John Tradescant the Elder and his son John collect plants

John Tradescant the elder (c 1570-1632) (portrait attributed to Cornelis de Neve)

John Tradescant (c 1570-1632) & his son, also named John (1608-1662), became gardeners to the nobility & royalty of England. Both traveled widely collecting botanical specimens & other rarities.

Perhaps John Tradescant the Elder, (c 1570-1632) naturalist & gardener, with his 3rd wife, Elizabeth Day

John Tradescant, the elder (d. 1638), was probably born in England, perhaps in the 1570s. He seems to have had family connections in East Anglia. English researchers record possible candidates for his parents at Corton, while his son John Tradescant (1608-1662) left legacies to "namesakes" (described by his wife as "kinsmen") at Walberswick. Both of these villages are on the Suffolk coast.

The Apricooke_ (that is booth Long and greet)

The earliest record of Tradescant's life is his marriage in 1607, at Meopham in Kent, to Elizabeth Day, daughter of the late vicar of the parish.  As Tradescant began collecting plants, John Parkinson & John Gerard became his close friends.  

the great French stra(w)bere

Tradescant's 1609 employer was Robert Cecil, 1st earl of Salisbury, at Hatfield House. In 1611, at Salisbury's behest, Tradescant traveled through the Low Countries & Flanders to Paris, buying trees, flowering shrubs, vines, & bulbs for the gardens at Hatfield. Following the death Robert Cecil in 1612, Tradescant remained in the employment of the 2nd earl, on whose behalf he again visited France. Tradescant left Hatfield in 1614, to farm for himself & to work with Edward, 1st Baron Wotton, at the former monastery of St Augustine at Canterbury.

The grene pescod plum

At Canterbury, his success in growing melons, mandrakes, & other exotics attracted admiring comments from Sir Henry Mainwaring & others. Tradescant accompanied a delegation to Tsar Michael Feodorovich, led by Sir Dudley Digges. Tradescant's diary of this "Viag of Ambusad" survives among the Ashmole manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. While the ambassadorial party set off for the imperial court, he spent 3 weeks doing fieldwork noting the characteristics of plants & other wildlife—the first such investigations recorded on Russian soil—& gathering specimens for shipment back to England. Parkinson (Paradisi, 346; Theatrum, 705) identifies white hellebores, purple cranesbill, & other plants among those brought to England on that occasion by "that worthy, curious & diligent searcher & preserver of all natures rarities & varieties, my very good friend, John Tradescante."

The grete -Early- yollow peech

Tradescant accompanied the English fleet sent in 1620–21, to quell the Barbary pirates who were proving an increasing hazard to English shipping. He collected specimens as he could on land, when circumstances permitted. Parkinson reported that Tradescant had collected on this trip the wild pomegranate "was never seene in England, before John Tradescante … brought it from parts beyond the Seas, & planted it in his Lords Garden at Canterbury."

The grete Roman Hasell Nut

In 1623, Tradescant entered the service of George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham, for whom he again visited the Low Countries & Flanders, buying trees & other plants. A 1625 letter written by Tradescant in Buckingham's name & addressed to Edward Nicholas, then secretary to the navy, asks sea captains, ambassadors, & overseas merchants to furnish the duke with all manner of natural & artificial curiosities. In 1625, when the duke was sent to France to provide an escort for Charles I's bride, Henrietta Maria, on her introductory journey to England, Tradescant followed in his wake with "my Lords stuff & Trunkes &c" taking the opportunity to acquire further specimens for the duke's gardens at New Hall in Essex. In 1627, he accompanied the duke again to France, when Buckingham attempted to bring relief to the besieged protestants of La Rochelle, where Buckingham's army was decimated on the Île de Ré.

The Imperyall plum

Following Buckingham's assassination in 1628, the elder Tradescant moved to South Lambeth in Surrey, where he would live for the rest of his life. Propagating unknown plants & procuring rarities grew to dominate his life.

1648 attr Thomas de Critz (British artist, 1607-1653) John Tradescant the Younger (1608–1662) as a Gardener

In Lambeth, Tradescant would plant the specimines he was collecting, establish a public museum, & raise his family, including his plant collecting son, John the younger.

An Early ripe Apple and good in taste

The younger Tradescant was fascinated by the idea of Virginia & collecting in the New World.  Tradescant the elder gave money so that in 1609, Captain Samuel Angall could find the best route to Virginia.

1652 attr Thomas de Critz (British artist, 1607-1653) John Tradescant the Younger (1608–1662) 1648-52

It is speculated that John Tradescant the younger went along on the trip & sent plants back. One plant sent back was Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana).  By 1616, he was a shareholder in the Virginia Company & paid for the transport of 24 settlers to the Virginia Colony.  This would have entitled him to buy 1,200 acres in Virginia.

The May Cherry

 John Tradescant names 40 North American plants in his garden-list of 1634. Tradescant is credited with being the first to grow the Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), Aquilegia canadensis, Aster tradescantii, Rudbeckia laciniata, Tradescantia virginica, &, possibly Robinia pseudo-acacia. Lemmon (1968:5) says that the Tradescants brought back the first lilac, gladioli, lupins, the pomegranate, the hypericum & many crocuses.

The whighte peech

Among them was the plant with which his name is most closely linked, Tradescantia virginiana, of which Parkinson wrote, "This Spider-Wort is of late knowledge, & for it the Christian world is indebted unto that painfull industrious searcher, & lover of all natures varieties, John Tradescant … who first received it of a friend, that brought it out of Virginia." (Parkinson, Paradisi, 152) 

1650s attr Thomas de Critz (British artist, 1607-1653) John Tradescant the Younger (1608–1662) with Roger Friend and a Collection of Exotic Shells

By 1634, Tradescant's own plant collection was large enough for a visitor Peter Mundy to report spending "a whole day in peruseing, & that superficially, such as hee had gathered together" (R. C. Temple, ed. The Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe & Asia, 1608–1667, Hakluyt Society, ser. 2, vols. 45–6, 1919, 1–3). A description of the collection from 1638, includes the earliest mention of its most famous surviving treasure, "the robe of the King of Virginia, better known as "Powhatan's Mantle."

The Mussule plum

In 1630, he was chosen by the king as "Keeper of our gardens, Vines & Silke-wormes" at Oatlands Palace near Weybridge in Surrey, where he reportedly helped lay out a new bowling green & build a shelter for 200 orange trees. It was later destroyed by Cromwell. The Tradescants continued to amass collections of ornamental flowers & trees, most notably fruit trees, publishing a catalogue in 1634. A year before the elder Tradescant died, he was appointed custodian of the Oxford Physic Garden in 1637.

