The Evolution of the US Capitol gardens & grounds in Washington DC

Cherry Blossoms at the United States Capitol Building

Each spring, America's National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC. In a simple ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft & Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first 2 trees from Japan on the north bank of the Tidal Basin. In 1915, the United States Government reciprocated with a gift of flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan.

Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC

Only a little over 100 years before the first Cherry Blossoms arrived in Washington DC from Japan, on May 3, 1802, Washington DC was incorporated as a city. In 1789, the US Congress - Senate & House of Representatives - assembled for the 1st time in New York. Congress moved to Philadelphia in 1790, and then to Washington, DC, in 1800. In 1807, the Congress moved into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, 4 years before the Capitol’s House wing was fully completed. In 1814, the nation was severely tested, when invading British forces burned the Capitol. It would be another 5 years before the chambers were fully restored. In 1857, the House met for the first time in its present-day chambers. This posting will look at the development & the symbolism of the building & the gardens around the United States Capitol.

Classical Temple Dedicated to Liberty, Justice, and Peace. James Trenchard. Temple of Liberty. The Columbian Magazine, (Philadelphia) 1788, Library of Congress.  This engraving of a classical temple building depicts statues on the roof, including Libertas (liberty), Justicia or Themis (justice), & Ceres (peace). Libertas is at the peak with the others on the corners. In the background a rising sun radiating beams of light with one shining upon Libertas holding her staff & freedom cap. Emerging from the pure, bright sunlight in the distance is the new nation--lady Columbia with an eagle headdress. Standing below is Concordia holding a horn of plenty; Columbia's winged son holding a scroll with CONSTITUTION written on it; and Clio, the muse of history, beginning to write the history of the new nation. Scrolling across the front of the classical temple are the words: SACRED TO LIBERTY, JUSTICE AND PEACE. Below this engraving was written,

Behold a Fabric now to Freedom rear'd,
Approved by friends, and ev'n Foes rever'd,
Where Justice, too, and Peace, by us ador'd,
Shall heal each Wrong, and keep ensheath'd the Sword
Approach then, Concord, fair Columbia's Son,
And faithful Clio, write that "We Are One."

In 1788, Philadelphia's Columbian Magazine published an engraving by James Trenchard called the Temple of Liberty. Trenchard, born in 1746, at Penns Neck in Salem County, New Jersey, was an engraver & seal cutter in Philadelphia, and the artist for many of the plates for the Columbian Magazine, whose circulation was the largest of any 18th century magazine published in America.

Dr. William Thornton [Sketch of Section of Monument and Conference Room], c. 1797 Prints and Photographs Division Library of Congress. Thornton's drawings and concept won the contest to design the capitol.

Built on what came to be called Capitol Hill, its grounds changed greatly over the first half of the 19th century. I thought you might enjoy seeing the various depictions of the changing landscape.
Dr. William Thornton [East Elevation for North Wing], 1795-1797 Prints and Photographs Division Library of Congress.

Fierce competition over the site of the capital city had raged for years, reaching its height during the First Federal Congress, in New York between 1789 - 1790.
Dr. William Thornton [Plan of Ground Story of the Capitol,] c. 1795-1797 Prints and Photographs Division Library of Congress.

The always clever Alexander Hamilton helped broker a compromise in which the federal government would assume the war debt incurred during the Revolution, in exchange for support from northern states for locating the capital further south than New York or Philadelphia.
Dr. William Thornton's winning plan for the Capitol of the United States of America.

The compromise between the advocates for the North and those favoring a Southern location ended the feuding by agreeing on a nearly neutral location on the Potomac River, equidistant between North & South, and easily defended. (It had been George Washington's choice all along, and it was Hamilton's goal to please the General.)
c 1800 A View of the Capitol of Washington Watercolor by William Birch.

The agreement called for a 100-square mile federal district to be located somewhere along the Potomac River at a site to be chosen by fellow river-property owner, George Washington. Washington picked the junction of the Potomac & Anacostia Rivers. He then chose Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a military artist who had served under him at Valley Forge, to design the new federal city.
An 1801 View of George Town and the Federal City, or the City of Washington before its development into the federal city. Color aquatint by T. Cartwright of London after George Beck of Philadelphia. Published by Atkins & Nightingale of London and Philadelphia.

The Capitol of the United States crowns what was then Jenkins Hill in Washington, D.C., and houses the legislative branch of government, the House of Representatives & the Senate.
1806 Benjamin Latrobe View of the Capitol of the United States.

Pierre Charles L'Enfant chose Jenkins Hill as the site for the United States Capitol building, which rose 88 feet above the Potomac River, and sat 1 mile from the White House. L'Enfant declared, "It stands as a pedestal waiting for a monument."
A view of the still undeveloped East Branch of Potomac River at Washington. Watercolor by August Kollner (1813-1906) in 1839.

