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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Garden to Table -

Woman with a Duck & a Girl with a very large Cabbage by Pieter de Hooch   Detail

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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South Carolina - The Fence at Brabants on French Quarter Creek, The Seat of the Bishop Smith

1800. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Brabants on French Quarter Creek, The Seat of the Late Bishop Smith. South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. 

This plantation lies on French Quarter Creek, a tributary of the Eastern Branch of the Cooper River. The original grant to Francis Pagett in 1704, was later joined a tract granted in 1709 to Daniel Brabant, a surgeon whose name became that of the plantation. It amounted to 3,000 acres, when Elizabeth Pagett married the Reverend Robert Smith, rector of St. Philip’s Church in Charles Town. He became the 1st Bishop of the State of South Carolina, & was the First Principal of the college of Charleston, where Charles Fraser was one of the students.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Globe Centaurea

Globe Centaurea (Centaurea macrocephala)

Globe Centaurea, also called Great Golden Knapweed, is a robust perennial from the Caucasus, introduced to Britain by 1805. Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon sent seeds to Thomas Jefferson in 1812. The plant forms clumps 3-4’ high with large, thistle-like flowers in early summer. Its chestnut-brown buds open to expose a crown of rich yellow florets.

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Garden to Table -

 At Market with the Fruit Seller by Louise Moillon (1610–1696)    Detail

Garden to Table - Home-Made Daisy Wine

 

John Greenwood (American artist, 1727-1792) Sea Captains Carousing, 1758.  Detail

Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines Cordials & Liqueurs 1909 by Helen S. Wright

DAISY WINE
One quart of daisy heads, one quart of cold water. Let stand forty-eight hours. Strain and add three-quarters pound of sugar to each quart of liquid. Let stand about two weeks, or till it stops fermenting. Strain again and bottle. It improves with keeping.

Old-Time Recipes for Home Made Wines is a cookbook for those who want to make their own wines & liqueurs from available ingredients, including fruits, flowers, vegetables, & shrubs from local gardens, farms, & orchards. It includes ingredients & instructions for making & fermenting spirits, from wine & ale to sherry, brandy, cordials, & even beer. 

Colonial Era Cookbooks

1615, New Booke of Cookerie, John Murrell (London) 

1798, American Cookery, Amelia Simmons (Hartford, CT)

1803, Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter (New York, NY)

1807, A New System of Domestic Cookery, Maria Eliza Rundell (Boston, MA)

1808, New England Cookery, Lucy Emerson (Montpelier, VT)

Helpful Secondary Sources

America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking/Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Colonial Kitchens, Their Furnishings, and Their Gardens/Frances Phipps Hawthorn; 1972

Early American Beverages/John Hull Brown   Rutland, Vt., C. E. Tuttle Co 1996 

Early American Herb Recipes/Alice Cooke Brown  ABC-CLIO  Westport, United States

Food in Colonial and Federal America/Sandra L. Oliver

Home Life in Colonial Days/Alice Morse Earle (Chapter VII: Meat and Drink) New York : Macmillan Co., ©1926.

A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America/James E. McWilliams New York : Columbia University Press, 2005.

Plants in Early American Gardens - English Daisy

English Daisy (Bellis perennis)

English Daisy was well-established as a garden flower in America by 1700, and was known by a number of common names, including Bone Flower, Herb Margaret, and Measure of Love. Thomas Jefferson listed it for planting with other hardy perennials at Monticello in 1771. This cool-season, short-lived perennial bears small double daisies in shades of red, pink, and white and prefers cool, moist soil.

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South Carolina - Plantation of Richmond, Seat of Edward Rutledge in St. John's Parish.

Charles Fraser (1782-1860) 1803 Richmond, the Seat of Edward Rutledge in St. John's Parish. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

The Richmond house stood on a hill overlooking the Eastern branch of the Cooper River. It had belonged to Colonel John Harleston, one of the oldest Cooper River families. From him it had passed to his daughter Jane Smith Harleston, the wife of Edward Rutledge, whom she married in 1794. The house at Richmond is one of the most typical Low Country plantation houses sketched by Fraser. The high foundation of masonry, the two stories of wood, the high hipped roof, the single piazza with its wide brick stairway flanked by ramps of the same material that flare out at the ground into cylindrical newels-all these repeat themselves endlessly through the Low Country, with only minor local variations.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Butterfly Weed

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

A magnet for butterflies and other pollinators, Butterfly Weed is a North American perennial valued for its summer flowers in brilliant shades of orange to red. Also called Pleurisy Root in reference to its historic use in treating lung ailments, Thomas Jefferson included this species in a list of native medicinal plants in his book, Notes on the State of Virginia (1780s).