The Nuingetonn peeche

John Tradescant the younger (1608-1662) sailed to Virginia between 1628-1637, to collect plants. He settled around the area of Yorktown & Belfield, Virginia. Tradescant brought back more than 90 new plants. Among specimens the younger John brought back to their gardens at South Lambeth were American trees, like the Magnolia, Bald Cypress, & Tulip tree, plus garden flowering plants such phlox & asters. In addition to the more than 700 species of plants growing in the garden & orchard, the house itself (known as Tradescant's Ark) was a cabinet of curiosities, where father & son displayed novel items they had collected during their travels. To the original botanical collections, the Tradescants added sea shells; fossils; crystals; birds; fishes; snakes; insects; gems & coins; poisoned arrows; Henry VIII’s hawking bag & spurs; & the hand of a mermaid.

The whight Date

In 1656, John the younger published a catalogue called "Musaeum Tradescantianum" which recorded in detail the contents of the house & garden. In this 1656 catalogue, John Tradescant listed  30 or 40 more American species.  They included the red maple, the tulip tree, the swamp cypress & the occidental plane; the vines Vitis labrusca & V. vulpina; Adiantum pedatum, Anaphallis margaritacea, Lonicera sempervirens, Smilacina racemosa & Yucca filamentosa.

The portingegale Quince

The younger Tradescant bequeathed his library & museum (or some say it was swindled from him-another story) to Elias Ashmole (1617–1692). These collections were to become the core of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where the Tradescant collections remain largely intact. The collection includes these 1611-1630 fruit sketches probably made by the elder Tradescant.

The quene mother plum

Tradescant Road, off South Lambeth Road in Vauxhall, marks the former boundary of the Tradescant estate which included the botanic gardens & museum. Tradescant the elder was buried in the churchyard of St-Mary-at-Lambeth, as was his son. Part of the church is now established as the Museum of Garden History.

The Red pescod plum

Plants in Early American Gardens - Formosa Lily

 Formosa Lily (Lilium formosanum)

Formosa Lily (Lilium formosanum)

Introduced from Taiwan in the 1880s, Formosa Lily is a spectacular self-seeding, perennial lily that bears large, extremely fragrant, funnel-shaped white flowers, suffused wine-purple on the outer side of the petals, in mid to late summer. The flowering stems of this easy-to-grow lily rise high above a basal mound of dark green, strap-like foliage, and the ornamental seedpods are attractive in dried flower arrangements.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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

Gardener & Agricultural Innovator - Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722-1793) of South Carolina

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Eliza Lucas Pinckney (c 1722-1793) was born into a family of privilege on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where her British military officer father was stationed. She was sent back to England for a proper education & then she sailed with her family to South Carolina. Ironically, as a teen-ager she would manage her father's Carolina plantations, while he was away in the military; and, years later, she would manage her husband's plantation after his death.

When Eliza was 16, her father, seeking a healthier situation for his ailing wife, brought her & their two daughters to a plantation, which he had inherited on Wappoo Creek in South Carolina, near Charleston, in 1738.

As the conflict between England & Spain, called the War of Jenkins’ Ear, heated up, forcing him to return to his military assignment in Antigua in 1739, the management of Wappoo, and of her father's 2 other plantations in the Carolina low country, fell to Eliza.

At age 16, Eliza Lucas Pinckney was managing her father’s 3 plantations, while taking care of her younger sister & her dying mother. We have many details of Eliza's life & hopes; because when she was 18, Eliza began keeping her letters & memoranda from 1740 until 1762. Her letterbook is one of the largest surviving collections of letters of a colonial woman. Her rich letters reveal her quick-witted perseverance & grit, as she forged an unique life for herself & plotted a new path for agriculture in South Carolina.

When she was 18, Eliza wrote of her new situation to a friend in England, on May 2, 1740. "I like this part of the world, as my lott has fallen here... I prefer England to it, ’tis true, but think Carolina greatly preferable to the West Indias, and was my Papa here I should be very happy...

Charles Town, the principal one in this province, is a polite, agreeable place. The people live very Gentile and very much in the English taste. The Country is in General fertile and abounds with Venison and wild fowl...

My Papa and Mama’s great indulgence to me leaves it to me to chose our place of residence either in town or Country, but I think it more prudent as well as most agreeable to my Mama and self to be in the Country during my Father’s absence. We are 17 mile by land and 6 by water from Charles Town where we have about 6 agreeable families around us with whom we live in great harmony.

I have a little library well furnished (for my papa has left me most of his books) in which I spend part of my time. My Musick and the Garden, which I am very fond of, take up the rest of my time that is not imployed in business, of which my father has left me a pretty good share and indeed, ’twas inavoidable as my Mama’s bad state of health prevents her going through any fatigue.

I have the business of 3 plantations to transact, which requires much writing and more business and fatigue of other sorts than you can imagine. But least you should imagine it too burthensom to a girl at my early time of life, give me leave to answer you: I assure you I think myself happy that I can be useful to so good a father, and by rising very early I find I can go through much business.

The teenager brought her infectuous love of learning with her to Wappoo. She reveled in music & could “tumble over one little tune” on the flute. She quoted Milton, read Richardson’s Pamela, & spoke French. She actually enjoyed reading John Locke, Virgil's Plutarch, & Thomas Wood. But, her favorite subject was botany.

She tutored her sister Polly & “two black girls,” whom she envisioned making “school mistress’s for the rest of the Negroe children,” if her father approved. In 1741, she recorded sighting a comet whose appearance Sir Isaac Newton had predicted. Eliza enjoyed brief soical visits in Charleston, but devoted most of her energy to her family & to plotting the success of her father's business in Carolina.

In July of 1740, she wrote a memorandum, "Wrote my Father a very long letter on his plantation affairs and... On the pains I had taken to bring the Indigo, Ginger, Cotton and Lucerne and Casada to perfection, and had greater hopes from the Indigo (if I could have the seed earlier next year from the West India’s) than any of the rest of the things I had tryd."

Eliza recognized that the growing textile manufacturing industry was creating a worldwide market for good dyes. In 1739, she began cultivating & creating new strains of the indigo plant from which blue dye could be made. She introduced the successful cultivation of the plant indigo used in making dye to the American colonies.

