Garden history Archives - American Gardening

Vick’s Nineteenth Century Dahlia Field

September 17, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Last weekend I drove to North Kingston, Rhode Island for a dahlia show, sponsored by the Rhode Island Dahlia Society. This is an annual late summer event that I thoroughly enjoy.

Here is one of the flowers I saw that afternoon. This dahlia’s called ‘Merluza’. [below]

Dahlia ‘Merluza’ at Rhode Island Dahlia Society’s Dahlia Show, held last weekend

The beautiful show of dahlia blooms there reminded me of nineteenth century seed company owner James Vick’s love for dahlias.

In providing seeds for his customers, spread around the country, Vick cultivated acres of various flowers and vegetables, including dahlias.

You would have found his field of dahlias about five miles north of the Rochester city limits. [below]

Vick’s Seed House and Mill at his trial farm, located north of Rochester, New York. History of Monroe County, New York, 1877

Once the editor of the Illustrated Christian Weekly visited Vick’s dahlia field and wrote an article about his visit.

The editor’s article appeared in Vick’s Illustrated Monthly of September 1879.

He wrote, “Mr. James Vick, of Rochester, N. Y., was the pioneer in the systematic growing of flower seeds, and without doubt the most extensive grower in America.”

That was quite the praise for Mr. Vick at a time when the seed and nursery business was growing around the country.

Then the editor raved about the blooms of the many dahlias he saw in the rows devoted to this flower at Vick’s seed farm.

He said, “Perhaps the largest field devoted entirely to one kind of flowers, at the time of our visit, was one filled with Dahlias, and containing six or more acres. It was supposed to include every variety known of real merit, and the display was gorgeous.”

What a sight that must have been – to see six acres of nothing but dahlias.

The Rhode Island Dahlia Society’s Show expressed that variety in what growers had on display. I was especially impressed with the prize winners.

In a room off the central area you could see dahlia flower arrangements.

This is the where you could experience the creativity demanded in flower arranging. The top winner for the category called the ‘Dining Room’ deserved the prize. [below]

Notice the brilliance of the dahlias in this table design.

First place in the category ‘Dining Room’ arrangement.

Vick grew many dahlias. As the editor stated in his letter, Vick cultivated almost every variety known at that time.

Today there are thousands of dahlia varieties available on the market. The Rhode Island Dahlia Society’s show last week offered just a few of them. Many however were new to me.

I am sure that Mr. Vick himself would have been proud to attend the Rhode Island event.

Filed Under: Advertising, Annuals, Garden history, Seed business, Victorian Tagged With: Dahlia

Garden Renewed: Rescue of an Old Place

September 10, 2018 by admin 3 Comments

Recently I finished reading a book, published in 1892, called The Rescue of an Old Place.

The book traces the journey of a late nineteenth century couple to renew a Victorian garden.

Author

The author, Mary Caroline Robbins, tells the story of discovering the home and renewing its landscape in Hingham, Massachusetts, not too far from where I live.

She and her husband purchased the property in the early 1890s.

Robbins writes, “The site of the old house, shaded by some fine Elms and White Ashes, was too near both streets to be at all desirable, though the shrubbery and the tangled remains of an old flower-garden rendered it very attractive.”

She could see the potential in the landscape, though it had long been neglected and seemed to be crying out for attention.

Winter Street

Their house sat on four-acres along Winter Street.

On a recent visit to Hingham I drove down Winter Street. Though I could not find the house, I saw the contours of the land along each side of the street.

I also noticed that part of the street bordered on a marsh with water that came from the near-by ocean.

Hingham is a town along the coast that attracts people who covet a quaint New England seacoast town.

Garden

The book devotes a great deal of space to the poor condition of the trees and shrubs as well the garden.

As I was reading it, I could see how clearly the author wanted to make the landscape attractive.

She sought to save much of the existing plantings, identifying much that she found on the property.

