The distance these require is about two feet every way, though more would do better, if there is plenty of ground. The Roman Brocoli is the proper sort to cultivate, otherwise called the Italian Brocoli. When you cut the flowers or heads, cut to about five or six inches of the stem, and before they are boiled, strip off" the skin, and after having washed them, boil them in a clean cloth and serve them up with butter, as Cauliflowers are. The stems will eat like Asparagus, and the heads like Cauliflowers.

The common White Cabbage, capitata alba, is the proper sort for winter. It is long sided and flat. The seeds should be sown in April or March, and if they should grow long shanked, they should be pricked out till the middle of May, when they are to be transplanted to stand at about two and a half feet distance from one another, and three and a half row from row. Three things are necessary to Cabbages as well as other vegetables....to be watered in a dry season, hilled up if they grow long shanked, and kept clear of weeds, which draw the nourishment from the plants and make them spindle. In November take up your Cabbages by the roots, and plant them under a ridge of earth, with the tops of their heads to the south, covering the stems entirely; this will protect them the whole winter. If they are hard and compact when thus placed out, they will be sufficiently protected, and though the outside leaves may be affected by the frost, yet the hearts will remain entire.

The Savoy Cabbages, which are esteemed best when pinched by the frost, are to be treated in the same manner as the white, only they may be planted nearer one another, not being a long sort.

The Battersea Cabbage is the earliest of all, and bead in a short time, and burst if not cut soon:

But the Sugar Loaf, which is the finest, will remain a considerable time. These should be sown every month, and transplanted every season.

The Borecole, is treated like the white Cabbage, and need not be above a foot asunder. These are tough till the frost has made them tender.

There is a Cabbage which is called the Russia kind. They are very small, and soon degenerate, if the seed is not changed.

There is a Turnep Cabbage, which being very strong, is fit only for soup.

The seed of the Curled Colea*Ort are to be sown in July, about twelve inches asunder.

There is a Musk Cabbage, remarkable for its tasting like musk, and is to be treated in the common manner. I have met with these in Virginia, but Miller says, they are not propagated much in England, though the most delicious.

The common Cole'worts should be sown the beginning of July, and transplanted. There is a perenial Colewort, which will in poor land remain four years, but in rich not above two, before they go to seed. In order to save the seed of Cabbage, they should be taken out of the ground in November, and put under a hedge, or other sheltered place, buried up to the middle of the Cabbage, and in the spring they will begin to sprout and produce their seed. If the season should be dry, they should be assisted with moisture, and the stems should he supported. When the pods begin to be brown, cut off the extreme part of every branch or shoot. When your seeds are ripe, they should be cut off, threshed out when dry, and put into bags. By planting the several sorts of Cabbages together, as white and red, etc. there is a commixture of the effluvia of each, and each are vitiated, which is the reason, Miller imagines, why seed so soon degenerates in gardens, as gardeners are either negligent or unskilful in this particular, too generally.

Garden History from Monticello - 18C Chesapeake Gardeners' Diaries

In the Company of Gardeners

The Flower Diaries of President Thomas Jefferson, Virginian Lady Jean Skipwith, 

and silversmith & clockmaker William Faris

by Peggy Cornett, Twinleaf, January 2000

Thomas Jefferson was the quintessential record keeper. He kept account books and both a Garden and Farm Book throughout his adult life. Although he died just a mile from the place of his birth, Jefferson traveled extensively and often made careful notes on the gardens he visited in this country and abroad. Through the sheer volume of his writings, Jefferson documented hundreds of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, and we find his plant references in letters, drawings, and memoranda to his workers, family, and friends. Record-keeping was as much his passion as music, reading, architecture, and gardening.

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Kosciuszko (1746 - 1817) 

Jefferson's records, however, do not stand alone in his time. Other important and useful garden diaries, such as those belonging to Lady Skipwith and Maryland clock-maker William Faris, have survived in tact. The highly educated Jean Skipwith left remarkable lists of flowers that she grew in southern Virginia between 1785 and 1805. At the age of forty, she became the second wife of Sir Peyton Skipwith and they settled in the rolling countryside of Mecklenburg County. There they built a large Georgian-style house named Prestwould, after the Skipwith family seat in England. Jean Skipwith was a skilled gardener and she possessed an astute knowledge of botanical Latin. The libraries at Monticello and Prestwould both contained copies of Philip Miller's eighth edition of the Gardener's Dictionary, 1768, and Lady Skipwith often cited this botanical tome. Skipwith's floral documents, as described by Ann Leighton in her classic American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century "For Use or for Delight," were either left on the backs of old bills or neatly recorded in lists with such titles as "bulbs to be got when I can ..." and "Wildflowers in the Garden."