While she was forging ahead in her agricultural experiments, she worried about her father, who was her only support system. Her letters let him know that she believed he cared about his country & career more than his family. She wrote in 1740, to him in Antigua, where he remained on military duty, "I want of words to Express the concern we are under at not hearing from you. The dangerous situation you are in terrifies us beyond expression and is increased by the fearful apprehensions of your being ordered to some place of immediate danger. . . I know how ready you are to fight in a just cause as well as the love you bear your Country in preference to every other regard..."

She continued to look for ways to make a profit from the family's plantations. On April 23, 1741, she wrote a memorandum, "Wrote to my Father informing him of the loss of a Negroe man, also the boat being overset in Santilina Sound and 20 barrels of Rice lost. Told him of our making a new garden and all conveniences we can to receive him when we are so happy to see him. Also about Starrat and pitch and Tarr."

In June of 1741, she finally heard from her father after 6 months without any letters, and she wrote him in return, "Never were letters more welcome than yours...We expect the boat dayly from Garden Hill [one of their other plantations] when I shall be able to give you an account of affairs there. The Cotton, Guiney corn, and most of the Ginger planted here was cutt off by a frost.

I wrote you in a former letter we had a fine Crop of Indigo Seed upon the ground, and since informed you the frost took it before it was dry. I picked out the best of it and had it planted but there is not more than a hundred bushes of is come up - which proves the more unluckey as you have sent a man to make it. I make no doubt Indigo will prove a very valuable Commodity in time if we could have the seed from the west Indias in time enough to plant the latter end of March, that the seed might be dry enough to gather before our frost. I am sorry we lost this season. We can do nothing towards it now but make the works ready for next year."

Eliza hoped a fine grade of blue indigo grown in Carolina could be prepared into dye cakes for cloth manufacturers in England. The market for South Carolina rice had dwindled with the war, and indigo could be bought from South Carolina to supply British markets instead of from the French Carribean islands, if she was successful at introducing a 2nd staple crop to the colony. Indigo accounted for over one-third of the value of the colonies’ exports before the Revolutionary War.

“I was ignorant both at the proper season for sowing it [indigo] and the soil best adapted to it”, Eliza wrote, but she perservered. Her determination brought to success experiments in growing this crop which had been tried & discarded near Charleston some 70 years earlier.

Knowing how complex was the process of producing the dye from the fresh-cut plants, Colonel Lucas sent her an experienced indigo maker from the French island on Montserrat in the summer of 1741. Optimistically, Eliza wrote her father that October “informing him we made 20 weight of Indigo….’Tis not quite dry or I should have sent him some. Now desire he will send us a hundred weight of seed to plant in the spring.”

Inidgo Production in South Carolina. William DeBrahm, A Map of South Carolina and a Part of Georgia. . . London, published by Thomas Jeffreys, 1757.

She was also experimenting with other crops. In April of 1742, Eliza wrote, "I have planted a large figg orchard with desighn to dry and export them. I have reckoned my expense and the prophets to arise from these figgs."

At the age of 19 in September of 1741, was fully immersed in the business of the colony. She noted, "Wrote to my father on plantation business and concerning a planter’s importing Negroes for his own use. Colo. Pinckney thinks not, but thinks it was proposed in the Assembly and rejected. He promised to look over the Act and let me know. Also informed my father of the alteration ’tis soposed there will be in the value of our money- occasioned by a late Act of Parliament that Extends to all America - which is to dissolve all private banks, I think by the 30th of last month, or be liable to lose their Estates, and put themselves out of the King’s protection. Informed him of the Tyranical Government at Georgia."

A month later, she recorded, October 14, 1741, "Wrote to my father informing him we made 20 w[eight] of Indigo and expected 10 more. ’Tis not quite dry or I should have sent him some. Now desire he will send us a hundred weight of seed to plant in the spring."

In April of the next year, she wrote to her friend in England, about her daily routine, "In general then I rise at five o’Clock in the morning, read till Seven, then take a walk in the garden or field, see that the Servants [slaves] are at their respective business, then to breakfast. The first hour after breakfast is spent at my musick, the next is constantly employed in recolecting something I have learned least for want of practise it should be quite lost, such as French and short hand. After that I devote the rest of the time till I dress for dinner to our little Polly and two black girls who I teach to read...

The first hour after dinner as the first after breakfast at musick, the rest of the afternoon in Needle work till candle light, and from that time to bed time read or write. . . . Mondays my musick Master is here. Tuesdays my friend Mrs. Chardon (about 3 miles distant) and I are constantly engaged to each other, she at our house one Tuesday⎯ I at hers the next and this is one of the happiest days I spend at Woppoe. Thursday the whole day except what the necessary affairs of the family take up is spent in writing, either on the business of the plantations, or letters to my friends. Every other Fryday, if no company, we go a vizeting so that I go abroad once a week and no oftener..."

She wrote to her friend again in May of 1742, "Wont you laugh at me if I tell you I am so busey in providing for Posterity I hardly allow my self time to Eat or sleep and can but just snatch a minnet to write you and a friend or two now. I am making a large plantation of Oaks which I look upon as my own property, whether my father gives me the land or not; and therefore I design many years hence when oaks are more valueable than they are now -- which you know they will be when we come to build fleets.

I intend, I say 2 thirds of the produce of my oaks for a charity (I'll let you know my scheme another time) and the other 3rd for those that shall have the trouble of putting my design in Execution. I sopose according to custom you will show this to your Uncle and Aunt. 'She is [a] good girl,' says Mrs. Pinckney. 'She is never Idle and always means well.' 'Tell the little Visionary,' says your Uncle, 'come to town and partake of some of the amusements suitable to her time of life.' Pray tell him I think these so, and what he may now think whims and projects may turn out well by and by. Out of many surely one may hitt...

The 1744 indigo crop did, indeed, "hitt" & was a success. Six pounds from Wappoo were sent to England and “found better than the French Indigo.” Seed from this crop was immediately distributed to many Carolina planters, who soon were profiting from Carolina's new staple export product.

While she was busy with plantation affairs, she also took time to survey the gardening efforts of her neighbors. South Carolinian Eliza Lucas Pinckney described her neighbor William Middleton's mount at his estate Crowfields in 1743, “to the bottom of this charming spot where is a large fish pond with a mount rising out of the middle-the top of which is level with the dwelling house and upon it is a roman temple.”