She named the property ‘Overlea.’

Robbins writes, “When came to examine matters at Overlea, as we named our acquisition, from its command of the meadow, we found that a good sweeping and dusting would do wonders for it.”

But it was the long-neglected Victorian flower garden that called out to her.

She wrote, “Next to our tree garden came the old-fashioned flower garden as an object of care and interest in the renovation of the place.”

She restored it with popular Victorian perennials and annuals.

The life of a garden

Though a garden may decline and even cease to exit because of neglect, some form of regular maintenance will preserve a gardener’s work for a long time, even generations.

Gardeners know the challenge so well.

Filed Under: Garden fashion, Garden history, Garden style, gardening, Victorian

Annuals Make Summer’s End Special

September 3, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Annuals make summer’s end special.

Annuals become an important part of the garden at the end of the summer.

When so many perennials have gone by, annuals continue to supply color and structure to the garden.

Rochester, New York seed company owner James Vick (1818-1882) wrote about annuals and their appeal even to the end of summer.

In his magazine Vick’s Illustrated Monthly of 1879 Vick wrote, “The seeds of Annuals are sown in the spring, either in nicely prepared beds in the garden, or in boxes in the house, by those who have no better or more costly arrangements; the plants arrive at maturity in the summer, bud, blossom, ripen their seeds and die in the autumn, having performed their entire mission.”

“To the Annuals, we are indebted mainly for our brightest and best flowers in the late summer and autumn months.”

Right now you will find annuals shining in all their glory in Prescott Park in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. [below]

Prescott Park garden, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Perennials form part of this garden at Prescott Park, but it is the continued blooming of annuals that makes this scene at the end of the summer so special.

Vick taught his readers to love flowers, including annuals.

In a piece on annuals in his magazine Vick wrote, “While writing this article we received a communication from the wife of one of the leading editors of America, describing her success with Annuals, and their wonderful beauty during the autumn months.”

Then Vick quotes her.

She said, “I never had much success with Annuals until I became acquainted with your Guide, and learned about good seed and how to grow them, and now I never fail. My garden is beautiful all the fall with lovely brilliant flowers.”

She mentions some Victorian favorites, still popular today. Her list includes pansies, petunia, phlox, amaranth,and nasturtium.

The color in her garden at the end of summer she attributed to Vick’s guidance.

She promised Vick, “I intend to do wonders this year, and exhibit my flowers at our State Fair, and if I take a prize I will let you know.”

As in Vick’s day, annuals continue even to the end of summer to provide a joyous color just like you can see right now at Prescott Park.

Filed Under: Annuals, Garden fashion, Garden history, Seed business, Victorian

Victorians Reignited Tulip Interest

August 27, 2018 by admin 2 Comments

Victorians reignited tulip interest.

Tulips have been popular flowers for the gardens of Europe and America since the seventeenth century.

After tulip mania, when the cost of a single tulip might equal the price of a house, tulips became common and soon gardeners lost interest.

In the late Victorian period once again tulips took off as important garden plants.

Garden historian Ruthanne C. Rogers’ article “The Man who loved Tulips ” appeared in the Journal of the New England Garden History Society. She wrote, “Although interest in tulips waned in the early nineteenth century, the Victorian period brought about a revival in this country.”

The seed companies and nurseries of the late nineteenth century fed that new interest though articles and illustrations in their catalogs. Of course such garden businesses also provided the latest tulip bulbs.

Nineteenth century Rochester, New York seed company owner James Vick (1818-1882) wrote in 1879, “Nothing in the floral world can equal the dazzling brilliance and gorgeousness of a bed of good Tulips.”

Vick often included illustrations in his catalog. Tulips surround the metal bird bath in this garden scene from one of his catalogs. [below]

Bulbs in the Garden, Vick’s Floral Guide,1880

An illustration from another Vick catalog showed a whole bed of tulips.