The land on which the Capitol stands was 1st occupied by the Manahoacs & the Monacans, who were subtribes of the Algonquin Indians. Early settlers reported that these tribes occasionally held councils not far from the foot of the hill. This land eventually became a part of Cerne Abbey Manor. At the time of its acquisition by the federal government "Jenkins Hill" was owned by the well-to-do Marylander Daniel Carroll of Duddington, and it stood on a tract of land originally known by the more classically-inspired name of "New Troy."
1814 George Munger (1781-1825). United States Capitol after the British burned the capitol.

Thomas Jefferson came up with the name Capitol Hill, consciously invoking the famous temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome. The building would be America's Temple of Liberty.
Depiction of the United States Capitol before the fire of 1814.

George Washinton & his allies wanted buildings that would embody the nation's hoped-for future. "In our Idea the Capitol ought in point of prosperity to be on a grand Scale, and that a Republic especially ought not to be sparing of expenses on an Edifice for such purposes."
1815 1st known depiction of the Capitol in Relation to Its Grounds by Benjamin Henry Latrobe [Plan of the Mall and the Capitol Grounds], Geography and Map Division Library of Congress.

The 1792 competition for its design was won by Dr. William Thornton (1759–1828), a physcian & an amateur architect, with a proposal for a Palladian-inspired building featuring a central domed rotunda flanked by the Senate & House wings.
Watercolor Presented to Marquis de Lafayette to Commemorate His 1824 Visit to Capitol. Charles Burton's West Front of the Capitol of the United States. Metropolitan Museum of Art.Spring Break to South Carolina

President George Washington, dressed in masonic attire, laid the cornerstone in 1793, in a masonic ceremony. At this time the site of the Capitol was a relative wilderness partly overgrown with scrub oak. Oliver Wolcott, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, described the soil as "an exceedingly stiff clay, becoming dust in dry and mortar in rainy weather." A muddy creek with swampy borders flowed at the base of the hill, and an alder swamp bordered by tall woods occupied the place where the United States Botanic Garden now stands. The city's inhabitants, like L'Enfant & Washington, expected that the capital would grow to the east, leaving the Capitol & the White House essentially on its outskirts. For some years the land around the Capitol was regarded as a common, crossed by roads in several directions & intended to be left as an open area.
1828 Contrast Between the Temple of Liberty and Nearby Log Cabins by John Rubens Smith. [West Front of the Capitol]. Prints and Photographs Division Library of Congress.

Construction proceeded slowly under a succession of architects, including Stephen Hallet (1793), George Hadfield (1795-98) and James Hoban (1798-1802), architect of the White House, who completed the Senate wing in 1800.
1830-40 Early Perspective Drawing of Completed Capitol Attributed to George Strickland [Perspective drawing of the Capitol from the Northeast,] In the Collection of the Architect of the Capitol.

Though the building was incomplete, the Capitol held its first session of United States Congress on November 17, 1800.
Das Capitol in Washington" Steel engraving by E. Grünenwald after an earlier drawing by H. Brown. Published in 1851.

Benjamin Latrobe took over in 1803; by 1811 he had renovated the Senate wing and completed the House wing.
1839 Capitol Overlooks Pastoral Landscape by Russell Smith. Capitol from Mr. Elliot's Garden. In the Collection of the Architect of the Capitol.

Benjamin Latrobe first considered the Capitol building in relation to its grounds and made a watercolor of the possible landscape design in 1815.
1839 Charles Fenderich's Elevation of the Eastern Front of the Capitol of the United States.

The Senate wing was completed in 1800, while the House wing was completed in 1811. However, the House of Representatives moved into the House wing in 1807.
August Kollner (1813-1906). West Front of the United States Capitol. New York: Goupil, Vibert, & Co., 1839. Library of Congress.

The Capitol was burned by British troops in 1814; and in the following year, Latrobe began its reconstruction and redesign.
1840 W.H. Bartlett's Ascent to the Capitol in Nathaniel P. Willis, American Scenery, vol. 1. London Virtue.

Boston architect Charles Bullfinch succeeded him in 1818; and completed the building, with only slight modifications of Latrobe's master plan, in 1830. Under Bullfinch in 1825, a plan was devised for imposing order on the Capitol grounds, & it was carried out for almost 15 years. The plan divided the area into flat, rectangular grassy areas bordered by trees, flower beds, & gravel walks. The growth of the trees, however, soon deprived the other plantings of nourishment, & the design became increasingly difficult to maintain in light of sporadic & small appropriations.

