Unusual history painting of Geo Washington at Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia

Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (American painter, 1863-1930, American) George Washington at Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia

George Washington wrote on June 10, 1787 "Sunday 10th. Breakfasted by agreement at Mr. Powell’s, and in Company with him rid to see the Botanical garden of Mr. Bartram; which, tho’ Stored with many curious plts. Shrubs & trees, many of which are exotics was not laid off with much taste, nor was it large." (Samuel Powell owned land across the Schuylkill River southwest of Philadelphia. The Bartrams, owned a well-known botanical garden on the west bank of the Schuylkill River 3 miles southwest of Philadelphia. )  Washington rode out once again to William Bartram’s botanical garden “and other places in the Country” on Sunday, 2 Sept. 1787 (Diaries, 5:183).

William Bartram (1739–1823) operated a botanical garden with his brother John, Jr. (1743–1812), on the west bank of the Schuylkill 3 miles from Philadelphia. The establishment was still called John Bartram & Sons, although it had passed into the hands of the sons upon the death of its founder, John Bartram (1699–1777). William’s reputation as a traveler-naturalist was enhanced by the publication in 1791 of his Travels through North and South Carolina. Washington was a subscriber to the book but declined a request that it be dedicated to him. On 2 Oct. 1789, Washington sent word to Clement Biddle, his agent in Philadelphia, that he wanted the Bartrams’ list of plants plus a note about the care of each kind (Washington-Biddle correspondence). In March 1792, Washington obtained plants of 106 varieties, the surviving list bearing the heading “Catalogue of Trees, Shrubs & Plants, of Jno. Bartram." These plants were sent to George Augustine Washington, Washington's manager at Mount Vernon, and a second shipment was sent down in November to replace the plants that had not flourished. 

The Family Yard

John Beale Bordley (1726/27-1804).  Essays & Notes on Husbandry & Rural Affairs. Printed by Budd and Bartram, for Thomas Dobson, at the stone house, no 41, South Second Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1799

The Family Yard

The Family-yard, is a barrier against farm-yard intrusions. It is covered with a clean, close yard of spire grass. Its margin alone may be admitted to grow flowers. It is fenced by a sunk fence; on the top whereof may be, if necessary, alow, light palisade; which with the bank may be hid by rose trees planted in the ditch, which is to slope gently up towards the mansion. The white rose bush or tree is the hardiest and handsomest fort, and something the tallest.
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Plants in Early American Gardens - Tom Thumb Pea

Tom Thumb Pea (Pisum sativum cv.)

As the name indicates, Tom Thumb Pea is small in stature, reaching only 8” – 10” tall. Grown in the United States since the mid-19th century, this pea does not require staking and is perfect for container gardening. Fearing Burr, in Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1863), wrote that the Tom Thumb Pea “is early, of good quality, and, the height of the plant considered, yields abundantly.”

For more information & the possible availability for purchase
Contact The Tho Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or The Shop at Monticello 

Plants in Early American Gardens - Yellow Arikara Bean

Yellow Arikara Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv.)

Arikara Beans were named for the Dakota Arikara tribe encountered by Lewis and Clark during their “Voyage of Discovery.” Dried Arikara beans helped sustain the members of the Expedition through the arduous Fort Mandan winter of 1805. They were known as “Ricara” beans to Thomas Jefferson, who was likely the first to grow them in eastern North America. He wrote that it “is one of the most excellent we have had: I have cultivated them plentifully for the table two years.” Native Americans developed this bush bean variety to produce in the short growing season of the northern plains and Jefferson referred to them as “forward” because they bore as early as July 1 in 1809.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

Landscape Design - The classical Quincunx in Early American gardens

The Quincunx 

The ever practical Charles Carroll of Annapolis, one of the richest men in the British American colonies, advised his son to plant the flat beds on his terraces in the classical quincunx style. With this form, Carroll could present an ordered, ancient design and by planting privet instead of boxwood, the planter could plant practical vegetables in his elegant design. In 1777, Carroll gave his son privet rather than boxwood to outline his new garden beds & advised him to keep the privet trimmed to a small size, “not to Exceed 12 inches in Width.” Carroll did not want the privet roots to interfere with the smaller vegetables he planned to grow in the beds each season.

Joan Carlile or Carlell (English portrait painter, 1600–1679), Sir Thomas Browne

A quincunx is a geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged with 4 of them forming a square or rectangle and a 5th at its center. The English alchemist/physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) in his 1658 philosophical discourse The Garden of Cyrus: The Quincunciall, Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, naturally, artificially, mystically considered, elaborates on the quincunx pattern in art, nature, religionas evidence of "the wisdom of God. Browne claimed that the Persian King Cyrus was the first to plant trees in a quincunx. He also claimed to have discovered, that the form also appeared in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Browne saw the regularity of quincunx pattern as creating an orderly world out of nature. During Roman times this was an important concept. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the patterns used for planting medicinal or exotic plants. Seventeenth century English diarist John Evelyn also wrote in his 1664 Pomona, that the pattern was the best way to lay out apple and pear trees.

A quincunx pattern for an orchard.

On February 3, 1795, the newspaper Newport Mercury (in Newport, RI) advised planting trees in an orchard "in the quincunx manner." On December 24, 1800, the newspaper Universal Gazette (Washington (DC), explained planting trees, "a quincunx, or a square, at the distance of six to eight feet from each other."

Thomas Jefferson’s brother-in-law Henry Skipwith advised a young orchard gardener in 1813, to consult Virgil to learn about a “quincunx, which is nothing more than a square with a tree at each corner and one in the center and thus continued throughout the orchard.” Adopting conservative, classical forms was common in early Chesapeake gardens. Jefferson himself wrote, “I should prefer the adoption of some one of the models of antiquity which have had the approbation of thousands of years.”

Plants in Early American Gardens - Yellow Pear Tomato

Yellow Pear Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv.)

This very old tomato dates to at least the early 1600s. The indeterminate vine continues producing clusters of beautiful, 1-2 inch, pear-shaped, lemon to golden yellow fruits throughout the season. Like the red and yellow cherry and plum tomatoes, this variety was used by early Americans more for preserving and pickling. They are very popular today for salads as well.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

Garden Design - Commercial Work Yards

Work Yards -Tan Yard

Tanning was the process of converting skins of cows, goats, calves, sheep, hogs, sheep, and dogs into raw hides and eventually leather. Tanning was an Early American industry often located in the landscape on far edge of a village, because the smell of decaying animals and animal manure was strong in a good wind. The Massachusetts General Court, in 1640, recognized the importance of the industry, and passed a law punishing those who slaughtered cattle and neglected to save the hides to have them tanned.  By 1692, Connecticut tanners had to prove their tanning methods in county court to receive a license to practice tanning.