William Faris' diary reveals a middle-class American gardener of this period. Similar to Lady Skipwith, William Faris' plant lists span the years between 1792 and 1804, the last twelve years of his life. Historian Barbara Sarudy's recent book, Gardens and Gardening in the Chesapeake, 1700-1805, gives us a wonderful portrayal of his late 18th-century residential garden. According to Sarudy, the ornamental beds Faris created in Annapolis were akin in design, if not grandeur, to the more elegant geometric gardens that Chesapeake gentry were busy building about the same time. She describes an artisan who, in his spare time, grew thousands of tulips, narcissus, and other bulbs, selecting and breeding them in his modest 366' by 200' lot. In the spring of 1804, he counted 2,339 tulips in his garden, some named after statesmen such as President Washington and Madison, which he invited his neighbors to view. Visitors would mark varieties they fancied with a coded stick, and Faris would dig them in June for the neighbors to purchase.

Many of the plants that Jefferson, Skipwith, and Faris grew in common were reflective of current floral styles and availability. Tulips figured prominently in early American gardens long after the Dutch "tulipomania" of the 1600s. But, another common "root" of the Colonial Period was the tuberose, Polianthes tuberosa. In 1736, when Peter Collinson sent Williamsburg's John Custis roots of tuberose, Custis replied that they were already common in Virginia and that he need not send any more. This tender Mexican rhizome was especially prized for its heavy, sweet scent. Although the tuberose requires digging and storing over winter in colder climates, it still was planted by Jefferson, Skipwith, and Faris. Jefferson succeeded also with the double-flowered form, which he received from McMahon in 1807 and brought to flower at Monticello August 12th.

The Yellow Autumn Crocus or Winter Daffodil (Sternbergia lutea), a hardy southern European amaryllis, occurs on Lady Skipwith's list, and is a bulb John Custis described in the 1730s as the "Autumn Narciss with yellow Crocus-like flower." Elizabeth Lawrence, a Southern garden writer of the 20th century, noted in her book The Little Bulbs that "They have bloomed in Virginia gardens for many generations, and according to tradition grew in the Palace Gardens at Williamsburg in colonial times."

Like tulips, roses are another dominating class of heirloom flowers, and the gallica roses are considered among the most ancient. Jefferson ordered a number of distinct varieties from the William Prince Nursery of Flushing, New York in 1791, including Rosa Mundi (Rosa gallica versicolor). This sport of the Apothecary Rose is probably the oldest and best known of the striped roses, with petals vividly streaked light crimson and splashed with palest pink to white. Many legends surround this rose; the most romantic, but as yet unconfirmed, being that it was named for Fair Rosamund, mistress of Henry II in the 12th century. The variegated Rosa Mundi is likely what Jean Skipwith called her Marble Rose, which Bernard McMahon listed as a variant of the Rosa Mundi.

Mallows and hibiscus (formerly known also as ketmias) remain a confusing group in early garden literature. When Jean Skipwith included "Crimson Mallow" in her list of "Plants" she was likely referring to Great Red Hibiscus, Hibiscus coccineus, a magnificent, bright red-flowering perennial native to the coastal swamps of Georgia and Florida (but hardy to Philadelphia). The Great Red Hibiscus grows to eight feet in a single season. According to Ann Leighton, it was also cultivated by George Washington at Mount Vernon. Jefferson's "Scarlet Mallow," however, specifically referred to "Scarlet-flowered Pentapetes,"the seeds of which he received from Bernard McMahon and planted in his flower border in 1811. Pentapetes phoenicia is a handsome annual of the Old World Tropics with brownish-green stems and scarlet, mallow-like blossoms that open at noon and close at dawn. It is rarely cultivated in America today.

Jefferson grew relatively few houseplants, yet both he and Faris mentioned the scarlet, single-flowered Geranium (Pelargonium inquinans), a South African species and parent of our modern hybrids. It was first introduced into America in the late 18th century and is immortalized in Rembrandt Peale's famous 1801 portrait of his brother Rubens holding a potted geranium. President Jefferson kept a plant in the President's House and, upon his retirement from his second term, gave his rather neglected geranium to Washington socialite Margaret Bayard Smith. The "Rose Geraniums" mentioned by Lady Skipwith were likely varieties of scented geraniums, also from South Africa, many of which were offered by American nurserymen.

Of the scented flowers, few can compete with Poet's Jasmine, Jasminum officinale. The mere word "jasmine" conjures fragrance and romance, and the delicious odor of this flower, which pours forth at evening, is often the muse of amorous poetry. Jefferson included the "white jasmine" among his "Objects for the Garden" in 1794, and in 1809 he planted "star jasmine" in an oval flower bed. "White Jasmine," likewise, was on Jean Skipwith's list of "Flowering Shrubs." Although this shrubby, Himalayan vine can grow to thirty feet, Virginia winters keep the Poet's Jasmine as a low-growing, woody perennial. Further north it can be grown indoors in pots.