John Foy, who had charge of the grounds during most of this period, was "superseded for political reasons," & the area was then maintained with little care or forethought. John Foy was dead by 1837, and James Maher took over as the public gardener.  Many rapidly growing but short-lived trees were introduced and soon depleted the soil; a lack of proper pruning and thinning left the majority of the area's vegetation ill-grown, feeble, or dead.
1840 W.H. Bartlett's View of the Capitol at Washington in Nathaniel P. Willis, American Scenery, vol. 1. London Virtue.

By 1837, the Washington Guide reported, The Capitol Square has been enlarged to the west, by taking in that part of the Mall extending from the circular road to First street, west; making about eight acres additional. This space has been properly graded and planted with trees and shrubs by Mr. James Maher, the public gardener:—the other part of the square was planted by the late John Foy, a man of excellent talents and taste. A good substantial stone wall, surmounted by an iron-railing, surrounds the whole square. When the walks are completed, and the water-fountains arranged, this square will afford the most beautiful and healthful walks: a subject well deserving public attention.
1839 South Gateway of the Capitol at Washington, D.C. showing stone walls & iron rails. Gray and sepia wash drawing by August Kollner (1813-1906).
Daguerreotype by John C. Plumbe, Jr., taken about 1846, is the earliest known photographic image of the Capitol. Library of Congress.

In 1874, Congress passed an act making Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) the first landscape architect of the United States Capitol. Olmsted accepted the job, wishing to "train the tastes of the nation." The mid-19th-century enlargement of the US Capitol, in which the House & Senate wings & the new dome were added, required that the Capitol grounds be expanded.

John Singer Sargent (American artist, 1856-1925) Frederick Law Olmsted 1895

Olmsted's original concept for the design for the governmental buildings clustered in Washington, DC envisioned a ground plan that united the White House, Capitol &, other government agencies to symbolize the union of the nation, which was still trying to overcome the divisions of the Civil War. In his previous landscape design plans, Olmsted had made architecture less important than its green surroundings. However, for the seat of the legislative branch of the United States of America, Olmsted wanted to make the Capitol building the crowning centerpiece. Olmsted was determined that the grounds should complement the building.

Reflecting on his work, Olmsted recalled: "The most interesting general fact of my life seems to me to be that it was not as a gardener, a florist, a botanist, or one in any way specially interested in plants & flowers, or specially susceptible to their beauty, that I was drawn to my work. The root of all my work has been an early respect for & enjoyment of scenery, & extraordinary opportunities for cultivating susceptibility to its power. I mean not so much grand or sensational scenery as scenery of a more domestic order -- scenery which is to be looked upon contemplatively & is producing of musing moods."

His 15-year-long project on the grounds of the United States Capitol did envision an open setting immediately surrounding the Capitol & a more naturalistic scenery with shrubbery & trees further from the Capitol, nearer to its entrances.  Because of the many streets & entrances merging at the capitol, the creation of a workable circulation system dominated the design process. The east side of the Capitol needed more open spaces for large masses of people gathered for inaugurations & other large events normally held at the East Front. Two large ovals with scattered trees were designed for the east side to accommodate the grounds needed during such events.

Olmsted's 1874 Plan for the US Capitol

Before he could begin to execute his landscape design, the practical Olmsted had to ensure the soil's nutrients. He began by spending $60,000 to improve the soil; level the ground; & add new sewer, gas & water systems.  Work on the grounds began in 1874. Olmsted constructed marble terraces on the north, west, & south sides of the building, thereby "causing it to gain greatly in the supreme qualities of stability, endurance, & repose."

By 1876, gas & water service was completed for the entire grounds, & electrical lamp-lighting was installed. Utilitarian areas such as stables & workshops were removed from the northwest & southwest corners. A streetcar system, quickly replacing the horses from those displaced stables, north & south of the west grounds was relocated farther from the Capitol. The granite & bronze lamp piers & ornamental bronze lamps for the east plaza area were completed  & installed.  Work on the plantings accelerated in 1877.  By this time, according to Olmsted's report, "altogether 7,837 plants & trees [had] been set out." However, not all had survived: hundreds were stolen or destroyed by vandals, &, as Olmsted explained, "a large number of cattle [had] been caught trespassing." Washington DC had not yet lost all of its rural charm.

By 1879, the roads were paved & most of the work on the east side of the grounds was completed. The stone walls on the west side of the grounds were almost finished.  In 1885, an aging Olmsted retired from superintendency of the huge terrace project; but he continued to direct the work on landscaping the grounds until 1889. In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire from his lifetime of work.
Arieal view of the United States Capitol. The Capitol Grounds cover approximately 274 acres.

Information on Olmstead from Architect of the Capitol & from Christine Owen US Capitol Historical Society. 

