Virginia
Gardens - An Historical Vignette
Virginia is particularly rich
in her gardening tradition - unsurprisingly as many of
early settlers arrived from England, where gardening is
one of the nation's great passions.
In 1699, Williamsburg became
the capital and with that came the plantations of Tidewater,
the gardens of colonial Williamsburg, and Mount Veron
Estate. George Washington,
resided at Mount Vernon plantation where he was able to
indulge his passion
for gardening and landscaping. He once declared to a friend."My
agricultural pursuits and rural amusements ...have been
the most pleasant occupation of my life, and the most
congenial to my temper".
Washington
wrote to friends and acquaintances asking for unusual
plants and seeds, such as horse chestnuts and linden trees.
He even asked his nephew to bring him mahogany seeds from
the West Indies, and requested another relative to bring
him seeds of South Carolina's greater magnolia. It
is notable that to this day, this unselfish tradition
of the generous and neighbourly exchange of cuttings and
plants among landowners, both great and small, has contributed
to the existence and growth of many of the plants we have
today.
Washington oversaw every every detail of his plantings,
from seeding to pruning and staking. He even positioned
trees according to their potential for mature height and
width. Though no detailed records have been found of Washington's
beloved flowering plants, the restorers at Mount Vernon
utilized plant lists from similar Virginia gardens and
building on the notes of some of Washington's visitors,
they recreated the gardens on view today giving us a invaluable
snapshot of this great period in American agricultural
history.
Bibliography
and Acknowledgments
Shown: American Dogwood ( Cornus
florida )