Likewise, wallflowers (Cheiranthus cheiri) ranked highly among the favorite perfumed blooms in early American gardens. Cheiranthus means "hand-flower," and in the Middle Ages it was carried in the hand at festivals. Parkinson wrote: "the sweetnesse of the flowers causeth them to be generally used in Nosegayes and to deck up houses." A double red form was among the six varieties Parkinson grew, and likely the famous "Double Bloody Warrior" that Lady Skipwith mentions by name. "Yellow Stock Gilliflower" was once the term used for the "Yellow Wallflower," and should not be confused with "Gillifowers" and "Clove Gilliflowers," which referred to pinks and carnations. In the late 1800s a miniature double yellow, now known as Harpur Crewe, was rediscovered by and named for the British Rev. Henry Harpur Crewe.

Annual flowers in the gardens of Jefferson, Skipwith, and Faris varied from the delightfully fragrant to the foul smelling and from the delicately beautiful to the bizarrely curious. Mignonette (Reseda odorata), a native of Egypt, was first described in Philip Miller's Dictionary, 1752, as a flower "of a dull colour, but hav[ing] a high ambrosial scent." It became so popular in London that in 1829 a writer remarked: "whole streets were almost oppressive with the odour." Napoleon is credited with collecting mignonette seeds during his Egyptian campaign and sending them to the Empress Josephine at Malmaison. She set the fashion of growing mignonette as a pot-plant for its perfume. At Monticello in 1811 Jefferson situated this flower near the NW cistern.

French marigold (Tagetes patula), on the other hand, was reputed to be poisonous, probably due to its offensive smelling foliage, which was described as hateful, if not injurious. Although native to Mexico, the French marigold, also known as the lesser African marigold, was introduced to Europe by way of North Africa by 1535. In 1808 Jefferson mentions the "2 kinds of Marigold," suggesting he had both the French and African (T. erecta). Faris simply wrote "Marigold;" but Jean Skipwith gives a more precise reference when she wrote "Striped French Marigold," indicating the newest sensation that William Curtis' Botanical Magazine featured in 1791: a lovely yellow-flowered marigold distinctly streaked with red.

Even though Jefferson once wrote that he had no time for "mere curiosities" in the garden, balsam apple (Momordica balsamina) would certainly fall into this category. This unusual vine produces lush, shiny green foliage and pale yellow blossoms followed by curious, bright-orange fruits. These will pop open revealing sticky, bright red seeds. Although the green, immature fruit is used in Asian cooking, it's more fun to watch them ripen and explode on the vine.

The ever-popular, biennial hollyhock (Alcea rosea) was another flower grown by all three. It has been cultivated for centuries and, although probably originating in Asia Minor, now is naturalized throughout the world. By the mid 18th century, Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary referred to both the single and double forms as old-fashioned. Jefferson first recorded hollyhocks in June 1767 and charted them in his 1782 "Calendar of the bloom of flowers" as blossoming from mid-June to mid-July. Hollyhocks have persisted in gardens, becoming the centerpiece of late 19th and early 20th-century "Grandmother's Gardens" and continuing in the modern flower border.

This brief collection of flowers mentioned 200 years ago offers a fleeting glimpse into three very personal and private gardens. While Thomas Jefferson, Jean Skipwith, and William Faris lived worlds apart, leading vastly disparate lives in many ways, they were alike in this: their passion for growing flowers and their wherewithal to keep records of their plants. Today, we can only envision the great friendship that might have transpired if circumstances had ever united these three remarkable gardeners.

NOTE:

Lady Jean Skipwith is best known today as the mistress of one of the most important gardens of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The detailed records she kept of her garden at Prestwould make it one of the best-documented gardens of the period and were invaluable to the Garden Club of Virginia, which undertook an interpretive restoration in 1980. The plan, consisting of a grid of walks with garden beds in between, is quite like the kitchen gardens of James River and other southern plantations, but several elements show that it was carefully adapted to Lady Skipwith's needs as a plant collector and experimenter. A traditional garden, for instance, would have been on axis with the main hallway of the house, but at Prestwould the garden is sited along the east side of the house, visible from the entrance drive, as if to make a statement that gardening was a separate and special activity at the plantation. The north-south central walk in the garden is fifteen feet wide, to accommodate a pony cart, and extends the length of the lot, 630 feet. Three crosswalks, also fifteen feet wide, traverse the 230-foot width, dividing the garden into six beds. The central crosswalk continues through an orchard to the walled graveyard. Customarily, a summerhouse was placed at the end of one of the garden walks, but Lady Skipwith's summerhouse, complete with a cellar for the storage of roots and plants, was situated to one side of the main walk. Here she spent many hours, reading and keeping the plantation books and her garden journal.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Cucumber