Layering animal hides in pits between sheets of tanbark was an integral part of the tannin process. Encyclopedia of Sciences, Arts and Trades, Diderot 1769

In 1641, George Burden and James Everell were granted permission by the selectmen of the city of Boston "to sink a pit to water their leather" located near a millpond. However, if the odor was too annoying to the town folk, the tanners would have to fill up their vat.
br /> By 1653, Coenraet Ten Eyck, a shoemaker and tanner set up his tan pits set up in marshy swamp known as the "Swamp" located on the west side of Broad Street above Beaver Street in New Amsterdam. Another shoemaker and tanner, Abel Hardenbrook built his tan pits nearby in 1661. But the tanners had to fill up their vats and move elsewhere in 1676. Governor Edmund Andros (1637-1714) was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its 3-year existence. In 1676, he appointed 2 tanners for New York City with the Bolting Act of 1676 which declared, "that no butcher be permitted to be currier, or shoemaker, or tanner; nor shall any tanner be either currier, shoemaker, or butcher, it being consonant to the laws of England."

The demand for leather was great in Early America. Leather was used for buckskin britches; aprons made for blacksmiths; tops of carriages, saddles, and harnesses; shoes, boots, gloves, caps; and shot pouches for flintlock ammunition.

Hanns Richter 1609 

One edition of the 1732 South Carolina Gazette noted a "tanyard" for sale in Dorcester. In 1733, a tan yard in Delaware appeared for sale in the Pennsylvania Gazette, "Sold or Let, A Dwelling House, Tan House and Tan Yard, in the Town of New Castle."

The South Carolina Gazette offered for sale in 1737, "a fine Tan yard."In 1748, the same newspaper offered an estate for sale consisting of, "Field Slaves, House Wenches, several good, shoe-makers and Tanners, with a Tan-yard, a parcel of Bark, Oyl, and a large Quantity of Hides."

Tanners needed a supply of skins; nearby trees for tanbark to make tannin; nearby ponds, creeks, rivers, and ocean coastlines. Tanneries used a great deal of water to wash and clean the animal hides. The tanning agent was different for parts of America - hemlock bark usually was used in the north and oak bark commonly was used in the middle and southern states.

Fur trader George Croghan, in Pennsboro, Pennsylvania in 1749, had a cluster of buildings along the Conondoguinit Creek. One of the buildings was a shop for tanning furs and another shop for storing the furs, until a wagon load could be shipped to the hatters and feltmakers of Philadelphia. A deed found 8 years after Croghan left Pennsylvania mentioned "houses, barns, stables, outhouses, edifices, buildings, tanyards, tan vatts, lime pitts, garden and other improvements."

Another ad in the South-Carolina Gazette on June 10, 1751, offered, "One tract of land, about 30 acres, in St. Andrew's-town at Ashley-Ferry, with a good dwelling-house, out-houses and garden, hath been a tan yard,and stands very convenient for that and a shoemaker."

In Pennsylvania near Eastown, Chester County a large was owned by Captain Isaac Wayne who was "a man of great industry and enterprise." It was an extensive tannery which produced considerable profit for a number of years. Upon Isaac's death in 1774, his son Anthony Wayne. the Revolutionary General, ran the business.

One New England tanner kept a journal for 65 years. Farmer Samuel Lane 1718-1806 of Stratham, N.H. began tanning at the age of 9, when he learned shoemaking from his father. On his farm, he grew "Corn, Wheat, Rye Grass, Hay, Wool, flax, Cider, apples, Pumpkins, Potatoes, Cabbages, turnips, Carrots, Beets peaches and other fruits." He listed his livestock as "Cattle, Sheep, Swine & other Creatures." And he liked to drink Milk, "Tea...Rum, Wine, & Gin."
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June 16, 1741. My House was Raised. I Bro't Some Boards and Nails from Hampton wh I had Bo't there, and Clam Shells for Lime, Shingles &c to help build my House withal.

July 1, 1741. My Bark-House was Raised but not Covered til next year.

1741- I was pritty near out of Debt; but then I had worked up my Lether, and was pretty bare on't for Stock; but I work'd Some Lether for other People; & Some I Bo't &c. that I got along as well as I could. - and having taken some Hides this Winter, I wanted a Tanyard (Note. I have to tan this year 7 Hides which I hung up in my Chamber having no Barn) and last fall having made me a mean Water Pitt with Slabbs; I dare not put my hides in Soak Early, lest I should not get my Pitts ready timely for Liming: But the 8th of may 1742 I finished putting Down 2 Tanpits: and having no Bark-Mill, I carried my Bark that year, to Mr Jewets to grind, and hired his Mill and Horse to grind it, which is Costly.

June 1. 1742 Being out of Lether this Summer, I was obliged to take out my new Lether as Soon as possible this fall 1742 a little undertand.

Oct 13, 1742. I Rais'd my Shop, and finished it as fast as I Co'd against Winter. I tan 23 Hides & 24 Calfskins this year. 

Dec 6. 1742 Moved into my New Shop where I and my Wife lived Chiefly this Winter, to Save Wood. Note. this Shop Stood Against the West End of my House, at a Chimney of my House. Note. this Winter I having no Barn kept my Cow in my Bark-House. 

Apr 6, 1743. I Bo't a Barkstone of Saml Lovet of Hampton for 10-15-0 Delivered at my House.

June 1743. I put Down my Bark-Mill.

Oct 6, 1743 I Enter'd the 26th year of my Age. My principle Business is now my Trade; and the year 1732, I Tan'd 24 Hides & 18 Calfskins. Note. this year I hired an old England man to work wth me.

Oct 6, 1744. I Enter'd the 27th year of my Age. I Tan'd 18 Hides & 40 Skins this year.

Oct 6, 1745. I Enter'd ye 28th year of my Age in 1745, I Taned 15 Hides and about 50 Skins. 

1746. I Taned 35 Hides and about 47 Calfskins.

Oct 6, 1747. I Enter'd the 30th year of my Age. this year I Taned 37 Hides and 63 Calfskins. 

Oct 6, 1748. I Enter'd ye 31st year of my Age. this year I Taned 26 Hides and 55 Halfskins. 

Oct 6, 1749. I Enter'd ye 32d year of my Age. this year I tan 38 Hides and 83 Calfskins.