At Crowfields, she noted, the amazing fishponds, "...a large fish pond with a mount rising out of the middle-- the top of which is level with the dwelling house and upon it is a roman temple. On each side of this are other large fish ponds properly disposed which form a fine prospect of water from the house."

She surveyed the use of ornamental plants at Middleton's, "The house stands a mile from, but in sight of the road...as you draw nearer new beauties discover themselves, first the fruitful Vine mantleing up the wall loaded with delicious Clusters." Of the formal garden, she noted, "From the back door is a spacious walk a thousand foot long; each side of which nearest the house is a grass plat ennamiled in a Serpentine manner with flowers."

At Crowfields, she noted the mounts & bird-friendly area of wilderness,
"Next to that on the right hand is what immediately struck my rural taste, a thicket of young tall live oaks where a variety of Airry Chorristers pour forth their melody."

Eliza described, in May, 1743, "I...cant say one word on the other seats I saw in this ramble, except the Count's large double row of Oaks on each side of the Avenue that leads to the house--which seemed designed by nature for pious meditation and friendly converse."

She also paid attention to the ornamental aspects of her own garden and grounds. She wrote in a letter in 1742, "You may wonder how I could in this gay season think of planting a Cedar grove, which rather reflects an Autumnal gloom and solemnity than the freshness and gayty of spring. But so it is...I intend then to connect in my grove the solemnity (not the solidity) of summer or autumn with the cheerfulness and pleasures of spring, for it shall be filled with all kind of flowers, as well wild as Garden flowers, with seats of Camomoil and here and there a fruit tree--oranges, nectrons, Plumbs."

On May 27, 1744, Eliza Lucas married attorney Charles Pinckney, a childless widower more than 20 years her senior. Pinckney built a house on Charleston’s waterfront for his bride, but as usual, she chose to spend most of her time in the country. At his plantation on the Cooper River, Eliza initialized the culture of silkworms to establish a “silk manufacture.” While in England in 1753, during an audience with the Princess of Wales, Eliza Lucas Pinckney presented her with a dress made of silk produced from her plantations.

By 1746, Carolina planters shipped almost 40,000 pounds of indigo to England; the next year the total exported was almost 100,000 pounds. Indigo sales sustained the Carolina economy for 3 decades, until the Revolution cut off trade with England.

Eliza & Charles Pinckney had 4 children within 5 years. Eliza vowed “to be a good Mother to my children…to instill piety, Virtue and true religion into them; to correct their Errors whatever uneasiness it may give myself….”

Charles Pinckney's appointment as commissioner for the colony in London took the family in April of 1753, to England. They had hoped to live there with their family, until their sons finished their education. When war with France broke out, Eliza & her husband returned in May of 1758, to Carolina, leaving the boys at school in England.

Pinckney contracted malaria & died in July of that year. Again Eliza turned to plantation business as she directed her husband’s seven separate land holdings in the Carolina lo country.

Eliza wrote this letter to the headmaster of her son's school in England, "This informs you of the greatest misfortune that could have happened to me and my dear children on this side Eternity! I am to tell you, hard as the task is, that my dear, dear Mr. Pinckney, the best of men, of husbands, and of fathers, is no more!

"Comfort, good Sir, Comfort the tender hearts of my dear children. God Almighty bless them, and if he has any more blessings for me in this world may He give it me in them and their sister.

"The inclosed letter for the dear boys be so good to give them when you think it a proper time. What anguish do I and shall I feel for my poor Infants when they hear the most afflicting sound that could ever reach them!"

By 1760, Eliza was once again fully immersed in managing a plantation and her husband's business affairs in South Carolina. "I find it requires great care, attention and activity to attend properly to a Carolina Estate, tho’ but a moderate one, to do ones duty and make it turn to account, that I find I have as much business as I can go through of one sort or other. Perhaps ’tis better for me, and I believe it is. Had there not been a necessity for it, I might have sunk to the grave by this time in that Lethargy of stupidity which had seized me after my mind had been violently agitated by the greatest shock it ever felt. But a variety of imployment gives my thoughts a relief from melloncholy subjects, tho’ ’tis but a temporary one, and gives me air and exercise, which I believe I should not have had resolution enough to take if I had not been roused to it by motives of duty and parental affection."

Eliza recorded her last letter in her letterbook in 1762. She wrote, "I love a Garden and a book; and they are all my amusement except I include one of the greatest Businesses of my life (my attention to my dear little girl) under that article. For a pleasure it certainly is &c. especially to a mind so tractable and a temper so sweet as hers. For, I thank God, I have an excellent soil to work upon, and by the Divine Grace hope the fruit will be answerable to my indeavours in the cultivation."

Pinckney spent 30 years, after her husband's death, overseeing their plantations & helping her family. She invested monies she earned from exporting indigo into her children’s education. Both of her sons became involved with the new nation. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1852) signed the United States Constitution, and Thomas Pinckney (1750-1828) served as South Carolina Governor & as Minister to Spain & Great Britain.

Hampton Plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina.

Eliza lived with her widowed daughter Harriet at Daniel Huger Horry's estate, Hampton. There, they continued to improve the grounds. In 1790, they added a portico to the land side of the house. When George Washington visited during his Southern Tour in 1791, they asked him whether a certain oak tree should be cut down to create a better view from their new portico. He replied that he liked the tree, and it was saved.

Eliza died of cancer on May 26, 1793, in Philadelphia, where she had gone for medical treatment. At her funeral, President George Washington, then presiding over the United States government in Philadelphia, served as one of her pallbearers.

Dyes from Native & Garden Plants in Early America

Early Dying in Mesoamerica

Garden & Native Plant Dyes

Plants have been used for natural dyeing since before recorded history. The staining properties of plants were noted by humans & have been used to obtain & retain these colors from plants throughout history. Native plants & their resultant dyes have been used to enhance people's lives through decoration of animal skins, fabrics, crafts, hair, & even their bodies.

The first to use native dye plants in the United States were the Native Americans. Their culture was totally dependent on what the land produced. Native Americans learned about the plants in their environment through general trial & error & through communication with other tribes. 

With the coming of European settlers much in the way of native plant dyes was lost. Some European settlers brought European dye plants for private use or to grow commercially. Indigo, which is native to India, was one of the 1st dye plant early settlers tried to grow, but because of the strict timing involved with harvest & treatment & competition with British production, its popularity faded. High tariffs on dye stuffs placed on American grown indigo by the British made it more profitable for settlers to grow other crops. 