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Cucumber

Cucumber, Cucuviis, is esteemed in its season the most refreshing and delicate of all vegetables. There are three sorts....First, Cucumis sativus vulgaris. Second, Cucumis fructu subleteo, the white cucumber. Third, Cucumis oblonges. The first is the common sort most in use, amongst which there is a difference in the size, length, &c. The second is cultivated in Holland chiefly, and the last sort is cultivated only in curious gardens, and are remarkable for their length and fewness of seed. As there are three sorts, so there are three seasons for cucumbers; the first is the early, in hot-beds, the second is the middle crop under glasses, and the third is for pickling. Although many are ambitious of having early fruit, yet it is certain that Cucumbers are not wholesome till the hot weather comes on; for being pent up in hot-beds, they inspire a confined watery air, which must necessarily make the plant crude and unhealthful. Towards the latter end of January, if you require Cucumbers in April, you are to get about two loads of long dung, which will be sufficient for a moderate family, and mixing it with some sea-coal ashes, you are to lay it in a heap, about three feet thick. In about four or five days, the dung will begin to heat, and then you must take off part of the top, laying it flat on the sides of your heap, and put on about two inches of good earth, which must be covered with your glasses. In a day or two after, when you find the earth pretty warm, put your seeds in the earth about a quarter of an inch deep, and keep it close covered with the glass all night and in bad weather, and the glass should be also covered with mat. In three or four days, the plants will appear, upon which you are to make a bed for a single light on the adjoining heap of dung, covering the top about three inches thick with mould, into which you are to put your plants, at about two inches distance each way, observing to put them into the earth almost up to their seed leaves. In twenty-four hours your plant will take root, and you are to give it what air you can without injury, turning the glass upside down in the heat of the day, or wiping off the water that is condensed in the upper part, and is very pernicious when it drops on your plants. You are to water your plants, though moderately, and your water should be as near the temperature of the air in which the plant exists as possible, and as the plants advance, support their shanks with a little dry sifted earth, which will much assist them. If your heat is too intense, run a stick into the middle of the dung, through the sides of the heap in two or three places, which will give vent to the steam. If it be too slack, cover the sides of your heap with more litter. When the third or rough leaf appears, you are to prepare another heap, in which you are to. make holes about a foot deep, and eight or nine inches over, which are to be filled with light fresh earth, and in these in four or five days you transplant your plants, observing to water them as before, and to put four plants into each, with their roots sloping toward the centre, lest they should get to the dung, and be injured by it. You should avoid keeping your glasses too close, for the steam may cause such a damp as will very much injure the plants. Your plants tending upwards when they are four or five inches high, should be forked down, and when you weed them, hold the leaves very gently with one hand, and weed them with the other. Pulling off the male blossom is not recommended, neither is pruning the vines, but if your glasses are filled with too much vine you ought to draw out ,one of the plants, provided it is not matted with those you intend to stand. Whenever your bed loses its heat in any degree, it ought to be repaired; and though the plants delight in heat, yet you must cover your glasses when the sun is in the meridian, and hot. In watering these beds, you must throw the water all over the vines, but not in the heat of the day, for the drops will collect the rays of the sun to a focus, blister and ruin the plants. And as at this season you have often cold nights, you should preserve the heat of the beds, and from this management your Cucumbers will last till the beginning of July, when your second crop will come to bear. The management of this second crop is pretty much the same with the former, only you must raise your glasses oftener, as the weather will be wanner, and your seeds are to be put into the ground in March or April. Miller directs that beds of dung should be made for the second crop as well as the first, and the same culture observed; but I believe if your seeds are sown in April in rich light hills, and sheltered from the cold with glasses, it will answer just as well, provided you keep them free from weeds, and water with temperate water. Most people are fond of gathering their seed from the first early fruit, leaving one Cucumber only on a vine, nearest the heart of the plant, and this is a good way. In August your seeds will be ripe enough: then cut open the Cucumber and put pulp and seed into a tub, there to remain eight or ten days, stirring them every day to the bottom with a stick; at the expiration of that time, pour water, into the tub, and by stirring it often and repeating it, the scum will rise to the top and your seed subside, which are to be dried and put into a bag, and are best when three or four years old. Your seed that are intended for picklers, should be sown in May, about nine in a hill, and in five or six days they will appear above ground, and for above a week after, till the plant has made some progress, are very liable to be destroyed by Sparrows, they being very fond of them. Leave only four or five of the most vigorous plants in a hill, and observe to water in a dry season, and keep the ground about them loose, and free from weeds. The earth should be laid round your plants in the form of a bason, to hold the water that is given them, and take care that your plants don't interweave with one another; and if any plants appear lading or declining, pull them up. Fifty holes is the number advised, from whence you may expect to gather about two thousand in the season. Miller mentions the putting your plants into baskets, when they are fit to transplant, filled with earth, which may be removed with the plants in them, into other hot-beds with great security, by which means you have a crop much earlier than in the method before mentioned. If Cucumbers are stuck, as you do peas, they will run to a great height, and will bear till the frosts destroy them.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Fennel

