PART ONE
AMERICAN ROOTS
The discovery of the New World in the 17th century offered far-reaching possibilities, greater than at any previous time, for collectors to acquire a wealth of new plants. During this period – now known as the Age of Enlightenment – botanists and dendrologists were anxious to accumulate as many new introductions as they could lay their hands upon. Keepers of the physic gardens were constantly in pursuit of new plants for their collections and academic studies, whilst aristocratic families vied with each other to create evermore impressive parks and gardens. Wealthy gentlemen took it upon themselves to finance plant-hunting expeditions in temperate North America, and for those unable to send out private plant hunters, nurserymen too were there to supply their needs. Passions were aroused and competition was fierce at every level.
Painshill Park. Many of the garden's follies are situated around the lake (see p.45).
PART ONE
AMERICAN ROOTS
The discovery of the New World in the 17th century offered far-reaching possibilities, greater than at any previous time, for collectors to acquire a wealth of new plants. During this period – now known as the Age of Enlightenment – botanists and dendrologists were anxious to accumulate as many new introductions as they could lay their hands upon. Keepers of the physic gardens were constantly in pursuit of new plants for their collections and academic studies, whilst aristocratic families vied with each other to create evermore impressive parks and gardens. Wealthy gentlemen took it upon themselves to finance plant-hunting expeditions in temperate North America, and for those unable to send out private plant hunters, nurserymen too were there to supply their needs. Passions were aroused and competition was fierce at every level.
Painshill Park. Many of the garden's follies are situated around the lake (see p.45).
THE JOHN TRADESCANTS and THE GARDEN MUSEUM The story of the Tradescants, gardeners to royalty and aristocracy, and collectors of plants and rarities, is an exceptional one. Although trees, shrubs and plants had trickled into Britain from other countries for some considerable time, the John Tradescants,* father and son, were perhaps the first and most important plantsmen of their time to collect plants from North America. Tradescant the Elder enjoyed the position of gardener at Hatfield House for Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, for whom he travelled around Europe buying garden stock. After the Earl’s death, he moved back to Kent and settled in Canterbury, where he became gardener to Lord Wotton and later, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It had become increasingly apparent that the colonisation of North America was essential to England’s future prosperity, but the British government lacked the financial resources to take advantage of the opportunity. However, King James I (1603-1625) granted a charter to a new joint stock company to settle and plant a colony in that part of America known as Virginia. Some entrepreneurs were prepared to take up the challenge, and put into motion plans to establish the Virginia Company, which would underwrite settlements in North America and, ‘In a little over two years, the Virginia Company would have its initial public stock offering at £12.10s. a share’.1 The aim was to find gold, silver, precious minerals and a navigable river flowing to the North West that would help them reach the Pacific Ocean and China, thus offering new trading opportunities. A secondary aim was the conversion of the indigenous people to Christianity.
*John Tradescant (c.1570-1638) is believed to have been a Suffolk man, known to have married a girl in Meopham, Kent. They had a son, another John (1608-1662), who followed in his father’s footsteps as gardener and collector of exotic plants for royal and aristocratic masters, as well as
14
Above: John Tradescant the Younger, attributed to Thomas de Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD Facing page: John Tradescant the Elder, attributed to Emanuel de Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD
In need of extra funds, theVirginia Company persuaded wealthy gentlemen, merchants and adventurers to purchase shares in the company and many must have hoped their investment would bring substantial rewards. When Tradescant heard from his friends of the wealth of new plants and trees that were to be found in this vast new territory, he was captivated. He heard that the ‘City Livery Company
for his family’s vast collection. When only 19, John the Younger married Jane Hurte and they soon had two children, a girl and a boy. Sadly, Jane died before her son was 2 years old; John went on to marry Hester Pookes.