The humble picket fence

In front of our house, we asked the contractor to build a simple, white picket fence to separate the little garden area from all the woods around us. The contractor was skeptical, "But they are so much work to maintain."  That is true, but they make such a perfect, orderly, geometric backdrop for the wild, uncontrollable gifts of Nature. These photos of picket fence gardens fueled our aspirations.

Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it. Genesis 2:15

Botany - Development of 1766 Botanic Garden

Historian Joel T. Fry tells us in the HALS Report for Bartram's Garden that John Bartram in the autumn of 1728 purchased an improved farm of a little over 100 acres on the lower Schuylkill. This farm had been part of a much larger plantation on the west bank of the Schuylkill known as Aronameck, first occupied in 1648 during the Swedish colonial settlement of the Delaware Valley. Bartram, a third generation Pennsylvania Quaker, from nearby Darby, began the construction of a stone farmhouse soon after the purchase, whose initial manifestation was completed by 1731.

Bartram probably first planted a kitchen garden at the site in 1729. Bartram probably chose this favorable site with the intention of establishing a large garden, & the location remains well suited to the cultivation of plants today. The initial garden was probably laid out at six or seven acres, & expanded to as large as ten acres in succeeding generations. Additional space was set aside for an orchard, greenhouses & framing, & nursery beds, which totaled as much as twelve acres at the peak of the garden in the 1830s.

John Bartram’s garden began as a personal garden, but grew to a systematic collection of native & exotic plants as Bartram devoted more time to exploration & discovery. Exchanges of plants & seeds from gardens in North America & abroad also fueled the collection. Although not the first botanic collection in North America, by the middle of the eighteenth century, Bartram’s Garden contained the most varied collection of North American plants in the world.

 Around 1733, in an event important to the general history of horticulture & natural science, John Bartram introduced himself via letter to London merchant Peter Collinson (1694–1768), & the two began a lifelong correspondence. Collinson, a member of the Royal Society, & like Bartram a Quaker & an enthusiastic gardener, became the middleman to a scientific trade in seeds, plants, & natural history specimens. Plants from Bartram’s Philadelphia garden were exchanged with a range of botanists, gardeners, & nurserymen in London & throughout Europe. Collinson also arranged funding from patrons among the British elite, which allowed Bartram to leave his farm & go plant hunting.

During his career John Bartram traveled widely throughout the British colonies in North America—plant collecting began in the Mid-Atlantic colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, & Maryland. In time, Bartram traveled north to New York & New England, & south to Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia & Florida, exploring a region spanning from Lake Ontario in New York to the St. John’s River in Florida, & from the Atlantic coast to the Ohio valley.

 As John Bartram tended his garden, he established a family institution that survived him & grew under the care of three generations of his family.  Following the American Revolution, Bartram’s sons John Bartram, Jr. & William Bartram, continued the international plant trade their father had established, & expanded the family botanic garden & nursery business.

 William Bartram was an important naturalist, artist, & author in his own right, & traveled the American South from 1773−1776 under the patronage of Dr. John Fothergill. William Bartram’s Travels… published in Philadelphia in 1791, & reissued in a number of European editions, strengthened the connection between the name Bartram & the science of plants in North America.

Under William Bartram the garden became an educational center & helped to train a new generation of natural scientists & explorers. In the early Federal history of the United States the Bartram Botanic Garden served as the American botanic garden in lieu of any official institution in Philadelphia.

Travel Dreams & Memories - Metal & Clay Garden Cloches

Chelsea Physic Garden

Monticello's version of a clay cloche
Terracotta rhubarb
A bell-shaped terracotta rhubarb forcer with lid, about 13" high

I have been taken to task by one of my friends for being politically incorrect in my biased presentation of glass cloches. He is correct, of course. The only fair thing to do here is show you the other types of cloches from the 17th, 18th, & 19th centuries, some still in use today. They do deserve equal time. In this political season, this is my attempt at trying to be "fair & balanced."

Handmade terra-cotta cloches have existed nearly as long as the blown-glass examples. They often have ventilation holes to prevent spoilage from excessive heat & humidity.

Gardeners often used terra-cotta cloches slow the growth of lettuce.
Terre cotta rhubarb pots at Knightshayes Garden, Tiverton, Devon, England

Other terra-cotta cloches, often about 30" high & similar in shape to chimney pots, were used for forcing rhubarb. Some of these had lids.
Barnsdale Gardens, Exton, Oakham, Rutland, England.

Gardeners also used metal-framed glass cloches during the period.

In metal-framed cloches, one of the glass panes could be removed by the gardener for fresh air ventilation. Sometimes gardeners temporarily would paint the glass white to shade tender plants from direct sunlight.
Audley End Kitchen Garden, English Heritage, Essex, England

Today, these architectural tents or pavilions are more often employed for decorative purposes.

