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Southern
Gardens Emigrants, Immigrants, and Natives in Westville's Gardens By the 1830s,
some European cultural traditions had been expunged from the young American
nation. The Colonial sport of bowling on outdoor greens, for instance,
had gone the way of the Royalist governors. But the passion for ornamental
gardening had not suffered from similar political prejudices. Though their
owners might not have realized it, by the 1830s a typical American garden
was thoroughly cosmopolitan. Native American plants stood petal to stem
with plants from the known reaches of the world, and the gardens of Europe
were enhanced with varieties from the New World. At other
locations in the village, Westville’s ornamental immigrants from
Europe include candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)
at Grimes-Feagin, which grew on Mediterranean sea cliffs and reached the
gardens of northern Europe in the mid-18th century. Money plant (Lunaria
annua) at the Patterson-Marrett farmhouse was probably native to Italy.
Known also as “white satin flower,” “honesty,” and
“silver plant,” it was reputed to be one of the first European
garden plants to reach America. Rose campion (Lychnis coronaria)
was from southern Europe and was in gardens by mid-14th century. The purplish-red
variety at the McDonald House was being grown by 1597. Narcissus
was known in ancient Greece and Egypt and all around Mediterranean, though
deliberate hybridizing did not begin until latter half of 19th century.
Soapwort (Soponaria officinalis) at Bryan-Worthington came from
Europe and Central Russia and was used in colonial America to cleanse
delicate fabrics. Periwinkle (Vinca minor) from southwest and Central
Europe was used in the Middle Ages as a garland for criminals on their
way to execution in Britain. In the 14th century it was called “joy
of the ground.” Vinca major , found naturalized in the woods
at Westville and transplanted to the MacDonald House, was probably native
to the west and central Mediterranean and was probably introduced later
than vinca minor. Salvia
(Salvia officinalis) at the Singer Gates, was an ancient garden plant
in southern Europe, though not used in England before the 15th century.
By the end of the 17th, it was in American gardens. Most of the other
varieties of salvia came from Brazil and Mexico, including “cardinal
flower” (Salvia fulgens), and blue salvia (Salvia patiens). Sweet
William (Dianthus barbatus) at Grimes-Feagin, came from western Europe,
the Near East, and Turkey. Henry VIII grew it at Hampton Court and Jefferson
at Shadwell in 1767. Tansy (Tanacetum vulgaris) was native to England
and in gardens by Middle Ages. Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)
at Bryan-Worthington, was probably native to southeast Europe and naturalized
in Europe and North and South America. Originally
garden lupines all derived from European crop species. L. alba
from the Balkans and the Aegean, the the Romans used for oil and fodder.
L. luteus was from southwest Europe and was a crop plant but also a garden
plant used for perfume since the late 16th cent. The first perennial was
introduced from Virginia in 1637, L. perrenne (now lost) The blue-purple
lupine arrived from the west coast of America in 1826 (L. polyphyllus).
The madonna lily (Lillium candidum) was possibly from Anatolia.
The Greeks imported it from Asia Minor as salve or ointment, sacred to
several goddesses and the Romans distributed it throughout the Empire.
It reached America by 1830. From
further reaches, among the vegetables grown occasionally in Westville’s
demonstration plots, pumpkin was native of India and the Levant.
Cucumber, originally from the East Indies, had been cultivated
by Egyptians and esteemed by Romans. It was introduced into England in
1573 and made its way to the American colonies. Sweet potato was
a native of both China and India. It was first cultivated in England in
1597 and is the potato mentioned in Shakespeare. The “Irish potato”
was scarcely known at the time. Garlic was native of Sicily and
South France. Day
lilies (Hemerocallis) were originally Asian. The lemon-yellow, perfumed
daylily, H. flava, was probably native to Asia, though it had been in
Europe so long that it was once thought native to foothills of southern
Alps. It was common in country gardens in 1660s in Europe and popular
in American cottage gardens by 1800s The orange, tawny H. fulva was grown
by the Chinese for beauty and edibility. The Chinese called it “flower
of forgetfulness,” because it supposedly caused loss of memory and
thus of sorrow. In Europe it was used for “hot swellings of the dugges
after childbirth.” In 1860 double form of H. fulva was brought from
Japan and was sold in London by 1861 In 1864 a variegated form arrived,
and both were known as “kwanso” types. H. maculata , with a
bronze patch on each petal arrived 1897. By the end of 19th century new
species flooded Europe Some arrived in America and were re-exported to
Europe. By 1900 modern types were being bred in America. Currently there
are about 7,000 varieties. Among
our North American emigrants, the spiderwort or widow’s
tears (Tradescantia virginiana) in the McDonald house garden was native
to eastern North America . It was introduced to Britain after 1654 and
was one of the first colonial American ornamentals to be grown in English
gardens. Jerusalem artichoke, a close relative of the sunflower,
was originally a native west of the Mississippi River that was taken to
Europe in 17th century where it was known as the “potato of Canada.”