After the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson & Dolly Madison urged the growth of dye stuffs such as madder, indigo, woad, & weld, again all European or Asian plants. Settlers preferred European manufactured dyes because homemade dye colors & fastness are variable. With improvements in chemistry more people were able to use home-grown dye plants but still the majority of the recipes were copies from European books & non-native plants in early America. In the late 18C it was discovered that coal tar compounds could be made into reliable dyes & the 19C synthetic dyes were on their way. 

Before the advent of synthetic dyes in the mid-1800s, only dyes from naturally-occurring substances were available to those who colored textiles, yarn, baskets, or other materials. There are 2 primary types of natural pigments used in dyeing: fat-soluble & water-soluble pigments. Fat-soluble pigments such as chlorophyll or carotenoids occur in all plants to varying degrees. 

As a rule, natural dyes are extracted from plants by pounding, shredding, or cutting them up. Plant parts are then placed in water & heated to a temperature just below the boiling point until the color has transferred into the water. When the color is added to a mordant-saturated material, the dye will then adhere to the fiber of the material. Mordants help set colors permanently into fibers.

Native Americans used a number of naturally-occurring mordants which include: natural alum precipitated from some drying soils, tannic acid from sumac (berries, branches, or leaves), lye made from wood ashes, urine, a sheep manure & water mixture, & smoke.

Natural dye materials that produce durable, strong colors & do not require the addition of other substances to obtain the desired outcome are called substantive or direct dyes. Sumac (Rhus spp.) & walnut (Juglans spp.) are native plant examples of direct dyes. Because these species are high in tannic acid, they do not require additional substances to be added for the dye to attach to fibers & form a durable bond. Dyes that need this type of assistance are called mordant dyes.

10 plants used by many Native Americans for dyes 

Mountain Alder

Red Alder

Bloodroot

Rubber rabbitbrush

Smooth sumac

Canaigre dock

Eastern cottonwood

Black walnut

Skunkbrush sumac

Butternut

Plants in Early American Gardens - Lacinato Kale

Lacinato Kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala)

An 18th-century Italian heirloom, Lacinato Kale remains popular today due to the superior flavor of its sturdy, savoyed, dark blue-green leaves and high nutritional content. Jefferson recorded the planting of “Cavolo nero (Coleworts)” in his vegetable garden at Monticello on March 12, 1777. Cavolo Nero, or Lacinato Kale, is also known as Tuscan Kale, Dinosaur Kale, and Black Kale.

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 - Black- Eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Introduced to European gardens by 1714, this favorite native wildflower grows in open meadows and sunny sites throughout North America. A self-seeding biennial or short-lived perennial, Black-eyed Susan bears bright yellow flowers with distinctive black eyes in summer and is attractive to butterflies and birds, but not deer.

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 - French Mallow

French Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

When Thomas Jefferson noted “French mallow” on an 1806 list of flowers, he was probably referring to Malva sylvestris, a European and Asian native with handsome, hollyhock-like, purplish-pink flowers. The perennial French Mallow is similar in appearance to its more familiar mallow cousin, the hollyhock. Another common name is “Cheeses Mallow,” a reference to the shape of the seed clusters.

Plant Lists - From Peter Collinson 1694-1768 in London to John Custis 1678-1749 in Virginia

In July of 1736, Peter Collinson in England wrote to John Custis in colonial Virginia,

"I shall be obliged to you for some more o the yoppon, & if the other sorts can be procur'd with Little Trouble please to add some of the Rest for tho' I have Engough already myself, yett I think there is no Greater pleasure then to be Communicative & oblige others. It is Laying an obligation & I seldome fail of Returns for Wee Brothers of the Spade find it very necessary to share amongst us the seeds that come annually from Abroad. It not only preserves a Friendly Society but secures our collections, for if one does not raise a seed perhaps another does & if one Looses a plant another can Supply him. By this Means our Gardens are wonderfully Improved In Variety to what they was Twenty Years agon."

Brothers of the Spade, Correspondence of Peter Collinson, of London, and John Custis, of Williamsburg, Virginia, 1734-1746
By E. G. Swemm, Director Emeritus, William and Mary College
Published by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1949

John Custis (1678-1749) was a prominent citizen of Williamsburg with an apparently most impressive garden. John Bartram, the Philadelphia naturalist and botanist, commented to Peter Collinson that Custis’ garden was second only to that of John Clayton, the English born Virginia naturalist of Gloucester County. Peter Collinson (1694-1768) was a wealthy English Quaker woolen merchant. He maintained an extensive correspondence with American naturalists, especially John Bartram. His famous garden at Mill Hill contained many American plants, many he obtained from both Bartram and Custis. Custis’ correspondence with Collinson, the subject of Swemm’s Brothers of the Spade, depicts both the joys and trials experienced by early gardeners in their exchange of plants across the Atlantic. List prepared by Peter Hatch of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

Plants sent to Virginian John Custis by Peter Collinson from London

Botanical Name, Date, Common Name

Collinson’s Notes:

Abies alba 1738 "silver fir"

Abies sp. 1741 "gilded firs ... which are natives of the
Alps"

Aesculus hippocastanum 1734 "horse chestnuts"

Alcea rosea 1735 "Hollihocks"

Allium neapolitanum lily leek 1737 "white moley"

Amaranthus tricolor Joseph’s coat 1742/3 "Amaranthus Tricolor"

Arbutus unedo 1737 “strawberry tree,” "Arbutus"

Asphodeline lutea 1737 "yellow asphodel,” "yellow asphodill"

Asphodelus albus 1739/40 "white Asphodills"

Brassica oleracea 1736 "cabbage"

Buxus sempervirens cv. 1736 “striped box"

Callistephus chinensis 1736 "China Aster"

Cedrus libani 1735 "Cedar of Lebanon"

Celosia cristata 1738 "tall coxcombs"

Chamaecyparis thyoides 1739 "white cedr"

Citrullus lanatus 1736 'Astrican Water Mellon"

Convallaria majalis 1738 "lilly of the valley"

Cucumis melo 1736 "Affrican Mellon," "Calmuc Mellon
with fruite 2 feet long," "Italian

Melon," "Muscovy Mellon 3 sorts,"
"Sir Charles Wagers Melon,"
“muskmellon"

Cucumis sativis 1736 "Muscovy Cucumber,” "cucumber,"
"long cucumber"

Cupressus sempervirens 1735 "cypress"

Cyclamen sp. 1739/40 "Cyclamens"

Cyclamen coum 1742/3 "spring cyclamen"

Dianthus chinensis 1738 "Double Flowering China or India
pink," "India pinks"

Dictamnus albus gas plant 1742/3 "White Fraxinelloes"

Dictamnus albus ‘ruber’ 1742/3 "Red Fraxinelloes"

Digitalis purpurea 1738 "rose colored foxglove"

Digitalis purpurea ‘alba’ 1737 “flatt?] stalk full of white long hollow
blossoms," "White Fox Glove"

Echinops sphaerocephalus or E.
ritro
1738 "globe [thistle?]"