I found only one depiction of a completely metal cloche made in France about 1900.

Let me close by admitting what you surely already realize, I just love those plain, bell-shaped glass cloches...

Very clever make-do cloches.  Lined basket food covers.

BAR 1787 Geo Washington (1732-1799) visits John Bartram on the Schuykill River

On 10 June and 2 Sept. 1787, George Washington had visited the famous botanical gardens on the west bank of the Schuylkill River three miles southwest of Philadelphia that John Bartram, Jr., had received from his father in 1771 (Diaries, 5:166–67, 183).

For George Washington’s attempt to obtain a list of plants available from that garden,( see Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 2 Oct. 1789.) 

The list of March 1792 describes the plants from Bartram’s
garden that arrived at Mount Vernon in early April 1792 (see George Augustine Washington to George Washington, 15 April 1792).

For George Washington’s reordering of the plants which had not survived, see Directive for John Christian Ehlers, 7 Nov. 1792.

List of Plants from John Bartram’s Nursery, March 1792
Catalogue of Trees, Shrubs & Plants, of Jno. Bartram.

Plants
1. Rhododendron maximum
Evergreen, large maximum rose coloured blossoms. [“Mountain laurel,” great laurel, rosebay]
2. Ulex europeus
Embellished with sweet scented flowers, of a fine yellow colour. [Furze]
3 Hypericum kalmianum
Profusely garnished with fine Gold coloured blossoms. [“Shrub St. John’s wort”]
4. H[ypericum]. Angustifolium
Evergreen; adorned with fine yellow flowers.
5. Taxus procumbens
Evergreen; of a splendid full green throughout the year—red berries. [Yew]
6. Buxus aureis [aureus]
Elegant, call’d gilded box.
7. Daphne mezerium [mezereum]
An early flowering sweet scented little shrub. [Mezereon, paradise plant]
8 Calycanthus floridus
Odoriferous, its blossoms scented like the Pine apple. [“Sweet Shrub of Carolina,” Carolina allspice]
9. Berberis canadensis
Berries of a perfect coral red [barberry]
E. 10. Æsculus hippocastanum
A magnificent flowering & shady Tree. [Horse chestnut]
11. Evonimus atrapurpurous
Its fruit of a bright crimson in the Autumn (burning bush). [Euonymus atropurpureus]
12. Fothergilla gardeni[i]
Early in blossom; flowers in spikes, white & delicate. [Dwarf fothergilla, dwarf witchalder]
13. Franklinia alatamaha
Flowers large, white & fragrant—native of Georgia. [Franklin tree]
14 Baccharis
In autumn silvered over with white silky down.
15. Laurus estivalis [æstivalis]
Aromatic & beautified with coral red berries. [Bay tree]
16. Kalmia angustifolia (with the Gaultheria [procumbens], or mountain tea [wintergreen])
Evergreen; garnished with crimson speckled flowers. [“Thyme leav’d Kalmia,” lambkill, sheep laurel]
17 Ilex angustifolia
Evergreen, new. [Holly]
18. Dirca palustris
Early in bloom; singular—(call’d Leather wood). [“Leather Bark”]
19. Thuja occidentalis
A handsome evergreen Tree; beautiful foliage, & odoriferous. [American arborvitae, white cedar]
20. Zanthorhiza apiifolia
Singular flowers early: its root affords a splendid transparent yellow dye (call’d Yellow root, in Carola). [Xanthorhiza simplicissima]
21. Jeffersonia egrilla
Foliage of deep splendid green, & embellished with a delicate plumage of white flowers (call’d Iron wood.)
22. Magnolia tripetala4
Foliage ample, expansive & light, plumed with large white flowers, which are succeeded by large crimson strobile. [“Umbrella Tree”]
23. Magnolia acuminata
Erect with a pyramidal head, the dry strobile odoriferous. [“Cucumber Tree”]
24. Halesia tetraptera [or carolina]
The flowers abundant, white, of the shape of little bells. [Carolina silverbell]
25. Viburnum opulifolium
of singular beauty in flower and fruit.
26 Viburnum Arboreum
very shewy in flower. fruit eatable.
27. Viburnum Alnifolium
handsome flowering shrub. [Viburnum lantanoides; hobble bush]
28. Cupressus disticha
stature majestic, foliage most delicate, wood of a fine yellow colour, odoriferous & incorruptible. [“Bald Cyprus”]
29. Sorbus sativa6
Its fruit pear & apple shaped, as large & well tasted when mellow.
30. Carpinus ostrya
handsome form, dress becoming, fruit singular. (Hop tree). [“Horn Beam”]
31. Sorbus aucuparia
Foliage elegant, embellished with umbells of coral red berries. [European mountain ash]
32. Acer striatum