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Garden to Table -

Adriaan de Lelie (1755-1820) In the Kitchen preparing Fish and Garden Vegetables    Detail

Plants in Early American Gardens - Double Columbine

Double Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris plena)

Double Columbines in mixed colors were listed for sale in 1804 by Bernard McMahon, the Philadelphia nurseryman who supplied Thomas Jefferson with many plants for Monticello. Various forms and colors of European Columbine were being grown in America by 1700, and doubles were considered the most desirable. This short-lived but self-seeding perennial with flowers of blue, pink, purple, or white will thrive in fertile, cool soils.

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South Carolina - View of Richmond

Another View of Richmond.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Nora Barlow Columbine

Nora Barlow Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris cv.)

Nora Barlow Columbine, a modern name honoring Charles Darwin’s granddaughter, is in fact an old, unusual type of double-flowered, short-spurred columbine known as far back as the 16th century. This short-lived but self-seeding perennial with rose-pink, green-tinged flowers will thrive in fertile, cool soils.

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\\\ South Carolina - 1769 Charleston Poetic Description

1773 Charleston, South Carolina. Library of Congress

Early views of Charleston do not portray the genteel town of our imaginations.

Charles-town 1769.
Black and white all mix’d together,
Inconstant, strange, unhealthful weather
Burning heat and chilling cold
Dangerous both to young and old
Boisterous winds and heavy rains
Fevers and rheumatic pains
Agues plenty without doubt
Sores, boils, the prickling heat and gout
Musquitos on the skin make blotches
Centipedes and large cock-roaches
Frightful creatures in the waters
Porpoises, sharks and alligators
Houses built on barren land
No lamps or lights, but streets of sand
Pleasant walks, if you can find ’em
Scandalous tongues, if any mind ’em
The markets dear and little money
Large potatoes, sweet as honey
Water bad, past all drinking
Men and women without thinking
Every thing at a high price
But rum, hominy and rice
Many a widow not unwilling
Many a beau not worth a shilling
Many a bargain, if you strike it,
This is Charles-town, how do you like it.

This poem was written by a Captain Martin, captain of a British warship, a Man of War.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Early Blood Turnip-rooted Beet

Early Blood Turnip-rooted Beet (Beta vulgaris cv.)

Thomas Jefferson regularly planted Red, Scarlet, and White beets in the Monticello vegetable garden. Early Blood Turnip-rooted Beet was introduced c. 1820; in Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1863), Fearing Burr noted its deep blood-red, “remarkably sweet and tender” flesh, its rapid growth, and popularity among market-gardeners. This variety bears edible, dark leaves with bright red stems, and stores well for winter use.

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South Carolina - South View of Fort Mechanic Charleston, July 4, 1796.

South View of Fort Mechanic Charleston, July 4, 1796.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Eastern Red Columbine

Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

Thomas Mann Randolph, Jefferson's son-in-law, observed this perennial wildflower blooming on April 30, 1791, at Monticello.The Eastern Red Columbine's pendulous yellow and red flowers are quite attractive. John Tradescant, a 17th century English plant explorer, introduced this species into European gardens.

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South Carolina - Rice Hope Plantation from One of the Rice Fields

c 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Detail of Settee on a Hill at Rice Hope Plantation from One of the Rice Fields. South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Read had been a Surgeon in the Continental Line during the Revolution. The name Rice Hope was one of the many such hopeful combinations; there were also a Silk Hope, a Salt Hope amp; a Brick Hope near the Cooper River.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Sunset Hibiscus

Sunset Hibiscus (Abelmoschus manihot)

Sunset Hibiscus was introduced into Europe from East India by 1712 and listed by Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon in his 1806 American Gardener's Calendar. This herbaceous temperennial (often grown as an annual) is related to Okra, and bears large, showy, pale yellow blossoms in summer and striking, deeply-lobed, edible leaves. The plants often self-sow, and are not attractive to deer.

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South Carolina - Birdseye View of 17956 Charleston

1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View from Mr. Fraser’s City Residence from untitled sketchbook, The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. Apparently Fraser lived on King Street with his widowed mother.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Italian Parsley

Italian Parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. neapolitanum)

Thomas Jefferson grew the plain-leaf or Italian Parsley as early as 1774 and listed it as Common Parsley in his vegetable garden calendar. This flat-leaf type is considered more flavorful than the curled form also planted by Jefferson. Parsley can be grown as an annual or biennial; if allowed to flower in its second year, parsley will attract butterflies and other beneficial insects.

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South Carolina - Gatehouse

Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Money Plant

Money Plant (Lunaria annua)

Money Plant, or Honesty, is a self-seeding biennial named for its showiest feature--its 2-foot stalks of silvery, coin-shaped seedpods, which are attractive in dried arrangements. It was among the first European flowers grown in American gardens, and was valued for its seedpods and edible roots. Seeing the small purple flowers on April 25, 1767, Jefferson remarked, "Lunaria still in bloom, an indifferent flower."