Eranthis hyemalis 1739/40 "spring Acconite”

Fragaria chiloensis 1736 "Chili strawberry"

Fragaria vesca hautboy strawberry 1736 "Houtboye”

Fritillaria imperialis crown imperial lily 1739 "orange colord"

Fritillaria imperialis lutea 1737 "yellow ones," "lemon colord crown
imperiall”

Fritillaria imperialis cv. 1738 "striped"

Gomphrena globosa globe amaranth 1737 "Amarantheodes,” "Amaranthoides"

Helichrysum orientale 1736 "yellow everlasting flower"

Hesperis matronalis cv. dame's rocket 1735 "Double Rockketts,” "white double
rocketts"

Hibiscus syriacus rose-of-Sharon 1736 "althea”

Ilex aquifolium cvs. 1738 "[gilded?] hollys," "silver holly," "gold
holly"

Ilex aquifolium "Ferox” 1736 "Hedge Hog Holley"

Jasminum sambac 1738 "Arabian jessamins"

Juniperus communis 1735 "juniper berrys"

Laburnum anagyroides golden chain-tree 1735 "laburnum"

Larix decidua 1736 “larch tree”

Laurus nobilis English laurel 1736/7 "Bay Berries,” "bays"

Lavandula stoechas French lavender 1735 "crysanthamum arabian stecus,”
"stecos"

Lilium bulbiferum or
chalcedonicum
1742/3 "fiery lily"

Lilium martagon or chalcedonicum martagon lily? 1739 "red,” "scarlet," "sorts of martigons"

Lilium sp. 1736 "striped Lilly's”

Lonicera sp. 1740 "honey suckles"

Lonicera sp. 1735 "double honysuckles"

Lonicera periclymenum belgica Dutch Woodbine1740 "dutch [honeysuckles]"

Lycospersicon lycopersicon tomato 1742/3 "Apples of Love," "Tamiata”

Malus pumila var. paradisiaca paradise apple 1736 "dwarf apple trees [?] stocks"

Morus nigra 1738 "black mulberry"

Nerine sarniensis 1736 "Gurnsey Lillies"

Nicotiana sp. tobacco 1736 "tob: seed"

Phaseolus sp. 1737 "beans"

Phlomis tuberosa 1736 "Spanish sage trees"

Phoenix dactylifera 1735 "Dates"

Picea abies Norway spruce 1742/3 "spruce Firr"

Picea sp. 1738 "Spruces"

Pinus cembra Swiss stone pine 1738 “stone pines,” "Siberian Cedars"

Pistacia vera 1735 "Pistacioes Nutts, "Pistacios,"
"Pistacia”

Pisum sativum 1737 "peas"

Polianthes tuberosa 1735 "Tuberorse,” "Italian Tuberoses"

Polygonum orientale prince's feather 1736/7 "Oriental Persicary"

Primula x poliantha 1736 "polyanthus"

Prunus dulcis cvs. 1734 almonds: "green shell,” "brown shell,
"cornell,” "soft shell,” "hardshell,"
"thin shelld"

Prunus insititia damson plum 1736/7 "Bullice,” "Damosins"

Prunus padus or Cornus mas European bird cherry or
Cornelian cherry
1738 "cluster cherry"

Prunus persica cvs. 1737 "best peaches, "variety of peaches"

Prunus persica ‘Catherine’ 1740 "Catherine," "Katherine peach"

Prunus persica cv. 1734 "Double Blossome peach"

Prunus persica 'Nutmeg' 1736/7 "Nutmeg peach"

Prunus persica nucipersica 1737 "Nectarines"

Prunus sp. 1735 "chery seeds"

Prunus spinosa blackthorn plum 1736/7 "Sloes"

Pulmonaria officinalis lungwort 1735 "Jerusalem Cowslip"

Quercus suber cork oak 1736-37 "Evergreen Oke whose Bark is the

Cork wee use for Bottles"

Quercus ilex holly oak 1736/7 "Italian Evergreen Okes"

Ranunculus asiaticus Persian ranunculus 1741 "ranunculus"

Rancunculus ficaria 1737 "double yellow pile Wort"

Rhamnus cathartica 1742/3 "Buck thorn"

Ribes sativum 1738 'White Dutch'"White Currants,”
5
“dutch white currant bushes”

Rosa centifolia muscosa 1740 "Moss province"

Rosa x damascene var. 1740 "monthly rose"

Rosa x damascene versicolor 1742/3 "York & Lancaster Rose"

Rosa foetida Austrian briar rose 1736 "yellow rose"

Rosa gallica versicolor Rosa Mundi 1740 “moonday rose"

Rosa gallica 1736 "red rose"

Rosa x hemisphaerica 1735 "yellow province rose," "double yellow
rose," "other yellow rose"

Scilla peruviana 1737 "Blew & White Hyacinth of peru”

Spartium junceum 1736 "Spanish Broome"

Sternbergia lutea winter daffodil 1739-40 "Autumn Narciss with a yellow
Crocus Like flower"

Syringa vulgaris 1737 "lilacks" [other than "pale blew"]

Syringa persica 1738 "persian lilack, "persian lilock"

Tulipa cvs. 1735 "Double Tulips," "tulips," "early
tulips"

Vigna unguiculata 1736 "Italian beans," "black eyed indian
peas"

Vitis vinifera 1736 "grape seeds," "Vines," "White Grape"

UNIDENTIFIED:
“mountain flax” [1742] Swemm says snakeroot but JC
requests this as a medicinal plant he
believes to be very common in
England

“Oriental [?], plant of
paradice”
[1744]

Spanish sage trees [1736] Phlomis tuberosa ?

“syringa[“?] [ 1741] listed among bulbs ?