15
THE JOHN TRADESCANTS and THE GARDEN MUSEUM The story of the Tradescants, gardeners to royalty and aristocracy, and collectors of plants and rarities, is an exceptional one. Although trees, shrubs and plants had trickled into Britain from other countries for some considerable time, the John Tradescants,* father and son, were perhaps the first and most important plantsmen of their time to collect plants from North America. Tradescant the Elder enjoyed the position of gardener at Hatfield House for Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, for whom he travelled around Europe buying garden stock. After the Earl’s death, he moved back to Kent and settled in Canterbury, where he became gardener to Lord Wotton and later, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It had become increasingly apparent that the colonisation of North America was essential to England’s future prosperity, but the British government lacked the financial resources to take advantage of the opportunity. However, King James I (1603-1625) granted a charter to a new joint stock company to settle and plant a colony in that part of America known as Virginia. Some entrepreneurs were prepared to take up the challenge, and put into motion plans to establish the Virginia Company, which would underwrite settlements in North America and, ‘In a little over two years, the Virginia Company would have its initial public stock offering at £12.10s. a share’.1 The aim was to find gold, silver, precious minerals and a navigable river flowing to the North West that would help them reach the Pacific Ocean and China, thus offering new trading opportunities. A secondary aim was the conversion of the indigenous people to Christianity.
*John Tradescant (c.1570-1638) is believed to have been a Suffolk man, known to have married a girl in Meopham, Kent. They had a son, another John (1608-1662), who followed in his father’s footsteps as gardener and collector of exotic plants for royal and aristocratic masters, as well as
14
Above: John Tradescant the Younger, attributed to Thomas de Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD Facing page: John Tradescant the Elder, attributed to Emanuel de Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD
In need of extra funds, theVirginia Company persuaded wealthy gentlemen, merchants and adventurers to purchase shares in the company and many must have hoped their investment would bring substantial rewards. When Tradescant heard from his friends of the wealth of new plants and trees that were to be found in this vast new territory, he was captivated. He heard that the ‘City Livery Company
for his family’s vast collection. When only 19, John the Younger married Jane Hurte and they soon had two children, a girl and a boy. Sadly, Jane died before her son was 2 years old; John went on to marry Hester Pookes.
15
COLLECTORS, NURSERYMEN and the CHANGING SHAPE OF LANDSCAPE and GARDENS The famous garden of Henry Compton, Bishop of London, at Fulham Palace, the interest in gardens shown by the new monarch William III and, undoubtedly, the gossip about the arrival of new plants from that far distant land, North America, all contributed to the enormous enthusiasm for exotics or ‘curiosities’, as they became known. A plant like golden rod was no more than a rampant weed in America, but it found a place in the English Garden amongst the most treasured introductions. Garden enthusiasts, serious botanists and collectors, as well as those intent on impressing visitors, were full of wonder and eager to enhance their collections. At first, the varieties available were limited and only a small selection of the new plants was in cultivation, but soon after the beginning of the 18th century the nursery trade exploded. The mania for plant collecting became a national disease, not unlike Tulipomania of the early 1600s when collectors lusted after tulip bulbs as if they were precious jewels.* Some gentlemen were able to employ their own collectors and by 1730 the entrepreneurial Quaker plantsman Peter Collinson had set up his ‘mail-order’ business, which was to operate for thirty years. A similar scheme, on a smaller scale, was run in Scotland by Samuel Bard, who, in 1764, wrote to his father in New York, requesting him to, ‘recommend a proper person as a correspondent’ to find collectors to supply seeds and plants for a syndicate of ‘gentlemen keen to import foreign seeds from different parts of the globe, but chiefly from America’. The deed was done; interested gentleman
paid a subscription and in return, collections were made in the various colonies.1 The nursery trade flourished and those dealing in North American exotics sprung up around the country; in Scotland and in England, from Liverpool to London, nurserymen were having difficulty in meeting demand. There were opportunities for the sharp-witted to make a quick profit and, as reported by John Harvey, the pleasure gardens behind inns may be seen as a precedent for later ‘garden centres’ set up as adjuncts to tea gardens.2 Another enterprising gentleman was the Reverend William Hanbury (1725-1778), who, before coming to the church at Langton in Leicestershire, acquired land locally, and in 1751 began to sow seeds from distant countries, particularly North America. He also sold the seeds, and then in 1758, in direct competition with the nursery trade, he set up a charitable trust to benefit his church from the sale of ‘forest trees of all sorts, American plants, flowering shrubs, greenhouse plants, etc.’ This was a great success and he made enough money to pay for a new roof for his church.3 William Cobbett (1762-1835) was a talented individual, who as well as pursuing interests in journalism, social reform and agriculture, eagerly promoted garden trade between Britain and North America. His visits to America led him to write the book The American Gardener (1821), which he later adapted as The English Gardener (1838). He returned to England with a fascination for American plants and opened a nursery in Kensington, promoting the sale of American exotics. Among his favourites, which he
* Ironically, it was the American plants, shrubs and trees, such as the scarlet oak, the ‘great laurel’ (Rhododendron maximum), the sugar maples and other
American beauties that posed enormous competition to the tulips and contributed to their fall from fashion.