singularly beautiful; the younger branches inscribed with silvery lines, or scrawls, on a dark purpleish green ground. [Acer pensylvanicum; striped maple, moosewood]
33. Acer glaucum
beautiful foliage. spreading & shady—(Silver-leaf’d Maple).
34. Acer sacharinum
A stately Tree, in his native forests—(Sugar Maple)
35. Acer platanoides
graceful stature, full of asscending branches, foliage & flower elegant, casts a grateful shade on the Lawn. [Norway maple]
36. Stewartia malachodendron
Floriferous, the flowers large & white embellished with a large tuft of black or purple threads in their centre. [Silky stewartia or stuartia]
37. Clethra alnifolia
Flowers abundant in spikes, exceedingly sweet scented. [“Clethra,” sweet pepperbush]
38. Styrax grandifolium
a most charming flowering shrub, blossoms snow white & of the most grateful scent; (called Snow-drop tree). [Snowbell, storax]
39. Philadelphus coronarius
a sweet flowering shrub, (call’d Mock Orange)
40. Philadelphus inodorus
his robe a silvery flower’d mantle.
41. Pinus Strobus
Magnificent! he presides in the evergreen Groves (white pine).
42. Pinus communis
a stately tree, foliage of a Seagreen colour, & exhibits a good appearance whilst young. (Scotch Fir).
43. Pinus Larix
elegant figure & foliage. [“Larch Tree”]
44. Thuja orientalis
Foliage pleasing. [Oriental arborvitae]
45 Robinia villosa
a gay shrub, enrobed with plumed leaves & roseat flowers. [“Peach Blossom Acacia”]
46. Pinus balsamea
a tree of pleasing figure, delicate foliage, evergreen, & affords fragrant & medicinal balsam (Balm of Gilead Fir).
47. Pinus abies virginiana
A Stately evergreen Tree, his foliage of delicate appearance; the wood useful and durable, & of great value (Hemlock Spruce).
48. Cornus mascula [or mas]
flowers early, the fruit oblong of the size of a plum, of a fine crimson colour, and wholsome pleasant eating. [Cornelian cherry]
49. Prunus cerasus, flore roseo
more or less according to the stock; a very beautiful flowering tree, its blushing blossoms double—(double flowering cherry).
50. Prunus maritima
flowers early, fruit of a dark purple sweet & pleasant eating. [“Beach or Sea-side-Plumb”]
51. Prunus missisipi
Fruit of the largest size, oval; of a perfect deep crimson colour, possesses an agreeable taste, & affords an animating marmolade. [“Crimson Plumb”]
52. Prunus chicasa
Early flowering, very fruitful; the fruit nearly round, cleft, red, purple, yellow, of an inticing look, most agreeable taste & wholsome. [“Chicasaw Plumb”]
53. Glycine frutescens
A rambling florobundant climber; the blossoms in large pendant clusters, of a fine celestial blue, well adapted for covering arbors. [Wisteria frutescens; “Kidney Bean Tree,” wisteria]
54 Æsculus pavia
[Red buckeye]
55. Æ. ″ ″ varietas
their light & airy foliage, crimson & variegated flowers, present a gay & mirthful appearance; continually, whilst in bloom visited by the brilliant thundering Humingbird. The root of this Tree is esteemed preferable to soap, for scouring & cleansing woolen Cloths.
56. Æsculus virginica
beautiful foliage Flowers pale yellow. [Yellow horse chestnut]
57. Æsculus alba
The branches terminate with long erect spikes of sweet white flowers.
58. Juniperus sabina
Evergreen. [Savin]
59. Evonimus americanus
evergreen, presents a fine appearance in Autumn, with crimson fruit. [Euonymus americanus; spindle tree]
60. Prunus Laurus cerasus
A beautiful evergreen tree of Europe; its green leaves are said to possess a dangerous deleterious quality. [Prunus laurocerasus; cherry laurel, English laurel]
61. Yucca filamentosa
beautiful ornamental evergreen [Adam’s needle]
62. Yucca gloriosa
flowering plants. [Spanish dagger]
63. Myrica gale
possesses an highly aromatic, and very agreeable scent. [“Bog gale,” sweet gale, bog myrtle]
64. Platanus orientalis
a famous tree celebrated for the beauty of his foliage, expansion, and grateful shade he affords. [Oriental sycamore, oriental plane]
65. Amorpha fruticosa
[Bastard indigo]
66. Amorpha cærulia [cœrulea]
Foliage light and delicately pennated, garnished with flowers of a fine [Bastard indigo]
 67. Salix variegata
Silver blotched willow.
68 Mespilus nivea
An early flowering shrub, of uncommon elegance (Snowy mespilus). [Medlar]
69. Mesp. pubescens
Somewhat resembling the foregoing; but of less stature & the flowers not so large, nor of so clean a white: both produce very pleasant fruit.
70. Mesp: pusilla