Oct 1. [1750] Note. in 1749, by reason of the great Drought and Multitude of Cattle were killed and Hides fell again to 16d and so continued till about 1755, and those that run of the price lost by it.

Oct 6, 1750. I Enter'd ye 33rd year of my Age. this year I tan 55 Hides (&Sold Br Jno 3) and 36 Skins.

Oct 3. 1751 about these years I measure abundance of Land. This year I Bo't a Right in Barnstead of my Br Wm. Note. Many people Several years past run up the price of Hides to 2s pr lb & Some more: after which Lether fell, and their Stock after it was tan't would not fetch hardly so much as they gave for the Hides.

Oct 6, 1751. I Enter'd the 34th year of my Age. this year I tan 28 Hides and 66 Skins.

Oct 17th, 1752. I Enter'd the 35th year of my Age. this year I tan 22 Hides and 75 Skins.

Oct 17, 1753. I Enter'd ye 36th year of my Age. this year I tan 25 Hides and 70 Skins.

Oct 17, 1754. I Enter'd ye 37th year of my Age. this year I tan 27 Hides 80 Calfskins & 63 Sheepskins. 

Oct 17, 1755. I Enter'd ye 38th year of my Age. this year I Tan 38 Hides & 102 Calfskins.

Oct 17, 1756. I Enter'd the 39th year of my Age this year I Tan 49 Hides & 106 Calfskins. 

Oct 17, 1757. I Enter'd the 40th year of my Age. this year I Tan 43 1/2 Hides and 140 Calfskins.

Oct 17, 1758. I Enter'd the 41st year of my Age. this year I Tan 57 Hides and 140 Calfskins, which is the Most that ever I Taned in a year.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Swiss Chard "Mixed Colors"

Swiss Chard "Mixed Colors" (Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla)

On April 30, 1774, Jefferson sowed “white beet,” another name for leaf-beet or Swiss Chard. While Jefferson’s variety was most likely a green leaf with white ribs, leaf-beet has long been known to come in "many and variable colours," as noted by herbalist John Gerard in 1596. This packet contains an edible and ornamental mix of white, scarlet, and yellow-ribbed varieties.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

Garden Labor - Who was William Byrd's Virginia gardener?

Tracing William Byrd II's gardener "Tom" in the records of Westover & Williamsburg, seems to point to Thomas Creas (c 1662-1757) as one of the earliest professional gardeners in Virginia.

In Virginia early in the 18C, a succession of professional gardeners, who were not serving under an indenture, worked at institutions of the royal government in Williamsburg, including the Governor’s Palace & the College of William & Mary. Some of these professional gardeners held pristine credentials. James Road, an assistant to George London, Royal Gardener to King William & Queen Mary, was sent to Virginia in 1694, to collect plants for shipment back to Hampton Court Palace. He also probably to laid out the earliest gardens at the new college in Williamsburg. London had served as a gardener at Versailles & had traveled to Holland to study their smaller flower gardens, as well.

It is possible that James Road's supervising gardener George London (1681-1714) actually drew up the plans for the gardens at the College of William & Mary. Virginia planter John Walker wrote to John Evelyn in 1694. He received a reply to his particular query in May of 1694, in which Eveyln wrote, "Mr. London (his Majs Gardner here) who has an ingenious Servant of his, in Virginia, not unknown I presume to you by this time; being sent thither on purpose to make & plant the Garden, designed for the new Colledge, newly built in yr Country." The servant was London's assistant at Hampton Court, James Road.

The College, which was formally established by Royal Charter in 1693, began as a 330-acre tract of land purchased from Col. Thomas Ballard. William & Mary's 1st chancellor was Henry Compton, bishop of London. He was a serious gardener & horticulturalist who helped train George London to become a gardener.

Upon James Road's return to London, he was followed by gardener Richard Hickman. Soon after Hickman's appointment, the records indicate that Thomas Creas or Crease (c 1662-1757) was paid to assist Hickman in getting the gardens in order. After that, only Crease's name was associated with the ongoing management of the gardens at the Governor’s Palace for an unusually long tenure, from 1726, until he died in 1756.

It is unclear whether Creas was born, & perhaps trained, in the England. Some report that Thomas Creas was the head gardener at the Governor's Palace during the administration of Alexander Sportswood who served from 1710-1722. Others speculate that Creas came over from England with Governor Hugh Drysdale in 1722. Drysdale was the 1st Governor to occupy the new Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, from 1722-1726.

Others suggest that Crease may have begun his gardening work at Westover, the home of William Byrd II. Byrd calls his gardener Tom in his early journals & refers to a gardener "Tom Cross" in 1720. The same "Tom Cross" carried at least one letter from Byrd's Williamsburg brother-in-law John Custis during one of his visits to Westover.  Byrd, Custis, & Tom Cross/Creas were all accomplished gardeners.

Two years before his appearance in the Governor's Palace records, in 1724, Creas was identified as a "gardener of Williamsburg, married & owning a half acre lot." His house was on the land now supporting the "Taliaferro-Cole" house.  The earliest record relating to this property appears in a deed of trust, December 15, 1724, in which deed the lot number, 352, is noted & the owner's name, Thomas Creas:
December 15, 1724. Creas, Thomas - Gardener
Mary, his wife
to
Keith, William
Ferguson, Patrick
Consideration: 5 shillings All that messuage or dwelling house wherein the said Thomas Creas, & Mary, his said wife, now live & all that lot or half acre of land described in the plot of the said city by the figures 352, situate, lying & being in the city of Williamsburg, & all kitchens, stables thereto belonging. (York County Records, Deeds, Bonds, III, p. 439.) The above deed of trust was acknowledged on January 18, 1724/5.

In a lease given by John Custis to James Spiers, joyner & cabinetmaker, on October 26, 1744, a lot is described as "one lot of ground, with the houses & garden thereunto belonging, it being the house next to Thomas Craze's..." 

According to York County, Virginia, records Creas married the widow of Gabriel Maupin, Marie Hersent, in 1724. Gabriel Maupin, his wife Marie, & family had sailed to the Huguenot settlement at Manakintown, in Virginia, in 1699-1700, after passing through the Spittalsfield (now Bethnell Green) "suburb" of London in the late 1690s.

Gabriel had operated a tavern in Williamsburg from 1714-1718. After her husband died, Marie ran the tavern from 1719-1723. When she married Creas in 1724, they operated the tavern together. Marie, born in France, died in Williamsburg in 1748.

