I am happy to report that the Victorian Society in America has given my new book All about Flowers: James Vick's Nineteenth-Century Seed Company its annual book award. According to their website, the Victorian Society presents its award to up to…
It's that time of year again. Garden catalogs arrive in the mail on a regular basis. Even historian Jill Lepore has a new article in The New Yorker called "What We Learn from Leafing through Seed Catalogues." She presents her…
You might consider that growing flowers, designing a landscape, and installing a lawn are just pages in the history of the garden. They are that, but much more. People learned about what kind of garden to cultivate from those who…
Last week I visited Rochester, New York . I traveled there to give a talk about my James Vick book at the Rare Books Department of the Library of the University of Rochester. Right after I arrived I remembered that…
One of the most prolific writers of the nineteenth century, horticulturist Peter Henderson (1822-1890) wrote several books. Henderson was born in Scotland and trained 'in the Old World method' of gardening, according to Wilhelm Miller, Chicago landscape designer. In 1847…