flowers early, the blossoms white & abundant; exhibits a fine appearance.
71. Mesp. prunifolia
Presents a good appearance, when all red with its clusters of berries. [Aronia prunifolia; chokeberry]
72. Colutia [Colutea] arborescens
exhibits a good appearance, foliage pinnated, of a soft pleasant green, colour, interspersed with the large yellow papillionacious flowers, in succession. [Bladder senna]
73. Rhus Italicum
[Sumac]
74. Mespilus pyracantha
a beautiful flowerg shrub, evergreen in mild seasons. [Pyracantha coccinea; firethorn]
75. Itea virginiana [or virginica]
a handsome flowerg shrub. [Virginia sweetspire, Virginia willow, tasselwhite]
76. Cornus alba
white berried swamp Dogwood.
77. Prunus divaricata
diciduous, flowers white in raumes [racemes], stems diverging & branches pendulous. [Prunus cerasifera divaricata; cherry plum]
78. Hydrangia [Hydrangea] arborescens
Ornamental in shruberies, flowers white in large corymbes.
79. Andromeda axil[l]aris
Evergreen. [Bog rosemary]
80 Acer pumilum
handsome shrub for coppices, foliage singular, younger shoots red. [Dwarf maple]
81. Amygdalus persica, flore pleno
of great splendour & amiable presence. [Prunus persica, flore pleno; double-flowered peach]
82 Magnolia glauca
charming—the milk-white roseate blossom possesses an animating fragrance. [Magnolia virginiana; “Rose Laurel,” sweet bay, swamp magnolia]
83. Sambucus rubra
early flowering and handsome; its coral red berries in large clusters, ripe abt midsummer. [Sambucus canadensis; American elder, sweet elder]
84 Rubus odoratus
foliage beautiful; flowers of the figure, colour & fragrance of the rose. [Flowering raspberry, thimbleberry]
85. Rosa Pennsylvanica flor: pleno
flowers monthly from May ’till Novembr [Rosa palustris; swamp rose]
86. Lonicera inodora
Twine’s round, & ascends trees spreading its bloom over their boughs. [Honeysuckle]
87. Ribes oxyacanthoides
fruit small & smooth. [“Prickly Gooseberry”]
88. Populus balsamifera
foliage beautiful, its buds in the spring replete with an odoriferous balsam. [Balsam poplar]
89. Crategus [Cratægus] aria
foliage beautiful; silvered with white cottony down, underside. [Hawthorn]
90. Pt[e]lea trifoliata
singular, (call’d the foil tree) [“Trefoil Tree,” hop tree]
91. Lonicera symphoricarpos
singular; appears well in winter when garnished with clusters of red berries. [“Indian Currants”]
92. Laurus nobilis
Sweet Bay, a celebrated Evergreen—leaves odoriferous. [“Red Bay,” bay laurel, sweet bay]
93. Rhus triphyllum
Singular early flowering shrub. [“Poison Oak,” sumac]
94. Citisus laburnum
foliage delicate, embellished with pendant clusters of splendid yellow papillionacious flowers. [Cytisus anagyroides laburnum, Laburnum anagyroides; golden-chain]
95. Periploca græca
climbing up trees & shrubs; flowers very singular. [Silk vine]
96. Hibiscus coccineus
a most elegant flowering plant; flowers large, of a splendid crimson colour. [Scarlet rosemallow]
97. Bignonia crucigera
A climber, mounting to the tops of trees & buildings; flowers abundant. [“Cross Vine,” trumpet flower]
98. Bignonia semper virens
A climber as famous, at least for the richness of his robe; flowers of a splendid golden yellow, & odoriferous; very proper for covering arbors &c. [“Yellow Jasmin”]
99. Betula (alnus) maritima
singular; retains his verdure very late in the autumn. [“Sea side Alder”]
100. Amygdalus pumila, flor: pleno
A most elegant flowering shrub; ornimental in vases for Court yards &c. [Prunus pumila, flore pleno; sand or dwarf cherry, dwarf doubleflowering almond]
101. Arundo donax
Maiden Cane.
102. Callicarpa americana
Very shewy & pleasing; the flowers of a delicate incarnate hue, & vast clusters of purple berries. [“Bermudas Mulberry,” French mulberry, American beautyberry]
103. Syringa persica
(Persian Lilac) elegant; its flexile stems terminate with heavy panicles of purple blossoms, of animating fragrance.
104. Mimosa virgata
Singularly beautiful in its plumed foliage—native of Pearl Island near the Misisipi.
105. Punica granatum flor. plen:
the figure & splendour of its flowers exceed description. [Pomegranate]
106. Aristolochia sipho.
Climbs & spreads over trees & other supports, to a great height & distance: flowers of singular figure; its abundant large leaves, present it as a vine well adapted for covering arbors. [Aristolochia macrophylla; Dutchman’s pipe]