Creas began to be "paid for his Service & labourerers in assisting in putting in order the Gardens belonging to the Governor's house" in 1726. He also was "Gardener to the College, in Williamsburg."

In addition to operating a tavern in Williamsburg, Thomas Creas supplemented his income by selling plants. In January 1737/38, he placed an ad in the Virginia Gazette (Virginia Gazette, Parks, ed.), "Gentlemen & others, may be supply'd with good Garden Pease, Beans & several other sorts Flower Roots; likewise Trees of several sorts & sizes, fit to plant, as ornaments in Gentlemen's gardens...Thomas Crease--Gardener to the College in Williamsburg." 

On May 9, 1739, Crease placed another ad in the Virginia Gazette, May 4, 1739, "Notice is hereby given, That the Subscriber, Now living in Williamsburg, designs to leave this Colony, in order to go to Great-Britain ——. It is therefore desired of all Persons who are indebted to him, to come to his Shop, or to the House of Mr. Thomas Crase, in Williamsburg, & pay their just Debts Hugh Orr" 

When Creas died in 1756, his estate was valued at 166.4.3 pounds, & he owned 6 slaves according to his January 1757 inventory. His will, which was proved in York County on January 17, 1757, named a brother Thomas Hornsby & his wife Margaret, & friend Hugh Orr & Catherine, his wife. In his will, dated February 26, 1756, & probated January 17, 1757, Thomas Creas, gardener, living in Williamsburg, appointed Thomas Hornsby, his brother, & Hugh Orr executors. (York County Records, Wills, Inventories, Book 20, p. 414.)

Plants in Early American Gardens - Rouge Demi-Longue de Chantenay Carrot

Rouge Demi-Longue de Chantenay Carrot (Daucus carota cv.)

This popular heirloom variety was said to have developed in France in 1829, but it more likely occurred in the late 19th century. The tender roots of the Rouge Demi-Longue de Chantenay Carrot are a beautiful deep orange and have an exquisite flavor. Also called Red-Cored Chantenay for the brilliant scarlet color of its core, it is considered superb for canning, freezing, or eating fresh.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

History Blooms at Monticello

When we were young, my husband and I bought an established 500 tree apple orchard near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Patrick County, Virginia.  It surprised us that our 1st harvest brought locals to our land to buy our sort of ugly Pippins. Our "flat-lander" customers seldom took a 2nd look at our weird pippins. Those orchard neighbors spoke lovingly of saving their pippins until Springtime to cook & eat.  We saved ours until Spring & instantly understood the complexity & allure of those pippins.

The Albemarle pippin, a true American heirloom beloved by royals, statesmen, farmers and chefs.   By Kristen Hartke November 2 Washington Post

"The apple is, perhaps, the most democratic of fruits. Dependable and solid, a perfect blend of sweet and tart, equally tasty whether eaten raw, baked into a cake or pressed into cider.  Of course, nothing could be more American than apple pie, but a robust apple from Virginia called the Albemarle pippin once made even a young Queen Victoria swoon.

"If there is one piece of fruit that seems to have captured the fancies of statesmen, farmers, chefs, and, yes, royalty, since Colonial times, it’s the Albemarle pippin, a green apple with russet shoulders that began its journey in — where else? — the Big Apple.

“It’s a true American apple,” says horticulturist Grace Elton, CEO of Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Mass., which grows 119 varieties of pre-20th-century heirloom apples.

"Originally grown in the Elmhurst area of Queens, the Newtown pippin was already a favorite in the American colonies, a citrusy green apple that improved in flavor while being stored during the long winter.

"But when cuttings were taken to central Virginia in the 1750s by Thomas Jefferson’s guardian, Thomas Walker, the Southern climate seemed to really agree with the Northern apple. A new and improved version of the Newtown pippin emerged, eventually named for its home in Albemarle County, Va.

“It took on a different appearance and taste,” says Diane Burns, a horticulturist at Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards just outside Charlottesville. “Our soil is different from New York, along with the climate and elevation. The Newtown was already a good apple, but growing it in the Piedmont region made it even better.”

"Make no mistake, the Albemarle and the Newton pippin are basically regional versions of the same apple (also known as the yellow pippin or yellow Newtown), but it was a canny Virginia statesman, Andrew Stevenson, who handily boosted his home state’s economy by presenting a teenage Queen Victoria with a gift of the Albemarle variety from his family’s orchards. According to “Old Southern Apples” by Creighton Lee Calhoun, Victoria became so besotted with the fruit that she went as far as to lift the high tariff on the Albemarle pippin so that her subjects could munch on them to their heart’s delight — if they could afford them. The Virginia apple eventually became so popular that it commanded triple the price of other apples for sale in England, becoming, arguably, the most coveted apple in the world. The tariff wasn’t reinstated for nearly a century...

"And if you’ve never heard of — or eaten — the Albemarle pippin, it may be primarily because of one factor: By modern standards of uniformity and perfection, it ain’t pretty. Often pockmarked and misshapen, many heirloom varieties have fallen out of favor over the past several decades, while more attractive and disease-resistant apples have captured the marketplace...

“Today’s apples are bred for perfection, but they are just sweet apples,” says Burns. “These older varieties may not be so sweet or look as nice, but they have a great flavor, a bit more tart and full-bodied. You have to look past the pockmarks on the skin.”

"When Burns started growing fresh produce for the kitchens at Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards in 2016, she knew she wanted to cultivate the Albemarle pippin, establishing what she calls a “boutique orchard” with just a handful of trees. She became familiar with the variety while working several years earlier at Jefferson’s home, Monticello, where the apple has been cultivated since 1769.

"For Pippin Hill executive chef Ian Rynecki, who joined in 2017, it was a chance to really explore the flavor profile of an apple that had caught his eye in the past.  “I had seen it maybe three times at farmers markets in New York,” says Rynecki. “From a culinary standpoint, it primarily lends itself to being a dessert apple. It has firm flesh, a lot of complexity to it, not just a sweet or tart apple...It’s funny to describe an apple as having a finish to it, as you would describe a wine,” says Rynecki, “but some of these heirloom varieties really reward you with their complexity.”

"James Beard Award-winning author Rowan Jacobsen’s exhaustive compendium, “Apples of Uncommon Character ,” refers to the Albemarle and Newtown pippin as “somewhat sugary and very acid, with a bracing, lemony flavor and a green-tea note from the skin.  Like a fine wine, it needs to breathe for a while before its aromas open up.”

