Nineteenth Century Rochester Nurseryman George Ellwanger Traveled to England for Plants

Mount Hope Nurseries opened in Rochester, New York during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Begun by immigrants George Ellwanger from Germany and Patrick Barry from Ireland, the nursery issued its first catalog in 1843.

In his article ” Ellwanger and Barry: Builders of American Horticulture” in The Garden Journal Bernard Harkness writes about Ellwanger’s travels to England for ornamental plants to sell at the nursery.  His trips began in 1844.

Harkness wrote: “A Liverpool nurseryman told him that if it were not for the American trade, he might just as well give up.”

Mount Hope Nurseries not only sold plants but offered a display garden as well to demonstrate how a landscape with ornamental plants might look like.

One of the visitors to Mount Hope in the nineteenth century was the Buffalo landscape designer  Elias Long.

Long mentioned his visits to Rochester in the book he wrote in 1884 called Ornamental Gardening for Americans: A Treatise on Beautifying Homes, Rural Districts, Towns and Cemeteries.

Ellwanger and Barry provided plants and landscape ideas for American gardens, often with plants from English nurseries.

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