Common names for each plant (when missing from the descriptive entry), modern classifications (if different), alternative classifications, and corrected spellings are given in square brackets. Common names in quotation marks are taken from Bartram’s Catalogue of American Trees, Shrubs, and Herbacious Plants: Most of Which Are Now Growing, and Produce Ripe Seeds in John Bartram’s Garden, Near Philadelphia. The Seed and Growing Plants of Which Are Disposed Of on the Most Reasonable Terms (Philadelphia, 1784).

“List of Plants from John Bartram’s Nursery, March 1792,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-10-02-0109. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 10, 1 March 1792 – 15 August 1792, ed. Robert F. Haggard and Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2002, pp. 175–183.]

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-10-02-0109

Plants to honor national heros & republican ideals

Gardening To Honor National & Classical Heros

In the new republic the garden had inspired & been a stage for displaying nationalism since its inception. The names Annapolis craftsman William Faris (1729-1804) chose for his tulips reflect the craftsman's enthusiasms, for the new nation & for classical republican ideals.

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1573-1621) Glass with Four Tulips 1615

Naming flowers for national & classical heros was not a new concept. In the 1630s, Dutch citizens from every walk of life were caught up in an extraordinary frenzy of buying & selling tulips. The flower rapidly became a coveted luxury item & status symbol.

Between December 1636 & January 1637, fortunes were made & lost in the Netherlands--in tulip bulb futures trading. In hopes of making their bulbs the most desirable, growers named their new varieties with exalted titles.

Many early forms were prefixed Admiral, often combined with the growers' names—Admirael van der Eijck was perhaps the most highly regarded of about 50 so named. General was another prefix that found its way into the names of around 30 varieties. Later came varieties with even more superlative names, Alexander the Great, "Admiral of Admirals," & "General of Generals."

A Dutch contemporary explained that you give a "name you fancy, and stand a bottle of wine to your friends that they may remember to talk about it." The market for tulips crashed in February of 1637, but the concept of naming tulips for heros lingered in the minds of early American flower growers.

In his diary on July 3, 1801, Annapolis clockmaker & silversmith William Faris listed his tulip varieties by name. They included war heros “General Washington & Lady Washington,” "General Williams,” “General Wayne,” “General Smallwood,” “General Putnam,” “General Harry Lee,” “General Morgan,” “General Gates,” & “Colonel Howard.”

Faris also named his precious tulips after political leaders--- “Adams,” “Hamilton,” “Madison,” & “Dr. Franklin”-- & for classical heroes-- “Aristides” “Fabius,” “Pompey the Grate,” “Archimedes,” “Cato,” “Cicero,” “Domostines,” & “Cincinnatus.”

Naming flowers after national & classical heroes was not peculiar to Faris in the early republic. On April 9, 1804, he recorded in his dairy receiving balsam plants from his neighbor Alexander Contee Hanson (1749-1806), whose father John Hanson (1721-83) had signed the Articles of Confederation & served as the first president of the Congress in 1781.

The son was deeply affected by the Revolution & wrote, “during the whole memorable interval between the fall of the old & the institution of the new form of government, there appeared to exist among us such a fund of public virtue as had scarcely a parallel in the annals of the world.”

It is not surprising that the younger Hanson named his balsam plants “General Washington,” which Faris described as white, purple, & crimson; “Franklin,” which was purple; “Lady Washington,” “flesh mixed”; “the President,” crimson & pink; “Aristides,” white & purple; & “General Green,” which Faris left undescribed.

Hybridizing new varieties of flowers to be named for classical & national heroes became a popular pastime after the Revolution in the Chesapeake.

1764 Plants in 18C Colonial American Gardens - Virginian John Randolph (1727-1784) - Mugwort -

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.

Mugwort

Mugwort, Artemisia, wife of Mausolus, king of Caria, who first brought it into use; or Parthenis, as it was before called, because supposed that a virgin goddess gave name to it; or Artemis gr. Diana, because good for the disorders of women. This plant is propagated by parting the roots, either in spring or autumn, and will grow in any soil or situation. They spread very much, to prevent which their side shoots should be cut; from one species of this the moxa is got, being the Lanugo or downy substance under the leaf.