51
COLLECTORS, NURSERYMEN and the CHANGING SHAPE OF LANDSCAPE and GARDENS The famous garden of Henry Compton, Bishop of London, at Fulham Palace, the interest in gardens shown by the new monarch William III and, undoubtedly, the gossip about the arrival of new plants from that far distant land, North America, all contributed to the enormous enthusiasm for exotics or ‘curiosities’, as they became known. A plant like golden rod was no more than a rampant weed in America, but it found a place in the English Garden amongst the most treasured introductions. Garden enthusiasts, serious botanists and collectors, as well as those intent on impressing visitors, were full of wonder and eager to enhance their collections. At first, the varieties available were limited and only a small selection of the new plants was in cultivation, but soon after the beginning of the 18th century the nursery trade exploded. The mania for plant collecting became a national disease, not unlike Tulipomania of the early 1600s when collectors lusted after tulip bulbs as if they were precious jewels.* Some gentlemen were able to employ their own collectors and by 1730 the entrepreneurial Quaker plantsman Peter Collinson had set up his ‘mail-order’ business, which was to operate for thirty years. A similar scheme, on a smaller scale, was run in Scotland by Samuel Bard, who, in 1764, wrote to his father in New York, requesting him to, ‘recommend a proper person as a correspondent’ to find collectors to supply seeds and plants for a syndicate of ‘gentlemen keen to import foreign seeds from different parts of the globe, but chiefly from America’. The deed was done; interested gentleman
paid a subscription and in return, collections were made in the various colonies.1 The nursery trade flourished and those dealing in North American exotics sprung up around the country; in Scotland and in England, from Liverpool to London, nurserymen were having difficulty in meeting demand. There were opportunities for the sharp-witted to make a quick profit and, as reported by John Harvey, the pleasure gardens behind inns may be seen as a precedent for later ‘garden centres’ set up as adjuncts to tea gardens.2 Another enterprising gentleman was the Reverend William Hanbury (1725-1778), who, before coming to the church at Langton in Leicestershire, acquired land locally, and in 1751 began to sow seeds from distant countries, particularly North America. He also sold the seeds, and then in 1758, in direct competition with the nursery trade, he set up a charitable trust to benefit his church from the sale of ‘forest trees of all sorts, American plants, flowering shrubs, greenhouse plants, etc.’ This was a great success and he made enough money to pay for a new roof for his church.3 William Cobbett (1762-1835) was a talented individual, who as well as pursuing interests in journalism, social reform and agriculture, eagerly promoted garden trade between Britain and North America. His visits to America led him to write the book The American Gardener (1821), which he later adapted as The English Gardener (1838). He returned to England with a fascination for American plants and opened a nursery in Kensington, promoting the sale of American exotics. Among his favourites, which he
* Ironically, it was the American plants, shrubs and trees, such as the scarlet oak, the ‘great laurel’ (Rhododendron maximum), the sugar maples and other
American beauties that posed enormous competition to the tulips and contributed to their fall from fashion.
51
Left: Neatly clipped yew hedges. Below: An attractive pot stands in a quiet corner.