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Fennel

Fennel, Faeniculum. This may be propagated from seed or the plants, as Featherfew, and nothing more is necessary than to keep it from seedling, because it will overrun the garden; the roots being very strong, continue a long while in the ground.

A little more about fennel that was not in Randolph's short description.

Fennel...

Fennel was well known to the Ancients and was cultivated by the ancient Romans for its aromatic fruits and succulent, edible shoots. Pliny had much faith in its medicinal properties, according no less than 22 remedies to it, observing also that serpents eat it 'when they cast their old skins, and they sharpen their sight with the juice by rubbing against the plant.'

A very old English rhyming Herbal, preserved at Stockholm, gives the following description of the virtue of the plant:
'Whaune the heddere (adder) is hurt in eye
Ye red fenel is hys prey,
And yif he mowe it fynde
Wonderly he doth hys kynde.
He schall it chow wonderly,
And leyn it to hys eye kindlely,
Ye jows shall sang and hely ye eye
Yat beforn was sicke et feye.'
Many of the older herbalists uphold this theory of the peculiarly strengthening effect of this herb on the sight.
Longfellow alludes to this virtue in the plant:
'Above the lower plants it towers,
The Fennel with its yellow flowers;
And in an earlier age than ours
Was gifted with the wondrous powers
Lost vision to restore.'

In mediaeval times, Fennel was employed, together with St. John's Wort and other herbs, as a preventative of witchcraft and other evil influences, being hung over doors on Midsummer's Eve to warn off evil spirits. It was likewise eaten as a condiment to the salt fish so much consumed by our forefathers during Lent.

Though the Romans valued the young shoots as a vegetable, it is not certain whether it was cultivated in northern Europe at that time, but it is frequently mentioned in Anglo-Saxon cookery and medical recipes prior to the Norman Conquest.

Fennel shoots, Fennel water and Fennel seed are all mentioned in an ancient record of Spanish agriculture dating A.D. 961.

The diffusion of the plant in Central Europe was stimulated by Charlemagne, who enjoined its cultivation on the imperial farms.

It is mentioned in Gerard (1597), and Parkinson (Theatricum Botanicum, 1640) tells us that its culinary use was derived from Italy, for he says: 'The leaves, seede and rootes are both for meate and medicine; the Italians especially doe much delight in the use thereof, and therefore transplant and whiten it, to make it more tender to please the taste, which being sweete and somewhat hot helpeth to digest the crude qualitie of fish and other viscous meats. We use it to lay upon fish or to boyle it therewith and with divers other things, as also the seeds in bread and other things.'

William Coles, in Nature's Paradise (1650) affirms that 'both the seeds, leaves and root of ourGarden Fennel are much used in drinks and broths for those that are grown fat, to abate their unwieldiness and cause them to grow more gaunt and lank.'

The ancient Greek name of the herb, Marathron, from maraino, to grow thin, probably refers to this property. It was said to convey longevity, and to give strength and courage.

Milton, in Paradise Lost alludes to the aroma of the plant:
'A savoury odour blown,
Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense
Than smell of sweetest Fennel.'

The odor of Fennel seed is fragrant, its taste, warm, sweet and agreeably aromatic. It yields its virtues to hot water, but more freely to alcohol. The essential oil may be separated by distillation with water.

It was formerly the practice to boil Fennel with all fish, and it was mainly cultivated in kitchen gardens for this purpose.

It is one of the plants which is said to be disliked by fleas, and powdered Fennel has the effect of driving away fleas from kennels and stables.