"Key is allowing the apple to cure. “When you first harvest the Albemarle pippin in the fall, it’s not a wonderful flavor,” says Peggy Cornett, curator of plants at Monticello, “but if you keep it in a storage cellar or your refrigerator, it has a marvelous flavor by late winter and spring.”

Gardens in New World found at Jamestown

"Archaeologists at Historic Jamestowne found 10 dark planting furrows extending eastward from the original 1607 James Fort and dating to the first months of the settlement.

About a foot and a half wide and spaced evenly apart, the shallow features are the earliest evidence of English planting found in the New World. This work was described by John Smith in 1607 as:
"What toile wee had, with so smal a power to guard our workmen adaies, watch al night, resist our enimies and effect our businesse, to relade the ships, cut downe trees, and prepare the ground to plant our corne, etc."

Smith's account and this newly-discovered archaeological evidence both reinforce the specific instructions the Virginia Company gave the first settlers: to divide the group into thirds, with one third building a fort and others to "prepar[e] your ground and sow . . . your corn and roots; . . ."

Archaeologists confirmed the early nature of the furrows by finding that a 1608 wall line trench cut through the furrow marks, demonstrating that the planting rows predate the 1608 palisade. The furrows discovered this summer seem to match furrows uncovered by the Jamestown Rediscovery team about a decade ago just outside the southeast bulwark of James Fort. All the furrows together would amount to about half an acre of planting.

"This isn't the way they would have planted if they were in England with draft animals. This is the beginnings of New World agriculture, taking a hoe and digging a ditch," said Jamestown Rediscovery senior staff archaeologist David Givens.

There is some question what the English meant when they wrote that they planted "corn." Bly Straube, senior archaeological curator for the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, said "corn" to the English meant grain (wheat, barley, oats), and they had brought seeds of English grains with them to plant because the Virginia Company was curious as to how well English crops would do in the New World.

And the garden area may have included some tropical plants. Colonist Gabriel Archer (who was back in England in 1608) talked about how they brought pineapple from the West Indies, which was "set in our mould, which fostereth it and keeps it green," according to Straube. Archer said other West Indian plants also did well: orange, cotton trees, potatoes, pumpkins and melons. "All our garden seeds that were carefully sown prosper well, yet we only digged the ground half a ____ deep, threw in the seeds at random carelessly, and scarce rak'd it."

Hand-dug furrow agriculture was practiced in Virginia for centuries after 1607. Forensic evidence from later colonists shows the physical impact of this style of farming. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History said in its "Written in Bone" exhibit about colonists in the Chesapeake region that "Lower back strain was constant in hoeing soil to make hills for planting corn and tobacco, or weeding between the hills until the corn or tobacco grew tall enough to shade out weeds." Such lifelong work led to herniated disks and vertebral stress fractures in the bones studied for the exhibit.

"This is the beginning of Southern agriculture. Agriculture -- the growing of tobacco -- saved the colony and set the economic pattern for the South for centuries," Givens said.

"It's remarkable that these furrows have survived, probably because they were in the churchyard and protected," he said. "There is no later plowing here. It's completely intact."

This report is from Historic Jamestowne click here.  Historic Jamestowne is the site of the first permanent English settlement in America. The site is jointly administered by the National Park Service and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation on behalf of Preservation Virginia.  Excavations by the Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeological Project began at Jamestown Island, Virginia, the first permanent English colony in North America in 1994 with the hopes of finding some evidence of the original 1607 James Fort, for over two centuries thought lost to river shoreline erosion. Today, archaeologists have rediscovered much of the fortification and have recovered over a million artifacts that tell the true story of Jamestown.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Caseknife Pole Bean

Caseknife Pole Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv.)

The Caseknife Pole Bean is one of the oldest documented bean varieties in American gardens, dating to the 1820s. In 1863, Fearing Burr, in Field and Garden Vegetables of America, said Caseknife was “common to almost every garden.” The name refers to its wide, flattened, slightly curving mature pod – similar to a dinner knife or knife sheath. This vigorous climber has unusually large foliage and the white flowers yield 8-9”, fibrous pods full of plump shelling beans. Harvest immature pods for sweet string beans.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

Landscape Design - The Labyrinth or Maze

During the 18th century in the British American colonies, in a garden or pleasure grounds, a labyrinth was a maze of walkways bordered by high hedges, usually intended to grow 8-12' high, to create an intricate & difficult path to the center, so confusing that a person may lose himself in it. The visitor might find himself again, but he might not.

At that point, the host, usually the garden labyrinth designer, would rescue his humbled guest. The mortal garden owner found an ingenious way to be totally in control & to garner all the power & the glory -- well, temporarily, at least.

Earlier medieval churchs had a different perspective on their labyrinths. They believed a person's journey through a labyrinth represented his or her passage through life towards spiritual redemption through immortal God's grace.

Labyrinths were mentioned in the books of classical antiquities that the colonial gentry were reading at the time. The Greek Herodotus & the Roman Pliny refered to labyrinths in Egyptain buildings. Both Chaucer & Shakespeare used labyrinth images in their tales. A tall hedge labyrinth of maze walkways ending at a summerhouse was a perfect place for secret lovers to rendezvous.

Samuel Pepys wrote in his 1666 diary, "Here were also great variety of other exotique plants, and several labyrinths." A 1740 Welsh history book Drych y Prif Oesoedd makes note of the curious custom shepherds had of cutting the turf in the form of a labyrinth.

In France, garden labyrinths often were known as Houses of Daedalus after the mythical figure Daedalus who first constructed a labyrinth for King Minos of Crete, in which to hide the hungry Minotaur.

In 1707, Louis Liger & Francois Gentil wrote in Le Jardinier Solitaire, "A Labyrinth is commonly a Place cut into several Paths, which are renderd agreeable by the Hornbeam that parts them.

This fort of Knots we meet with in great Gardens; and the Labyrinths that are most esteem'd, are always those which are moft perplexed; such as that at Versailles...
Labyrinth Design at the gardens at Versailles, France.
The Palissades of which this Work is compos'd, are Ten, Twelve, or Fifteen Foot high; some are not above Breast high but these are none of the finest.

The Paths which divide the Labyrinths ought always to be Gravel or raked, and the Hornbeam should be trimm'd with a Hook."

By 1728, English architect & garden designer Batty Langley (1696-1751) presented two designs for labyrinths in his New Principles of Gardening.

