Plants in Early American Gardens - Climbing Hydrangea

Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris)

The Bavarian physician-botanist Philipp von Siebold brought this magnificent hydrangea from Japan in 1862. It was introduced into London’s Kew Gardens by Max Leichtlin in 1878 and the first specimens in American gardens were introduced through the Arnold Arboretum in Boston during the late 19th century. 

Schizophragma hydrangeoides is a related woody vine, also from Japan, that is often confused with the true climbing hydrangea. Both are showy, vigorous, and considered garden classics.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Pots for the Plants

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Flower Pot with Chives

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been preparing the pots of plants we brought into the sunroom for the winter, to return to the outdoors. A tradition centuries old. We don't have a greenhouse on our property, but there were several greenhouses in colonial and early America.
Robert Lewis Reid (American painter, 1862-1929) The Old Gardener 1920

Claude Monet (1840-1926) Three Pots of Tulips 1882

Rembrandt Peale (American painter, 1778-1860) Portrait of the Artist's Brother Rubens Peale with Geranium 1801.

Garden Structures & Ornaments - The Perfect Food for Doves with Just a Little Alcohol

Valuable Secrets Concerning Arts and Trades. Published by Will Hay, London. 1775

To preserve and multiply pigeons. In a large dovecote, prepare the following food, which will induce your pigeons to love their cote, and also to bring you a great many strangers when they go abroad. 

Take thirty pounds of millet, three of cumin, five of honey, half a pound of bishop's wort, otherwise coflus, two pounds of agnus cajlus's seed, which boil in river water to the total evaporation of the last. Then in its stead pour a gallon and a half, or two gallons of red Port, with about eight pounds of old mortar well pulverised, which set on the fire again for about half an hour to concoct.

Thus all those ingredients will harden and form a lump, which, if placed in the middle of the dovecote, will in a short time amply reward you for your expense.

Emile Munier (French Academic Painter, 1840-1895) Young Doves Coo 1891

Plants in Early American Gardens - Variegated Sweet Iris

Variegated Sweet Iris (Iris pallida 'Variegata')

The Variegated Sweet or Zebra Iris belongs to an ancient group that was the ancestor to our modern Tall Bearded Iris. Although it is not certain when the variegated form arose, the species types date to the seventeenth century and were cultivated by the earliest settlers in America. They are tough, deer resistant, drought tolerant, long-lived and resistant to borers and disease.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Primary Source - Tho Jefferson (1743-1824) on Farming & Gardening

In 1781, Thomas Jefferson wrote,

"Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth."

Thomas Jefferson
















.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Sword-leaf Phlox

Sword-leaf Phlox (Phlox buckleyi)

Native to Virginia and West Virginia, this low-growing phlox was named for Samuel B. Buckley, who found it growing wild near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in the early 1800s. 

P. buckleyi was not introduced into gardens until botanist and mineralogist Edgar T. Wherry named it in 1930. Wherry, an expert on ferns and president of the American Fern Society from 1934-39, also wrote The Genus Phlox (1955). Sword-leaf phlox is a tough, evergreen perennial with small yet showy flowers that attract butterflies.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Nurseryman - Patrick Barry - 1816-1890

Patrick Barry–(1816-1890)–Rochester, New York–

Barry was born near Belfast, Ireland in 1816 and was a teacher in Ireland, but at 21 years old he went to seek his fortune in America. He arrived in New York in May 1836 and worked with William Prince and Sons, proprietors of the Linnaean Nursery, Flushing, NY. There Barry got a solid foundation in American horticulture.

In the summer of 1840 he negotiated a partnership with George Ellwanger in Rochester, NY. Ellwanger & Barry were the proprietors of the Mount Hope Nurseries. In 1842 Barry wrote an article on “Horticulture in Western New York,” in which he criticized the refusal of the judges at the State Agricultural Society Fair of 1842 to award fruit prizes. In 1844 Barry took the post of editor of the Horticultural Department of the Genesee Farmer and continued there for eight years.

In 1847 Barry journeyed through Europe, visiting all the leading nurserymen and studied their methods for pruning. Shortly after his return he started writing The Fruit Garden that was published in 1851. In 1849, Barry gave the annual meeting address to the Genesee Valley Horticultural Society that met at the Monroe County Agricultural Society’s fair.

Barry was editor of The Horticulturist for 1853 and 1854. He was president of the Western New York Horticultural Society for more than thirty years; president of the New York Agricultural Society; president of the Rochester City & Mechanics Savings Bank; Rochester Gas Co.; and Powers Hotel Co. In 1877 he served as the president of the State Agricultural Society. He died June 23, 1890.

Information from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries research.
.