Culpepper says: 'One good old custom is not yet left off, viz., to boil fennel with fish, for it consumes the phlegmatic humour which fish most plentifully afford and annoy the body with, though few that use it know wherefore they do it. It benefits this way, because it is a herb of Mercury, and under Virgo, and therefore bears antipathy to Pisces. Fennel expels wind, provokes urine, and eases the pains of the stone, and helps to break it. The leaves or seed boiled in barley water and drunk, are good for nurses, to increase their milk and make it more wholesome for the child. The leaves, or rather the seeds, boiled in water, stayeth the hiccup and taketh away nausea or inclination to sickness. The seed and the roots much more help to open obstructions of the liver, spleen, and gall, and thereby relieve the painful and windy swellings of the spleen, and the yellow jaundice, as also the gout and cramp. The seed is of good use in medicines for shortness of breath and wheezing, by stoppings of the lungs. The roots are of most use in physic, drinks and broths, that are taken to cleanse the blood, to open obstructions of the liver, to provoke urine, and amend the ill colour of the face after sickness, and to cause a good habit through the body; both leaves, seeds, and roots thereof, are much used in drink, or broth, to make people more lean that are too fat. A decoction of the leaves and root is good for serpent bites, and to neutralize vegetable poison, as mushrooms, etc.'

In Italy and France, the tender leaves are often used for garnishes and to add flavour to salads, and are also added, finely chopped, to sauces served with puddings.

Roman bakers are said to put the herb under their loaves in the oven to make the bread taste agreeably.

John Evelyn, in his Acetaria (1680), held that the peeled stalks, soft and white, of the cultivated garden Fennel, when dressed like celery exercised a pleasant action conducive to sleep.

Formerly poor people used to eat Fennel to satisfy the cravings of hunger on fast days and make unsavoury food palatable; it was also used in large quantities in the households of the rich, as may be seen by the record in the accounts of Edward I.'s household, 8 1/2 lb. of Fennel were bought for one month's supply.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Carrots

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Carrots

Carrots, Daucus...are of two sorts, the orange and white, the former being generally used, though the latter is much the sweetest kind. To have them fine in the spring, sow them in drills about two feet distance, for the convenience of weeding them, about the latter end of August, and when they appear, draw them so as to keep them about four inches asunder, and in February sow again for the summer, and in April for the fall. They choose alight warm soil, and should neverbe dunged with long dung; nay, it is thought best to dung the ground the year before; for when they touch dung or meet with obstruction, they fork immediately. The seed should be rubbed before sown, to get rid of the husk to which they adhere. It should be sown in a calm day, as the seed is very light and easily blown away. They should be trodden down when sown, and raked smoothly over. When your carrots appear heady above ground, they should be trodden, that they may grow more below than above. In November take up your roots and put them in dry sand, and you may use them as occasion requires. About the middle of February, plant out one of the most flourishing for seed, which, when ripe, dry in the sun and rub out.

History Blooms at Monticello

 (Cynara scolymus)

Photos of Monticello by Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, who tells us that

The “chokes” are forming in the vegetable garden. Globe Artichoke was included on one of Jefferson's first lists of vegetables grown at Monticello in 1770. His Garden Book sporadically charted the first to "come to table" and the "last dish of artichokes" from 1794 and 1825. Monticello gardeners often leave the edible “chokes” to develop into purple, thistle-like flowers, which can be dried for arrangements.

History Blooms at Monticello - The Lewis & Clark Legacy

Gaillardia aristata. Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

At the west end of Monticello’s Winding Flower Walk several showy species associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition are on display: Blanket Flower, Snow-on-the-Mountain, and Narrow-leaved Coneflower. As the Corps of Discovery crossed the Continental Divide Meriwether Lewis first collected Gaillardia aristata in the dry hills of the Rocky Mountains.

Photo by Peggy Cornett who writes in the Twinleaf Journal of January 2003

The Horticultural Potential of Lewis & Clark Plants

Their three-year journey led Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, & the Corps of Discovery through the central prairies, high plains, the arid Rockies, windswept deserts, & seasonally moist, temperate West Coast regions of North America. The diverse climatic & geographic environments they encountered obviously had immensely disparate growing conditions from the woodlands, swamps, fields, & savannahs of the East. Recognizing this, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1807, at the conclusion of the mission, "Capt. Lewis has brought a considerable number of seeds of plants peculiar to the countries he has visited." At the time, it was difficult to recognize or sort out the plants that might prove easily amenable to gardens from those requiring very specific & difficult to reproduce environmental conditions. Although Jefferson, McMahon, William Hamilton & many others were enormously interested in cultivating these rare new introductions, determining which would thrive in cultivation required years of experimentation & trial & error.

Some plants with ornamental potential were distributed & entered the nursery trade early on, such as Lewis's prairie flax (Linum perenne lewisii), which McMahon was offering by 1815. Other showy flowers like the annual & perennial blanket flowers (Gaillardia sp.) were familiar asters that soon emerged as garden favorites. But, widespread production & marketing of the Lewis & Clark plants occurred gradually over time &, in some cases, it required that the plants be "rediscovered" by other intrepid explorers with more influential connections.