The Bulb Garden. Vick’s Floral Guide, 1874

Vick often invited visitors to see the flowers, including tulips, that he had planted at his own home in Rochester. [below]

Vick’s Rochester home on the south side of East Avenue. History of Monroe County, New York. 1877

In his magazine Vick’s Illustrated Monthly Vick included this colorful chromolithograph of several popular tulips.

Tulips, Vick’s Illustrated Monthly 1879

Merchant Alexander Hamilton Ladd (1815-1900), a passionate gardener in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, planted sixty thousand tulips every year. In his garden journal he recorded both the work and the enjoyment from such a massive planting.

He certainly embodied the Victorian love of tulips.

Filed Under: Advertising, Bulbs, Garden fashion, Garden history, Nursery business, Seed business, Victorian

Remembering Years of Pleasure from Gardening

August 20, 2018 by admin 2 Comments

Remembering years of pleasure from gardening –

Alexander Hamilton Ladd (1815-1900) lived in a colonial mansion on downtown Market Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

William Whipple, an eighteenth century relative and the original owner of the house, had signed the Declaration of Independence.

A horse chestnut that Whipple planted in 1776 when he returned from the signing in Philadelphia still stands in the front to the side of the house.

Today, however, A. H. Ladd is remembered primarily for his garden in the back of the property.

Alexander H. Ladd’s garden journal

Ladd kept a journal of his work of many years in the garden. The journal, discovered only in 1990, became a book simply titled Alexander H. Ladd’s Garden Book 1888-1895: A 19th Century View of Portsmouth. It recounts his love of gardening.

After many years of working in the garden Ladd reflected on how much the garden meant to him.

In a letter to his son William dated Saturday, November 16, 1895 Ladd wrote about the pleasure the garden had given him for so many years.

He said, “I think it [the garden] is as good and productive a garden as any in the state, and I have never seen a better one. I have been at work upon it for 30 years and have gotten lots of pleasure, health, and vegetables from it.”

Very simply stated, isn’t it?

He enjoyed gardening because of the pleasure it gave him.

Ladd planted thousands of tulips every Fall. He dug them up after blooming and stored them for planting later for the next spring.

His love of gardening included dark moments as well. These are moments when you ask yourself, is it all worth it?

Ladd wrote in his journal on October 24, 1889, after planting dozens of tulips, “I can never do better, and perhaps not so well again, and have lost much interest in this Hobby.”

He gardened, inspite of dark moments, because of the pleasure it gave him.

Filed Under: Flowers, Garden fashion, Garden history, Garden style, Victorian

Just Enjoy the August Landscape

August 13, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Just enjoy the August landscape –

We have worked hard in the three months of April, May, and June to get the landscape in shape. We planted trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals.

Late nineteenth century Central Park superintendent Samuel Parsons Jr. (1844-1923) founded the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1899.

He wrote his book Landscape Gardening in 1891.

In it he said that the landscape needs something to sustain us during the hot and steamy months of July and August.

He wrote, “Since we are forced to dwell more or less in the open air in July and August, constrained by fashion and the heat of the weather, it is all the more reasonable to make the extension of the house attractive.”

The past few summer weeks here in the Northeast have been particularly hot and humid.

Who feels like working in the garden in heat and humidity?

Parsons continued in these words: “and to take the opportunity of making this fashion a means of gradually developing a more widespread love of nature.”

Since it is too hot to dig and plant in the garden right now, this is the time we take to enjoy the trees and shrubs and other treasures we have carefully planted either this year or in earlier springs and earlier summers.

Parsons clearly pointed out that the landscape needs a lawn, choice trees, and a few shrubs with color.

We’ve planted them.

This is the time to enjoy the work we have done.

Parsons gave many recommendations for trees and shrubs that we could enjoy as part of the landscape.

The point he made however was we need to enjoy the landscape now. Just walk around, take it all in, and then sit down for a quiet moment or two.

We’ve worked hard. Now we enjoy.