Laurells [1736] "which I [JC] had very plenty of
before" Magnolia grandiflora, Laurus
nobilis, Prunus (Lauroceraus)
caroliniana?
"The name of the flower white
on one side red on the other"
Possibly Asphodelus albus -- white
w/brown bracts

“Drassenis” 1741] Swemm indexes as "Dracaena”

"small bulbous roots like
hyacinths"
[1736] scilla?.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Sweet Four O'clock

Sweet Four O'clock (Mirabilis longiflora)

In 1812, Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon sent Thomas Jefferson seed of the "Sweet-scented Marvel of Peru.” Native to the arid regions of the southwest and Mexico, Sweet Four O'Clock is an unusual cousin of the more familiar Common Four O’Clock, or Marvel of Peru, M. jalapa. It bears strongly fragrant, long, tubular, pure white flowers that open at dusk for pollination by night insects including hummingbird moths. This species is as rare in gardens today as it was in 1812.

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

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.

Millet

Millet, from Milk, a thousand, from the multitude of seed it bears. There are 4 sorts, white, yellow, black, and the Sorgo or Guinea Corn. It originally came from the eastern countries, and is much esteemed in making puddings. The seed should be sown in the middle of March, very thin, as the plants require room in a warm dry soil. They should be kept clear of weeds, and in August or latter end of July the seed will ripen, when they are to be beaten out; the seed is good for poultry. The black sort, so called from its black seed, is of no use or value.
.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Mandan Red Clay Corn

Mandan Red Clay Corn (Zea mays cv.)

Thomas Jefferson grew “Mandan Corn” in 1807, from seeds sent by Lewis and Clark who lived near the tribe for six months in the winter of 1805. The growing season in North Dakota is short, from June to September, and corn is planted when the gooseberry leafs out. The Mandan style is like a checkerboard, with a hill of two corn plants 4 feet apart, beans between them, and squash edging one family’s plot from the other. Mandan Red Clay Corn plants reach only 4’ high, with multiple “tillers,” or secondary stalks, which form a bush. Also called Lavender Parching Mandan Corn, this beautiful variety bears 6-8” ears; it can be ground into flour and cornmeal, and the kernels can be “parched,” or roasted in a dry skillet.

For more information & the possible availability for purchase

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

Early American Book - 1806 M'Mahon's Early Cucumbers & Melons in a January Hot Frame

.
Bernard M'Mahon's 1806 American Gardener's Calendar published in Philadelphia

A Hot Frame in January for Early Cucumbers and Melons.

As it is generally the ambition of most gardeners to excel each other in the production of early cucumbers, &c. all necessary preparations should be made this month for that purpose, by preparing dung for hot-beds, in which to raise the plants; for they, being of a tender quality, require the aid of artificial heat under shelter of frames and glasses, until the middle or latter end of May, especially in the middle and eastern states.

But by the aid of hot-beds, defended with frames and glasses, we obtain early cucumbers, in young green fruit, fit to cut or gather in February, March and April, and ripe melons in May and June.

The proper sorts of cucumbers for the early crops arc the early short prickly, and long green prickly ; of which the first sort comes earliest; but the latter is considerably the finest fruit, and greatly preferable for general culture.

And if early melons are also required, there are several varieties of the fruit: the Cantaleupe is one of the best for its handsome growth, good size, and superior flavour; and is in much estimation.

The true Cantalcufie or Armenian warted Melon, is very scarce in the United States; its fruit is large, roundish and deeply ribbed, a little compressed at both ends, the surface full otioarted protuberances, like some species of squash, the flesh reddish, firm, and of a most delicious rich flavour; of which there are several varieties, differing principally in colour, and commonly called black rock, golden rock, &c.

This variety of melon derives the term Cantaleupe, from a place of that name near Rome, where it was first cultivated in Europe...brought thence from Armenia a country of Asia, in which is situated the famous Mount Ararat.

But it may also be proper to raise some of the others for variety; the Romanais a great bearer, comes early, but the fruit much smaller though well flavoured ; the Polignac, Nutmeg and Minorca are also fine melons; but it may also be eligible to raise two, three, or more of the best approved different sorts.

Observe, that in procuring these seeds for immediate sowing, both of cucumbers and melons, it is adviseable to have those of two, three or four years old, if possible, as the plants will generally show fruit sooner, as well as prove more fruitful than those of new seeds, which are upl to run vigorously to vine, often advancing in considerable length before they show a single fruit; but when seeds of this age cannot be procured, new seeds may be improved by carrying them a few weeks previous to sowing in your waistcoat or breeches' pocket.

In order to raise early cucumbers and melons, you must provide a quantity of fresh hot stable-dung, wherewith to make a small hot-bed for a seed-bed, in which to raise the plants to a proper growth for transplanting into larger hot-beds next month to remain to fruit; for this purpose a small bed for a one or two light frame may be sufficient, in which case two cart-load of hot dung will be enough for making a bed of proper dimensions for a one-light box, and so in proportion for a larger.

Agreeably to these intimations, provide the requisite supply of good horse-stable-dung from the dunghills in stable-yards, consisting of that formed of the moist stable litter and dunging of the horses together, choosing that which is moderately fresh, moist, and full of heat always prefering that which is of some lively, warm, steamy quality...in proper quantity as above. And being thus procured, proceed to making the hot-bed, or previously to forming it into a bed, if the dung is rank, it would be proper to prepare it a little to an improved state, more successful for that purpose, by forking the whole up into a heap, mixing it well together; and let it thus remain eight or ten days to ferment equally, and for the rank steam and fierce heat to transpire, or evaporate in some effectual degree; and by which time it will have acquired a proper temperament for making into a hot-bed, by which treatment the heat will be steady and lasting, and not so liable to become violent or burning, as when the dung is not previously prepared.

Choose a place on which to make your hot-bed, in a sheltered dry part of the framing ground, and open to the morning and south sun: and it may be made cither wholly on the surface of the ground, or in a shallow trench, of from six to twelve inches deep, and four or five feet wide, according to the frame; but if made entirely on the surface, which is generally the most eligible method at this early season, it affords the opportunity of lining the sides of the bed with fresh hot dung, quite down to the bottom, to augment the heat when it declines, and also prevents wet from settling about the bottom of the bed, as often happens when made in a trench, which chills the dung, and causes the heat soon to decay.