One such naturalist was a journeyman printer from Liverpool, England, Thomas Nuttall, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1808 at the age of 22. His interest in books & plants soon led him to Professor Benjamin Smith Barton of the University of Pennsylvania, who became his friend, tutor, & patron. Barton also saw in Nuttall someone capable of re-collecting many of the Lewis & Clark specimens no longer in his possession. In 1811 Nuttall joined the Astorian Expedition, which was planned to follow the Lewis & Clark Expedition's path to the Pacific. Nuttall headquartered at Fort Mandan & made numerous excursions up the Missouri River, where he encountered many of the original Lewis & Clark species. He was able to send a large shipment to Barton & returned to England just before the outbreak of the War of 1812. The plants & seeds he took with him were distributed to the Liverpool Botanic Garden & marketed through a dealer in American plants. Nuttall's shipment included the camas (Camassia quamash), or quamash as it was known to the Nez Perces, which was first collected by Lewis & Clark June 11, 1806 in Idaho as the explorers followed the Lolo Trail. Like the Native Americans, the men of the Expedition relied on the root for sustenance & Frederick Pursh would later note that the plant was "an agreeable food to Governor Lewis's party." An illustration of this attractive lily, first published in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 1813, as Scilla esculenta, was made from Nuttall's specimens that were being sold through John Fraser's Nursery in Sloane Square, London. Eventually, many plants collected by Nuttall also were offered for sale at the Linnaean Botanic Garden in Flushing, Long Island, New York.

The Scottish gardener David Douglas was another significant plant explorer who followed a similar track westward. He had served on the staff of the Glasgow Botanic Garden before becoming the foremost plant hunter of the Royal Botanical Society. Unlike the strict pioneer botanists, Douglas was more skilled as a horticulturist. He first went to Oregon Country in 1825 & explored the upper reaches of the Columbia River & parts of the Canadian wilderness. His western travels crossed & crisscrossed the route that Lewis & Clark had taken 20 years before. In 1827 he returned to London with seeds of dozens of distinct species previously known only to botanists, making available to everyone many now-familiar garden plants including California poppy, elegant Clarkia, musk or monkey flower, & blue-pod lupines. Douglas found Gaillardia aristata, first collected by Lewis in the dry hills of the Rocky Mountains, in similar regions from the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. Intermixed with the typical species, Douglas saw many with a dwarf habit no more than 10 to 12 inches in height. Seeds of this form were collected in abundance & liberally distributed through the Horticultural Society at Kew. Douglas also brought choice North American woody shrubs to gardeners around the world, such as the evergreen Oregon grape-holly (Mahonia aquifolium, honoring Bernard McMahon) & the flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum). Before his untimely death in Hawaii in 1834, when he fell into a pit trap & was gored by a similarly ensnared bull, Douglas had sent some 500 species to William Hooker at Kew Gardens.

Often, these western North American species fared better in England that they did in the eastern United States. The elegant clarkia or "elkhorn flower," named for Captain William Clark by the German botanist Frederick Pursh, became widely popular in 19th-century British gardens. Accounts of London exhibitions in which clarkias received first-class certificates appeared in American magazines of the 1860s. After traveling to Britain, James Vick of Rochester, New York wrote enviously of "immense fields ablaze with bright colors, acres each of pink, red, white, purple, lilac," which he encountered in a country village of Essex. Although, like most seeds men, he offered a broad selection of both single & double cultivars, he readily admitted, "The Clarkia is the most effective annual in the hands of the English florist. It suffers with us in hot dry weather." In hot, humid climates, clarkia has been found to perform best when sown in the fall so that it blooms as the season cools.

Snow-on-the-mountain, Euphorbia marginata, which was new to science when collected by Lewis & Clark in 1806, soon became a common annual in 19th-century seed catalogues. Although its natural distribution is along the west side of the Missouri River in North Dakota, it proved adaptable to a wide range of soil types & growing conditions & likely escaped from cultivation into farmlands from Minnesota to Texas & New Mexico. Still other adaptable western species like the Western Jacob's ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum) & even Lewis's prairie flax, the North American subspecies of the common European blue flax, never managed to captivate American nurserymen, even though they grow with equal vigor & beauty. Catalogues generally offered only the traditional garden-variety counterparts, probably because it was easier to acquire these perennials from seed sources abroad.

Present-day ecological concerns must temper our rush to obtain certain species, especially those threatened by over-zealous collectors. The prairie coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia), for example, has a long history of medicinal use by Native Indians but now our modern-day infatuation with herbal remedies has led to its near devastation by widespread digging of wild plants.

The concepts of endangered species, diminution of resources, environmental degradation, even extinction were not part of the mindset of that moment in our history two hundred years ago. It was still a time to document & collect, to observe & understand. As Jefferson predicted in 1804, on the eve of the venture, "We shall delineate with correctness the great arteries of this great country: those who come after us will fill up the canvas we begin."