James Wheeler explained the garden labyrinth in the 1763 Botanist's and Gardener's New Dictionary..., "a winding, maze walk, between hedges, through a wood or wilderness. The chief aim is to make the walks so perplexed and intricate, that a person may lofe himself in them, and meet with as great a number of disappointments as possible. They are rarely to be met with, except in great and noble gardens, as Versailles, Hampton-court, &c."
Britain's oldest surviving hedge maze is at Hampton Court Palace, designed by George London & Henry Wise in 1690. Originally, in the middle were 2 trees pictured here with people sitting under them. The old hornbeam maze was eventually replaced with yew.

George London (c1640-1714) was a a pupil of John Rose & was briefly gardener to Henry Compton, Bishop of London, at Fulham Palace. London visited Versailles, while he was in the service of the Earl of Portland. During James II's reign, he & Moses Cook (gardener to the Earl of Essex), Roger Lucre (gardener to the Queen Dowager at Somerset House), and John Field (gardener to the Earl of Bedford), joined in founding the celebrated Brompton Park Nurseries in South Kensington.

Henry Wise (1653-1738) was Queen Anne's master gardener & the last of the British 'Formalists', He was superintendant of the royal gardens at the 1701 re-creation of the King's Privy Garden for William III at Hampton Court. In partnership with George London, Wise is associated with the design of formal gardens at Longleat in Wiltshire, Studley Royal, Castle Howard and Newby Hall in Yorkshire and at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and Chatsworth in Derbyshire.

"There are two ways of making them; the first is with Angle hedges : this method has been practiced in England: and these may, indeed, be best, where there is but a small spot of ground allowed for making them; but where there is ground enough, the double is most eligible.

"Those made with double hedges, with a considerable thickness of wood between them, are approved as much better than single ones: this is the manner of making them in France and other places; of all which that of Versailles is allowed to be the noblest of its kind in the world.Arial View of Hampton Court today.

"It is an error to make them too narrow; for that makes it necessary to keep the hedges close clipt: but if, according to the foreign practice, they are made wider, they will not Have in need of it.

"The walks are made with gravel usually set with hornbeams: the palissades ought to be ten, twelve, or fourteen feet high: the hornbeam should be kept cut, and the walks rolled."

Bernard M'Mahon wrote his American Gardener's Calender in 1806. He wrote that "A Labyrinth, is a maze or sort of intricate wilderness plantation, abounding with hedges and walks, formed into many windings and turnings, leading to one common centre, extremely difficult to find out; designed in large pleasure-grounds by way of amusement.

"It is generally formed with hedges, commonly in double rows, leading in various intricate turnings, backward and forward, with intervening plantations, and gravel-walks alternately between hedge and hedge ; the great aim is to have the walk contrived in so many mazy, intricate windings, to and fro, that a person may have much difficulty in finding out the centre, by meeting with as many stops and disappointments as possible; for he must not cross, or break through the hedges; so that in a well contrived labyrinth, a stranger will often entirely loose himself, so as not to find his way to the centre, nor out again.

"As to plans of them, it is impossible to describe such, by words, any further than the above hints, and their contrivance must principally depend, on the ingenuity of the designer.

"But as to the hedges, walks, and trees; the hedges are usually made of hornbeam, beech, elm, or any other kind that can be kept neat by clipping. The walks should be five feet wide at least, laid with gravel, neatly rolled, and kept clean; and the trees and shrubs to form a thicket of wood between the hedges, may be of any hardy kinds of the deciduous tribe, interspersed with some ever-greens; and in the middle of the labyrinth should be a spacious open, ornamented with some rural seats and shady bowers, &c.

"Sometimes small labyrinths are formed with box-edgings, and borders for plants, with handsome narrow walks between, in imitation of the larger ones; which have a very pleasing and amusing effect in small gardens. "
Labyrinth Design at restored Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia.

In the British American colonies and early republic, labyrinths were mentioned by the middle of the 18th-century. A hedge labyrinth was restored at the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia.

In 1762, Hannah Callender mentioned in her diary William Peters' Belmont near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, "On the right you enter a labyrinth of hedge of low cedar and spruce. In the middle stands a statue of Apollo."

Manasseh Cutler noted in his 1787 journal visiting Gray's Gardens in Philadelphia, "Here is a curious labyrinth with numerous winding begun, and extends along the declivity of the hill toward the gardens, but has yet hardly received its form."

At Monticello in Virginia in 1804, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The best way of forming the thicket will be to plant it in labyrinth spirally, putting the tallest plants in the centre and lowering gradation to the external termination, a temple or seat may be in the center then leaving space enough between the rows to walk."
Design of Labyrinth at Harmony Society in Butler County, Pennsylvania.
Johann Georg Rapp (1757-1847) built his first Harmony Society in 1804 in Butler County, Pennsylvania. When John Melish visited a few years later, he reported, "From the warehouses we went to the Labyrinth, which is a most elegant flower-garden, with various hedge-rows, disposed in such a manner as to puzzle people to get into the little temple, emblematical of Harmony, in the middle. Mr. Rapp abruptly left us as we entered, and we soon observed him over the hedge-rows, taking his seat before the house.
Design of Restored Labyrinth at Harmony Society in southern Indiana.

"I found my way with difficulty; but the doctor, whom I left on purpose, could not find it, and Mr. Rapp had to point it out to him. The garden and temple are emblematical. The Labyrinth represents the difficulty of arriving at Harmony. The temple is rough in the exterior, showing that, at a distance, it has no allurements; but it is smooth and beautiful within, to show the beauty of harmony when once attained."

By this time, the term labyrinth began to become an emblem encouraging reflection & contemplation. The term maze was often used to denote confusion and gave power to the owner, the person who created the garden maze & could rescue those lost in the intricacies of the plantings.

At some point in time, certainly not during the 18th & early 19th centuries in America, garden labyrinths became puzzles with one pathway leading from the entrance to the goal, but often by complex & winding of routes. And garden mazes became puzzles usually designed with choices in the pathway, some of which may lead to dead-ends.

Today, there are two types of labyrinth mazes, unicursal & multicursal or branching. Unicursal labyrinth mazes have no blind alleys & do not pose much of a puzzle to those negotiating them. A multicursal design has blind alleys & branches, so finding the "goal" of the this maze presents a challenge.