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South Carolina - Haystack, Horse, & Cart in the Field

Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

The watercolors of Charles Fraser allow us feel the South Carolina landscape around us as we learn how it was being groomed & planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Fraser, we have a chance to see, through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he was growing up. Although he was primarily known his miniature portraits, he also created watercolors of historical sites, homes, & landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in Charleston.

Plants in Early American Gardens - White Foxglove

White Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea 'Alba')

White Foxglove, a showy biennial bearing spires of white tubular flowers in late spring and early summer, was grown by Williamsburg’s John Custis in 1735. Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon listed both the pink and white forms in his 1804 broadsheet. Deer-resistant due to toxicity.

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Plants in Early American Gardens - Foxglove

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Foxglove, a showy biennial bearing spires of deep pink tubular flowers in late spring and early summer, was grown in American gardens by 1735, and likely became more common after its medicinal properties were discovered in the late 18th century. Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon listed both the pink and white forms in his 1804 broadsheet. Deer-resistant.

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Gardens Display Economic & Cultural Ambitions - Enlightenment...

Gardening for Enlightenment

The end of the 18th century saw increased social stability in the colonies & a climax of a revolution in science, associated with Sir Isaac Newton, that resulted in fundamental changes in man’s attitude toward the world about him. For the enlightened Chesapeake gardener, the garden nourished mind & spirit as well as body. The American pleasure garden became a visual expedient, combining the religious Eden myth with an evolving set of social & political goals, espoused by, among others, Thomas Jefferson & later by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur.

These religious & social concepts coincided with revolutionary new ideas about human beings’ conceptual processes that were shaped by John Locke & Joseph Addison. In the 18th century, Locke was interpreted to believe that visual images, such as those of the garden, were the primary conduit through which humans gained knowledge of external reality.

Joseph Addison 1672-1719 wrote of a spectrum of modes of perception, with the gross sensual pleasures at one pole & pure intellect at the other. The garden was an ideal illustration of Addison’s conceptual theory; because it appealed to all of the senses of the human animal, who tended to submerge these instincts, as he became more cerebral. The goal was some balance of the two. Addison stated, “We find the works of nature still more pleasant, the more they resemble those of art.” Nature & the garden were vehicles to sharpen both intellect & spirit. Just after reading Addison’s works, one Chesapeake gentleman wrote to a friend, “The imagination acts intuitively; it seizes at once the sublimest parts as the eye catches objects. Nature, Hills, rocks, woods, precipices, water-falls rush upon the mind.”

Later, Crevecoeur saw the virgin American land filling Everyman’s mind with irresistible aspirations, but he too believed that pure nature was not as inspiring as improved nature. Landscape should be ordered by humans, a collaboration of human vision & toil plus nature’s spontaneous process. “This formerly rude soil has been converted by my father into a pleasant farm,” he wrote, “and in return it has established all our rights.” Crevecoeur saw a direct relationship between ordering the land & gaining political freedom. He theorized that people, like plants, derived their “flavor” from the soil, & he declared that America’s soil was still pure. Crevecoeur believed that in America, with its newly emerging institutions, the relationship between people & the external environment they shaped around them was extremely important.

In his Notes on Virginia, Jefferson stated that the physical attributes of the land were less important than its metaphoric powers. The land was an image in the mind of the new American citizen, representing aesthetic, political, & religious values. In Notes, Jefferson wrote, "Cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independant citizens." In the 18th century, the garden was seen by many as an important visual determinant in the actions & responses of people.

Even a clockmaker-innkeeper was aware of the impact of these ideas on his life in the newly emerging nation; among the names William Faris gave the tulips he cultivated were “Sir Isaac Newton,” “The Spectator,” “Jefferson” & “The Farmer.”

Literate citizens of the new nation were looking to the Italian Renaissance & its classical antecedents for artistic & scientific knowledge, as well as for guidance in establishing their new republic. The 1783 catalogue of the circulating library in Annapolis & the 1796 catalogue of the Library Company of Baltimore offered their patrons Renaissance authors, such as Palladio, & their classical predecessors: Virgil, Horace, Pliny, & Columella. Columella believed that agriculture & gardening were “sister to wisdom.”

Plants in Early American Gardens - Sweet William

 Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus)

Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus)

Thomas Jefferson observed "sweet William began to open" at Shadwell on April 16, 1767, reported flowers in May and June of 1782, and also planted this biennial in an oval flower bed at Monticello in 1807. Sweet William is often associated with early American gardens and continues to be cherished for its large clusters of red, pink, and white blooms.

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