Now, we can reflect upon the pristine landscape stretching out beyond the horizon that was viewed with awe & wonder by the men of the Corps of Discovery. While we know they endured near starvation & exhaustion, sickness, scorching heat, arduous winters, monumental hardships, & profound uncertainty about the road ahead, we can still envy their experiences & take pleasure in their discoveries just as certainly as did Jefferson, who never traveled beyond the mountains of Virginia. Jefferson's destiny was to remain behind & wait with excited anticipation for the seeds, plants & roots the corps would return. In the ensuing years he would pursue the study of this new & sometimes peculiar flora from western lands, content in the belief that "Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight."

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (727-1784) - Asparagus

A Treatise on Gardening Written by a native of this State (Virginia)
Author was John Randolph (1727-1784)
Written in Williamsburg, Virginia about 1765
Published by T. Nicolson, Richmond, Virginia. 1793
The only known copy of this booklet is found in the Special Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Asparagus

Asparagus....Grow a young shoot; are to be propagated either from the seed or roots. The seed are contained in those things which look like red berries. These are to be gathered from the most flourishing stalks, and laid in a tub for about three weeks to ferment. This will rot the husks, which will swim upon being rubbed between the hands, and having water poured upon them, but the seed will go to the bottom. Pour the water off gently, and the husks will be carried along with it. This being done two or three times, the seed will become perfectly clean. They are then to be laid on a mat or dish, and exposed to the sun to dry. When that is done, they may be put into a hag and pricked out in February or March, in beds about a foot asunder every way, anil never to be transplanted. But if they are to he transplanted, they may he sown as thick as you do Cabbage. If you propagate from the roots, those of a year old are most eligible, though if two, they will succeed very well. In planting them out, they should he placed about four inches under the surface of the ground, with the bud erect, against the side of the earth perpendicularly cut, so that the extremity of the roots may touch each other. This will put them about a foot asunder; the best time for transplanting them is when they begin to shoot, but before they appear above ground. The principal thing to be regarded with these plants, is the bed in which they are to be placed. A great apparatus was formerly made use of, but now seems *On all hands to be disregarded. Nothing more is necessary than to make your beds perfectly rich and light, that the head may not be obstructed in its growth upwards. Two feet of mould and dung is depth sufficient for any plant. They are to be kept clean from weeds, and nothing sown upon the beds. The fourth year from the seed they may be cut moderately, but it is better to wait till the fifth. About October the haum should be cut down, and the beds covered with rotten dung about six inches, part of which may he taken off in February or March, and the remainder forked up in the«beds, which will not only assist the roots, but raise the beds in some small degree yearly, which is an advantage. A spade is a very prejudicial instrument to them. Cut with a blunt pointed knife (some use a saw) and separate the earth from the plant, and cut it so as not to endanger the head of another that may be shooting up. There are joints in the roots of the Sparrow grass like the Wire grass, from every one of which a head is produced. Butchers' dung is what it delights in. I would recommend your beds to be about four feet wide, that the grass may be cut without treading on the beds, which often hardens the earth so much that the grass cannot come up, and must of course perish. In these beds I would have three rows; for the roots ought to have a sufficient quantity of earth on all sides. Beds thus managed, Miller says, will last ten or twelve years; Bradly says twenty, and I am inclined to join with the latter.

History Blooms at Monticello -

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that 

Cabbage abounds in the Monticello vegetable garden. Throughout his lifetime Jefferson cultivated eighteen varieties including French, Milan, Savoy, Ox-heart, Roman, Scotch, Sugarloaf, York, and Winter. Cabbage was the second most commonly purchased vegetable bought by the Jefferson family from the gardens of Monticello’s enslaved African Americans.

History Blooms at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

In 1811 Thomas Jefferson recorded the planting of “Lathyrus odoratus. Sweet scented pea" in an oval flower bed at Monticello. Painted Lady Sweet Pea is a highly scented, pink and white bicolor variety, which was in cultivation by the 1730s and popular in American gardens through the 19C.

History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

The hardy annual Larkspur, Consolida ajacis, re-seeds abundantly in the Monticello Flower Gardens. Jefferson noted Larkspur blooming at Shadwell in July 1767, thought it suitable for naturalizing at Monticello "in the open ground on the west" in 1771, and sowed seed around his Roundabout flower border on April 8, 1810.

Larkspur, Consolida ajacis

History Blooms at Monticello

Peggy Cornett at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello tells us that

This spring we have enjoyed one of the finest displays of purple and white foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, in recent memory. This highly deer-resistant biennial flower has been cultivated in American gardens since 1735, and it became more popular after its medicinal qualities were discovered in the late 18th century.