The old Rose Garden, laid out by Sir Peter Shepheard in 1983, was transformed in 2003-4 into the Summer Garden; despite its new name, it gives interest for ten months of the year. It is contained within clipped yew hedges with finials shaped into cones, urns, and pineapples – symbols of hospitality. This area has also been reworked: gone are the tiny patches of lawn and most of the roses have been stripped out. To quote Stephen Crisp: “Roses are drug addicts and we don’t have time to feed their habits”. Indeed the Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’, which still covers the central wrought-iron gazebo, is to be replaced by hornbeam saplings, which will be clipped to the shape of the gazebo framework. Inspired by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian (18721944), Crisp has planted the Summer Garden with blocks of stachys byzantina, santolina, heuchera, euonymus, and boxwood spheres and cubes to create a three-dimensional effect. Further inspired by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s (18691959) use of art glass to decorate windows, Crisp echoes these colours in the garden beds with golden Rudbeckia, purple Echinacea, and lemon and orange dahlias rising above their dark foliage to glow in the autumn sunshine. The old herbaceous borders have been re-vamped and there is now a purple and pink border in which herbaceous plants and shrubs are mixed to give a harmonious colour scheme: tulips, cannas, dahlias and cleome grow together. Planting is close, no soil is visible, and in this way staking is rendered unnecessary apart from for the dahlias; weeds are kept to a minimum and maintenance made easier. A pleasant circuit around the perimeter of the lawn passes a wild-flower meadow with primroses, cowslips and camassias raising their heads through the meadow grasses, and a little farther on the path becomes a woodland walk, especially pretty in springtime when the blossom on the shrubs and small trees has broken. On the south side of the house is a golden yellow and green garden. This was first created by the American garden designer Lanning Roper in the mid 1960s, as an extension of the yellow and gold drawing room, but over the years it was lost. Crisp has now recreated it using euonymus and euphorbia, highlighted with blossoms of white lilac, and guelder rose among the other planting.
Above: Spring foliage and blossom. Right: The golden and green garden originally planted by the late Lanning Roper, c.1964, as an extension to the yellow and gold drawing room.
87
Left: Neatly clipped yew hedges. Below: An attractive pot stands in a quiet corner.
The old Rose Garden, laid out by Sir Peter Shepheard in 1983, was transformed in 2003-4 into the Summer Garden; despite its new name, it gives interest for ten months of the year. It is contained within clipped yew hedges with finials shaped into cones, urns, and pineapples – symbols of hospitality. This area has also been reworked: gone are the tiny patches of lawn and most of the roses have been stripped out. To quote Stephen Crisp: “Roses are drug addicts and we don’t have time to feed their habits”. Indeed the Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’, which still covers the central wrought-iron gazebo, is to be replaced by hornbeam saplings, which will be clipped to the shape of the gazebo framework. Inspired by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian (18721944), Crisp has planted the Summer Garden with blocks of stachys byzantina, santolina, heuchera, euonymus, and boxwood spheres and cubes to create a three-dimensional effect. Further inspired by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s (18691959) use of art glass to decorate windows, Crisp echoes these colours in the garden beds with golden Rudbeckia, purple Echinacea, and lemon and orange dahlias rising above their dark foliage to glow in the autumn sunshine. The old herbaceous borders have been re-vamped and there is now a purple and pink border in which herbaceous plants and shrubs are mixed to give a harmonious colour scheme: tulips, cannas, dahlias and cleome grow together. Planting is close, no soil is visible, and in this way staking is rendered unnecessary apart from for the dahlias; weeds are kept to a minimum and maintenance made easier. A pleasant circuit around the perimeter of the lawn passes a wild-flower meadow with primroses, cowslips and camassias raising their heads through the meadow grasses, and a little farther on the path becomes a woodland walk, especially pretty in springtime when the blossom on the shrubs and small trees has broken. On the south side of the house is a golden yellow and green garden. This was first created by the American garden designer Lanning Roper in the mid 1960s, as an extension of the yellow and gold drawing room, but over the years it was lost. Crisp has now recreated it using euonymus and euphorbia, highlighted with blossoms of white lilac, and guelder rose among the other planting.
Above: Spring foliage and blossom. Right: The golden and green garden originally planted by the late Lanning Roper, c.1964, as an extension to the yellow and gold drawing room.
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