Its name, though, is a misnomer. “Jerusalem” is a corruption
of the Italian girasole, or sunflower, and artichoke was from the fancied
resemblance of the boiled root to a true artichoke. Gaillardia, or “blanket
flower” at the Grimes-Feagin house was a Texas native. Evening
primroses (Oenothera) are mostly American. Oenothera grandiflora was
an American native, andOenothera biennis, a tree primrose, was sent from
Virginia to Padua as early as 1619. Phlox subalta [McDonald house]
was sent by Bartram from America to England in 1745. Phlox paniculata
[Grimes-Feagin house], or “common purple” phlox was introduced
to England 1730 and the first garden variety was deveolped in 1824. The
parent rhododendrum (Rhododendrum catawbiensee) was found in 1799
on the Roan River in the mountains between North Carolina and Tennessee
by John Fraer. Latin
America offered another rich source of ornamentals for the Old World.
Oenothera. longiflora, an uncommonly large, showy yellow type of evening
primrose, was a native of Buenos Aires. Four O’clock (Mirabilis
jalapa) [Grimes-Feagin house] was known as the “Marvel of Peru.”
Seeds were brought from Peru to Spain in the 16th century and thence to
England before they emigrated to America. Pineapple sage (Salvia
rutilans) [McDonald house] came from Mexico. Nasturtium (Tropaeolum
mahus) [Grimes-Feagin], a native of Peru, was introduced to Spain and
thence into to England in 1681. Penstemon, the popular border type
(Penstemon hartwegii) came from Mexico in 1825 but was not grown outside
until 1838. Fifteen new species were introduced between 1827-1834. By
1839 it was considered one of the greatest boons conferred upon English
gardens by the discovery of the New World. Verbena
was introduced to England from South America (1826-1837) and was for a
time synonymous with “bedding” plants. But like fabrics, colors,
and architecture, flowers go in and out of fashion. Take the case of the
petunia --from “petun,” a Brazilian word for tobacco--which
was introduced into Europe in the 1830s. It offered a sensational spash
of color in the garden, and by 1840 there were many hybrids. But by the
1880s verbenas and petunias were losing their fascination, giving way
to pelargoniums, which we know by the common name of geraniums.
They were introduced to Europe from South Africa in 1631 but didn’t
become a fashion rage until the 1880s. Another variety, Geranium maculata
, came from North America in 1732. Poinsettia
was introduced 1833 by Joel R. Poinsett of Charleston, who was minister
to Mexico under Andrew Jackson. Helianthus or sunflowers were all
from North and South America. They had made their way into European gardens
by the 16th century. By the 1750s, smoke and fog in London made the perennial
form more popular. Among
the North American trees that made their way back to Europe, the Magnolia
grandifloras, or “big laurels” at McDonald and Grimes-Feagin,
were native in states south of North Carolina. The large leaf magnolia
(Magnolia macrohylla) Michaux discovered near Charleston in 1789 and introduced
it to Europe in 1800. Between 1787-1796, Andre Michaux also discovered
Magnolia cordata, or the “yellow cucumber tree,” near
Augusta. He sent it to France and never found another one. Many years
later, Louis Berkmans discovered another in the woods 18 miles south of
Augusta. Fringe tree or Grancy Graybeard (Chionanthus virginica)
was discovered in Virginia. Berkmans
nursery in Augusta, by the way, called “Fruitlands,” was one
of the two largest nurseries in the South before the Civil War, the other
being in Richmond, Virginia. In his 1861 catalogue, Berkmans listed 1,300
varieties of pears, 900 apples, 300 grapes, 300 peaches, 100 camellias
and 100 azaleas. Many of the varieties of camellias and azaleas he cultivated
for outdoor culture he imported from Belgium, Germany, France,and Japan The
catalpa trees that line the street in front of the McDonald house
were native to American states south and west of Virginia. The pecan
at Grimes-Feagin house was a native, originally found in Missouri and
Arkansas, in portions of Ohio, and on the Wabash and Illinois rivers.
Osage orange (possibly at Patterson-Marrett farmhouse) was native
to the Arkansas River and tributaries of Mississippi River. Fine-grained
and very very elastic, its wood was used for bows, hence its common name
Bodac, a corruption of bois d’arc. Sweetgum
was the most widely diffused tree in America, though its use is limited.
It does not split well for firewood, and is unsuitable for boat building.
In fact, I have run across a reference to it as “alligator wood,”
implying that it readily sinks. If sawn, it can be used for furniture,
though it is not popular. According to its common name in Europe, “liquid
amber, ” it enjoys a somewhat higher status there. Its gum was exported
from Mexico and used as a styptic. In shops it is called “white balsam
of Peru.” Both a stimulant and an aromatic, it has been long used
in France as a perfume, especially for gloves. Jefferson
died July 4, 1826, long before Congress funded the four expeditions of
John Frémont to explore the west in the 1840s. Frémont brought
back Western native flowers which are now easily familiar in American
and European gardens, including sunflowers, gaillardia, rudbeckias,
verbenas, yuccas, lupines, asters, penstemons, goldenrods, phloxes, larkspurs,
and aquilegias. Had Jefferson lived, no doubt he would have tried
them at Monticello.
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