Americans still enjoy labyrinths. Out in the country where we live, mazes are cut out of corn fields, and folks flock to them. One of my friends wrote of his corn maze adventure, "I loved it, because it was an intellectual challenge that physically swallowed you up. When you work a puzzle on paper, you are contesting the game from outside the playing field—as if you were an aloof scientist observing the rats in an experiment or a giant Gulliver towering over the Lilliputians. But when you walk into a maze, you are playing the game from the inside—you are the rat in the labyrinth."
In New York City, a year after the World Trade Center tragedy, the memorial Battery Labyrinth was created to offer the public a way to reflect, honor, & heal. This low labyrinth encourages contemplation on a journey with a clear destination. Its goal is to create an internal balance generated by the rhythm of the walking and the mental state of no decision-making..

You may be interested in further reading on the subject:
Carpeggiani, Paolo. "Labyrinths in the Gardens of the Renaissance" in the History of Garden Design, ed. Monique Mosser & Georges Teyssot. London: Thames & Hudson, 1991.

Fisher Adrian & Georg Gerster. The Art of the Maze. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1990.

Kern, Hermann. Through the Labyrinth, ed. Robert Ferré & Jeff Saward. Munich: Prestel, 2000.

Lockridge, Ross F. (1877-1952). The Labyrinth of New Harmony. New Harmony, Indiana. New Harmony Memorial Commission, 1941. Reprint, Westport, Conn: Hyperion Press, 1975.

Matthews, W.H. Mazes and Labyrinths - A General Account of their History and Developments. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1922.

Pizzoni, Filippo. The Garden - A History in Landscape and Art. London: Aurum Press, 1999.

Reed Doob, Penelope. The Idea of the Labyrinth from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.

Saward, Jeff. Labyrinths & Mazes. London: Gaia Books, 2003 & New York: Lark Books, 2003.

Strong, Roy. The Renaissance Garden in England. London: Thames & Hudson, 1979.

Strong, Roy. The Artist & the Garden. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. 2000.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Bare Root Hardy Pecan

Bare Root Hardy Pecan (Carya illinoinensis)

Thomas Jefferson recognized the value of this native tree. In Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson’s only published book, he listed “Paccan, or Illinois Nut” among the “esculent” species, and he encouraged his friends in America and abroad to cultivate it. At Monticello, Pecan nuts were planted numerous times in the nursery and the South Orchard; and Jefferson envisioned establishing a Pecan orchard as well. The fruits are also nutritious and beneficial to mammals and birds; and the tree is the larval host of the gray hairstreak butterfly.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

Garden to Table - African-American Gardens at Monticello

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

"Although Thomas Jefferson often participated in the gardening process himself -sowing seed in the kitchen garden, & labeling & spacing tulip bulbs in the flower beds - he was not the only gardener at Monticello...Wormley Hughes, the African American often called Monticello's "Head Gardener," collected seed, planted precious plants in the Monticello nurseries, & set out Mr. Jefferson's "pet trees." Gardener John espaliered grapes, aided in the terracing of the kitchen garden, & planted a sugar maple tree that survived for 200 years, while Great George & Goliah led the "veteran aids" in the daily work in the vegetable garden...But just as Jefferson was not the only gardener, so were the mountaintop flower, fruit, & vegetable gardens not the only gardens at Monticello.

"Jefferson's Memorandum Books, which detailed virtually every financial transaction that he engaged in between 1769 & 1826, as well as the account ledger kept by his granddaughter, Anne Cary Randolph, between 1805 & 1808, document hundreds of transactions involving the purchase of produce from Monticello slaves. This documentary record of the purchase of 22 species of fruits & vegetables from as many as 43 different individuals, suggests the vitality & entrepreneurial spirit of the Monticello African American community & the beginnings of an African American horticultural tradition.

"Monticello's 1,000-foot-long kitchen garden is legendary for the variety & scope of its vegetable production, so the question immediately arises, "why did the Jefferson family require outside sources to provide for the table?" One explanation might lie in the experimental focus of the Jefferson garden. Although over 300 vegetable varieties were documented, the emphasis was on using the garden as a laboratory rather than on production for the dinner table. As well, much of the produce purchased from Monticello slaves was out of season: potatoes were sold in December & February, hominy beans & apples purchased in April, & cucumbers bought in January. Archaeological excavations of slave cabins at Monticello indicate the widespread presence of root cellars, which not only served as secret hiding places, but surely as repositories for root crops & other vegetables amenable to cool, dark storage. Conversely, inventories of the Monticello cellars curiously omit garden produce, & are dominated by fancy, imported delicacies like capers, olive oil, & Parmesan cheese. Produce harvested from slave gardens at Monticello seemed to be more purposefully directed toward the out-of-season table, & they included more everyday garden staples, like cabbages & potatoes, rather than the new & unusual gourmet vegetables, like artichokes & sea kale, found in the Jefferson garden.

"Slave gardens were not unique to Monticello. Similar cash transactions between George Washington & enslaved African Americans took place at Mount Vernon, & numerous 18th-century Virginian travelers documented slave gardens. William Hugh Grove in 1732 mentioned "little Platts for potatoes peas & cymlins, which they do on Sundays or at night." John Custis of Williamsburg noted how in 1737 one of his slaves grew "a multitude of melons," & Philip Fithian, Princeton educated tutor for the Carter family at Nomini Hall, observed slaves digging up "their small Lots of ground allw'd by their Masters for Potatoes, peas, etc."

"Eugene Genovese, author of Roll Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made(1972), argued that slaves had a healthier diet than white southerners because of these gardens. He also stated, "the slaves used their money for credits to buy fishhooks or kitchen utensils or to buy marbles for their children or to keep their women in ribbons, bandannas, & assorted finery." Joe Fossett, an enslaved Monticello blacksmith, purchased a gold watch, tutoring, & a copy book for his son, Peter, perhaps from income generated from this underground economy. According to Genovese the gardens were important in providing a sense of independence, & they also enabled African Americans to learn the art of economic bartering. At Monticello, Anne Cary, between the age of 14 & 17, purchased vegetables from over 40 slaves, & one can only speculate about the bartering process. At this meeting of white & black worlds, with Ann hoping to pass the rites of adulthood & elderly slaves like Squire aspiring for some marginal self-sufficiency, one wonders which party had the advantage: which party drove the hard bargain?

"A debate waged among southern plantation owners about the desirability of these gardens. Some argued they encouraged domestic tranquility & tied slaves more securely to the land. Others felt the gardens, & the independence they encouraged, led to discontent & distracted slaves from labor in the fields. Questions inevitably arose about what crops were whose, master's or slave's? Anthony Giannini wrote Jefferson in Paris & complained of slaves stealing Monticello grapes before they ripened, & at Poplar Forest, Jefferson's retreat home near Lynchburg, John Hemings, a loyal & skilled African American carpenter, reported to Jefferson that a disgruntled slave, Nace, had stolen all the produce from the kitchen garden. The enormous, 10-foot-high paling fence that surrounded the Monticello fruit & vegetable garden may have been constructed to prevent thievery. Jefferson wrote his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph, in 1792, & thanked him for banning the cultivation of tobacco around slave dwellings. He wrote, "I have ever found it necessary to confine them [slaves] to such articles as are not raised on the farm, there is no other way of drawing a line between what is theirs & mine."