Then according to the size of the frame, mark out the dimensions of the bed, either on the ground, or with four stakes; making an allowance for it to be about four or five inches wider than the frame each way : this done, begin to make the bed accordingly, observing to shake and mix the dung well, as you lay it on the bed, and beat it down with the back of the fork, as you go on : but I would not advise treading it, for a bed which is trodden hard will not work so kindly, and be more liable to burn than that which is suffered to settle gradually of itself: in this manner proceed till the bed has arrived at the height of four feet, which will not be too much ; making an allowance for its settling six or eight inches, or more, in a week or fortnight's time ; and as soon as finished, let the frame and glass be put on : keep them close till the heat comes up, then raise the glass behind that the steam may pass away.

The next thing to be observed, is about earthing the bed, in which to sow the seed ; and for which occasion, should have a proper supply of rich, light, dry earth, or compost, ready at this season, under some airy dry shed, or hovel, covered at top to keep out rain, that the earth may be properly dry : for if too moist or wet at this time, it would prove greatly detrimental both to the growth of the seed and young plants, as well as be very apt to cake and burn at bottom next to the dung.
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Plants in Early American Gardens - Early Snowball Cauliflower

Early Snowball Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea cv.)

Peter Henderson & Company of New York first introduced Early Snowball Cauliflower to American gardeners in 1888. This member of the cabbage family forms a large smooth white head, known as a “curd,” which should be harvested when still tight and compact. Thomas Jefferson recorded sowing cauliflower seed in his Garden Book numerous times.

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.

Plants in Early American Gardens - Amanda Patenotte Rose

Amanda Patenotte Rose (Rosa cv.)

Amanda Patenotte Rose is a highly fragrant Damask rose bred in France by Jean-Pierre Vibert before 1846. The main flush of flowers appears in late spring to early summer, but it will continue to bloom sporadically. It has an upright and spreading habit.

Adapting Large Gentry Gardens to the Small Plots of Townsfolk & Baroness Hyde de Neuville c 1749-1849

Spreading Gardening from the Gentry to the Townsfolk

1809 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849) The fairly modest Moreau House in New Jersey including statues, flower pots, & a little girl with a rake.

One of Irish immigrant seedsman & author Bernard M’Mahon's (1775-1816) goals, as he was writing his 1806 The American Gardener's Calendar was to spread gardening to urban shopkeepers & artisans. These townsfolk, recently arrived from the farms & plantations of America's 18th-century agrarian economy or from abroad, were finding themselves with disposible income but living in unfamiliar, crowded city streets.  During the Revolution, British naval blockades cutting off imports from abroad forced farmers & planters to make their own textiles & home goods, as they severely reduced the tobacco & grains they had been producing for export.  Markets in northern cities became the source for credit & for formerly imported products. By the last decade of the 18th-century, merchants in towns like Baltimore controlled the merchandise supply lines in & out of the region from Europe, nothern American towns, & the West Indies.   Sons & daughters of farmers & planters moved to town to work in the new economy.  Only a small patch of land was available to them there to plant gardens, but M'Mahon realized that the more folks who gardened, the more seeds, plants, tools, & books he would sell.  He was one of the new garden businessmen from abroad.

1810 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849)  Corner Greenwich 

1810 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849) Detail Corner Greenwich

1810 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849) Detail Corner Greenwich

America, Baroness Hyde de Neuville, (Anne Marguerite Henriette de Marigny Hyde de Neuville), arrived in New Jersey from France, with her husband, in 1807.  They were escaping the results of the French Revolution, as the privileged fled from a vindictive egalitarianism. They would find themselves in a new republic, where those from the farms & plantations were making their way west or flooding into the growing towns along the Atlantic coast. The Baroness would document in watercolors the new egalitarian life in the former British colonies during the Federalist era, especially in its growing towns.

1807 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849) View of Utica (New York) from the Hotel

After the French Revolution, she secured the life & safe passage of her husband, who was a royalist, by traveling alone across Europe to intercede with Napoleon.  In order for the couple to escape from France, she posed as her husband’s mother, until they arrived safely in the U.S. They settled on a merino sheep farm in the New Brunswick area.  For a number of years, the couple journeyed to New York City & to various settlements along the Hudson. The Baroness recorded what she saw.  She saw few town gardens.  America's seed dealers & nurserymen were working hard to change that.

Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849)

Many townsfolk gardened in traditional geometric plots, usually defined by walkways on their smaller lots. Craftsmen such as William Faris (1729-1804), who lacked sufficient space on their small town lots to develop classical falling terraces but wished to copy the designs used by the grander families, adopted traditional geometric garden styles that more closely resembled the miniature formal garden adaptations of the Dutch.  Land in Holland was often only a thin layer of soil unable to support the deep roots of trees, so the Dutch planted low hedges instead. As the Dutch population grew, their gardens became more compact as well. While the sophisticated French thought flowers too common & certainly not as controllable as the gravel they used in their parterres, the Dutch were avid flower growers.  That tradition appealed to America's new city dwellers.

 1817 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849) F St DC

After Napoleon was defeated & the King restored to the throne, the de Neuvilles returned to France.  However, the Baron was rewarded for his loyalty & named French Ambassador to the United States, so the couple returned to take up residency in the new capital, Washington.  Baroness Hyde de Neuville continued to produce watercolors depicting life during the Federalist era.

1818 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849) Home in Washington to the French ambassador

American devotion to compact urban flower gardens could be particularly profitable for M’Mahon, who sold flower seeds, plants, & bulbs, devoted much of his landmark book to the cultivation of flowers.

1813 Anne-Marguérite-Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville (French, ca. 1749–1849) The Cottage

Urban Americans were appreciative of their little town gardens. In Philadelphia, Quaker Elizabeth Drinker (1735-1807) wrote in her diary on April 10, 1796, “Our Yard & Garden looks more beautiful, the Trees in full Bloom, the red & white blossoms intermix’d with the green leaves, which are just putting our flowers of several sorts blom in our little Garden--what a favour it is, to have room enough in the City…many worthy persons are pent up in small houses with little or no lotts, which is very trying in hott weather."

Plants in Early American Gardens - Early Curled Siberian Kale

Early Curled Siberian Kale (Brassica napus var. pabularia cv.)

Thomas Jefferson's vegetable garden commonly included various Kales such as German, Russian, Delaware, Malta, and Scotch types. This tender green, also known as Borecole and Headless Cabbage, is superior source of vitamins and iron, surpassing even spinach. Early Curled Siberian Kale is an extremely hardy and vigorous variety with blue-green, ruffled, tender leaves.