Filed Under: Garden fashion, Garden history, Lawn, Nursery business, Victorian

Alexander von Humboldt Influenced Early Ecologists

August 6, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Alexander von Humboldt influenced early ecologists.

Nineteenth century German scientist, plant hunter, and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) laid the groundwork for what we now call ecology.

He saw nature as united and interconnected. When one element changes, the entirety feels the impact.

He also influenced others, including some Americans, to think of nature in that way as well.

Andrea Wulf writes in her book The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World that German scientist Ernst Heckel (1834-1919) mentioned Humboldt’s view of ecology in his own book Generelle Morphologie. Heckel wrote, “All the earth’s organisms belonged together like a family occupying a dwelling; and like members of a household they could conflict with, or assist, one another.”

Heckel wrote, according to Wulf, that ecology was the ‘science’ of the relationship of an organism with its environment.

Wulf credits Humboldt with influencing also the work of American naturalists Henry David Thoreau and John Muir.

Little did I know as I set out to read Humboldt’s biography that I would come to see his writing as the foundation for modern ecology.

My motivation in reading about him was that I wanted to see how he played out his role as plant hunter. He traveled in Latin America for five years to study its flora and fauna. In the midst of that process he was also expected to find and bring back plants for European gardens. At that time plant hunters traveled the world to enrich the gardens, mostly of the wealthy, with new ornamental plants.

Alexander von Humboldt however became much more than a plant hunter. He redefined nature for us.

As Wulf argues so well in her great book, we need to credit Humboldt with initiating a way of thinking about nature that has deep implications to this very day.

Filed Under: Garden history, Victorian

Exotic Vine Once Considered Ornamental, Now Invasive

July 30, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Exotic Vine Once Considered Ornamental, Now Invasive –

Recently I noticed what appeared to be an invasive vine in my garden.

The vine Celastrus orbiculatus, or Oriental bittersweet, had climbed up a lovely white birch tree, practically strangling it. [below]

Oriental bittersweet [ New England Wild Flower Society]

I cut and pulled as much of the vine off the tree as I could. I was not able to reach the top of the tree, but I can now see the leaves, cut from their stem, drying up.

Oriental bittersweet came to the US in 1886 from Japan as an ornamental vine for the home landscape. That year it was first offered in the New York Kissena Nurseries catalog.

According to Peter del Tredici’s 2014 article “Untangling the twisted tale of oriental bittersweet” in Arnoldia magazine it was the Arnold Arboretum in Boston that popularised this vine for American gardens.

Today it is considered invasive here in the Northeast.

In the New Hampshire Landscape Association Newsletter horticulturist Michael Bald calls it a “most-alarming terrestrial plant species” in his article “Three Invasive Plant Species to Really Watch Out For.”

Climbers were coveted in the late nineteenth century Victorian garden.

Rochester, New York seed coompany owner James Vick (1818-1882) praised such vines in his catalog of 1874. He wrote, “The climbers furnish us with nature’s drapery, and nothing produced by art can equal their elegant grace. As the Lilies surpass in beauty all that wealth or power can procure, or man produce, so these tender Climbers surpass all the producing of the decorator’s skill.”

Vick included the native bittersweet, Celastrus scandens, in the section of his 1889 catalog called ‘Climbers.’

By 1893 imported bittersweet Celastrus orbiculatus was found in many gardens in the United States, according to del Tredici.

Michael Dirr writes in his useful reference book for gardeners Manual of Woody Landscape Plants that today Celastrus scandens has hybridized with C. orbiculatus and so can also be considered an invasive vine.

It may seem hard to imagine that what was once considered a desirable ornamental plant is anything but that for today’s garden.

Celastrus orbiculatus is only one among many exotics that have now become invasive.

Can you name others?