"Both Jefferson & Ann Cary specified the person from whom they purchased vegetables & fruit; however, the person involved in the sale might not have been the one gardening. Thirty-one males, averaging about 37 years of age, & twelve females, averaging 41 years old, were involved in the transactions. Since many of the sellers were older, seven of the males were over fifty, they may have been representing the family garden. Squire, for example, a former Peter Jefferson slave leased by Thomas Jefferson from his mother, represented the most sophisticated garden. He sold thirteen different commodities, including cymlins (a patty-pan-shaped squash), potatoes, lettuce, beets, watermelons, apples, & muskmelons. He sold a cucumber to Jefferson on January 12, 1773, suggesting either that the fruit was pickled & preserved, or that artificial heat in a cold frame or hot bed was used to bring this tender vegetable to fruition in the middle of winter, a rather remarkable feat in 18C Virginia. Bagwell, Squire's son-in-law, was also a major supplier, & sold Jefferson sixty pounds of hops for twenty dollars. A woody perennial, hops require an arbor or structure upon which to vine, & most importantly, suggest the permanence that perennial crops lend to a garden.

"Israel Gillette Jefferson, a waiter & carder in the Monticello cloth factory, represented another productive African American family garden. His father, Ned or Edward Gilette, sold watermelons, beans, & potatoes, while Israel sold large quantities of cabbage, fifty to one hundred at a time. Caesar, a farm laborer at Shadwell, Jefferson's birthplace & a satellite farm to Monticello, was another major supplier of cucumbers, cabbages, & greens, & Burwell Colbert, probably Jefferson's most valued & trusted slave, sold "sprouts" to Jefferson. Boys & girls were also involved in the bartering process; Billy, at the age of eight, sold strawberries, perhaps collected from the wild, while Madison & Eston Hemings, most likely Jefferson's sons by Sally Hemings, were 15 & 18 when selling 100 cabbages to Jefferson in 1822.

"Except for watermelons, & perhaps sweet potatoes, few of the sold fruits & vegetables were either African in origin, or closely associated with African American food culture. Cucumbers were the most common commodity, with 23 transactions, followed by cabbages, watermelons, hops, Irish potatoes, cymlins, & greens. One wonders if Monticello's slave gardens included other crops specifically identified with African Americans. Jefferson discussed the potato pumpkin, evidently an early bearing squash used as a sweet potato substitute, that was "well esteemed at our tables, & particularly valued by our Negroes." He also attributed the introduction of sesame to the slave trade, & acknowledged an independent African horticultural tradition associated with the culture & use of this plant. Other vegetables grown by Jefferson & associated with African American culture include okra, used liberally around Charleston & New Orleans; eggplant, an African native; sweet potatoes, "which the Negroes tend so generally;" peanuts, often associated with the African groundnut; & the West Indian gherkin, a spiny, round cucumber commonly pickled & grown in the Jefferson kitchen garden. Some historians have also attributed the earliest distribution of tomatoes in the deep South to African introductions.

"Monticello was a 5,000-acre plantation organized into a series of four or five satellite farms, & the African American gardens were likely associated with quarter farm communities or isolated cabins out on the farm. Neither documentary nor archaeological evidence has illuminated the character of these gardens. One exception was an intriguing reference, three years after Jefferson's death, to the distribution of peach pits to slaves at Edgehill, a Jefferson family estate adjacent to Monticello, "and thus in a few years there will be 2 or 3 trees about every cabin." Traveler's landscape commentaries in the 18C & early 19C often used the term "plats" to identify the slave gardens, an interesting contrast to the word used to describe how white Virginian gardens were organized: into "squares." Frederick Law Olmsted, often referred to as America's first landscape architect, described African American gardens in 1860 as about 1/2 acre in size. Work in these gardens took place on Sundays, or in the night after slaves were excused from their field labor. An oral tradition suggests that the evening garden work was illuminated by lighting the animal fat in cast iron pots or pans. One can only speculate about the features of these gardens: the nature of pathways, edging materials, the use of rows; or about cultural practices: fertilization, water, & pest control. Tools, such as a variety of hoes, were often distributed to enslaved field hands & so were surely useful for the care of the home garden. However improvisational, the mere existence of these gardens suggest the struggle by enslaved African Americans to forge a more independent way of life."

Written by Peter J. Hatch, Director of Gardens & Grounds Twinleaf Journal Online January 2001

Research & images & much more are directly available from the Monticello website - to begin exploring, just click the highlighted acknowledgment above. 

Flowers & Plants in Early American Gardens - Red Russian Kale

Red Russian Kale (Brassica napus var. pabularia) cv.

Thomas Jefferson's vegetable garden commonly included various Kales such as German, Scotch, Delaware, Malta, and Russian types. Red Russian Kale, also called Ragged Jack, is an extremely cold-hardy variety that originated in Russia and was introduced to Canada around 1885. The highly attractive blue-green leaves have purple veins and stems, turn reddish-purple in cold weather, and have lightly-frilled edges.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

Plants in Early American Gardens - Long Island Cheese Winter Squash

Long Island Cheese Winter Squash (Cucurbita moschata)

This Long Island heirloom was known as the original “Cheese Wheel.” It has smooth, heavily ribbed, buff-colored skin with a deep orange, sweet flesh. This winter squash weighs 6-10 pounds, and is considered one of the best baking varieties and is excellent in pies. It also stores well.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819

18C American Landscape - Hunting Scene with a Pond

18C American Landscape Hunting Scene with a Pond

Plants in Early American Gardens - Perennial Pea

Perennial Pea (Lathyrus latifolius)

Perennial Pea is a summer-flowering vine that Thomas Jefferson sowed in one of the oval beds at Monticello in 1807. It was an established garden plant in America before 1720. Perennial Pea is a long-lived vigorous climber with attractive blue-green leaves and showy flowers in red, pink, or rarely, white. Although European in origin, it has naturalized in many parts of the United States, especially on roadsides.

Contact The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at
Email chp@monticello.org
Phone 434-984-9819