Filed Under: Garden history, Seed business, Victorian

Late Nineteenth Century Gardens Included Perennials

July 23, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Late nineteenth century gardens included perennials –

Last week I visited the Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden on Market Street in the seacoast city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Portsmouth is home to several historic gardens in the downtown area. Because of its long tradition as an important early American seacoast city Portsmouth includes Colonial, Georgian, and Victorian styles of architecture and landscape.

In 1912 the National Society of the Colonial Dames acquired the Moffatt-Ladd House. Built in the late 1700s, the house once belonged to William Whipple, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The landscape includes an elaborate garden which, in its present form dates to the second half of the nineteenth century when Alexander Hamilton Ladd (1815-1900) owned the property.

Ladd kept a journal of what he planted in the garden. The journal, simply called Alexander H. Ladd Garden Book 1888-1895: A 19th Century View of Portsmouth was discovered only a few years ago and is now available for anyone to read. It provides a wonferful glimpse of American garden history.

In the book Ladd carefully lays out his work in the garden. At one point he planted 60,000 tulips. Plants were his true love.

He also wrote about his beds and borders of perennials, which, by the late nineteenth century, had become a popular form of gardening, replacing the use of annuals. By the 1870s English garden celebrities writer William Robinson and landscape gardener Gertrude Jekyll were encouraging perennial borders.

Rochester, New York nurseryman George Ellwanger (1816-1906) wrote a book called The Garden’s Story in 1889. He argued against both the stiff formal garden and carpet, or ribbon, beds. He noted that “the objectionable forms of gardening are being superseded by a more natural style–a revival of the old-fashioned hardy flower borders, masses of stately perennials.”

Today you can still see that garden fashion in the garden at the Moffatt-Ladd House in Portsmouth. Beds of stately perennials instead of the dreaded carpet beds and ribbon beds of annuals fill the garden. [below]

Perennials in the garden at the Moffatt-Ladd House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Though it was a very hot day when I visited, I enjoyed this reveal of garden history.

Thanks to all the volunteers who work in the garden to keep it in the style Ladd first laid out in the late nineteenth century.

Filed Under: Garden history, gardening, Perennials, Uncategorized, Victorian

Milwaukee Honored Alexander von Humboldt

July 16, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Milwaukee honored Alexander von Humboldt. The city named both a street and park after the nineteenth century German scientist.

I was born and raised in Milwaukee.

The city played an important role in making the German plant explorer, scientist, and writer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) more familiar to Americans.

Humboldt Boulevard, a street on the east side of Milwaukee, croses Fratney Street where my brother and his family lived for many years.

Humboldt Boulevard was named after Alexander von Humboldt.

Humboldt Park in the Bay View area of south-east Milwaukee, not far from Lake Michigan, was given its name in 1900, also to honor the German scientist.

Today the Milwaukee County Parks website says this about the 45-acre Humboldt Park: “Home of Milwaukee’s Craft Beer Garden, Humboldt Park also features a bandshell, ball fields and courts, a lagoon for fishing and ice skating, plenty of pathways, and community events all year long.”

Here is photo of the park from the early twentieth century. [below]

Humboldt Park [Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee]

This is a more recent view of Humboldt Park. [below]

Humboldt Park [Courtesy of Milwaukee County Parks]

British author Andrea Wulf wrote a book about Humboldt called The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World . The book is a joy to read because you see the impact of Humboldt on ecology, a field he pioneered. Wulf says, “His name was a household name around the country after he published his book called Cosmos.”

Cosmos appeared in five volumes from 1845 to 1862.

After 1850 Milwaukee was home to many German immigrants. They developed a beer industry that gave the city several breweries including Pabst, which became the largest brewery in the world by the 1890s.

Wulf writes that “The U.S. Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, sent Humboldt nine American maps that showed all the different towns, counties, mountains, and rivers that were named after him.”

So when, so many years ago, I rode the bus on Humboldt Boulevard, I was honoring Alexander von Humboldt, the German scientist. I never knew that til now.

Filed Under: Garden history, gardening