PART ONE

AMERICAN ROOTS

The discovery of the New World in the 17thcentury offered far-reaching possibilities,

greater than at any previous time, forcollectors to acquire a wealth of new plants.

During this period – now known as the Age ofEnlightenment – botanists and dendrologists

were anxious to accumulate as many newintroductions as they could lay their handsupon. Keepers of the physic gardens were

constantly in pursuit of new plants for theircollections and academic studies, whilst

aristocratic families vied with each other tocreate evermore impressive parks and

gardens. Wealthy gentlemen took it uponthemselves to finance plant-hunting

expeditions in temperate North America, andfor those unable to send out private plant

hunters, nurserymen too were there to supplytheir 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 17thcentury offered far-reaching possibilities,

greater than at any previous time, forcollectors to acquire a wealth of new plants.

During this period – now known as the Age ofEnlightenment – botanists and dendrologists

were anxious to accumulate as many newintroductions as they could lay their handsupon. Keepers of the physic gardens were

constantly in pursuit of new plants for theircollections and academic studies, whilst

aristocratic families vied with each other tocreate evermore impressive parks and

gardens. Wealthy gentlemen took it uponthemselves to finance plant-hunting

expeditions in temperate North America, andfor those unable to send out private plant

hunters, nurserymen too were there to supplytheir 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).

1514

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.

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

Above: John Tradescant the Younger, attributed to Thomasde Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

Facing page: John Tradescant the Elder, attributed toEmanuel de Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

*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

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.

1514

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.

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

Above: John Tradescant the Younger, attributed to Thomasde Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

Facing page: John Tradescant the Elder, attributed toEmanuel de Critz. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

*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

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.

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

51

COLLECTORS, NURSERYMEN

and the CHANGING SHAPE OF

LANDSCAPE and GARDENS

* 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.

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

51

COLLECTORS, NURSERYMEN

and the CHANGING SHAPE OF

LANDSCAPE and GARDENS

* 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.

87

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 (1872-

1944), 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 (1869-

1959) 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 gardenoriginally planted by the late LanningRoper, c.1964, as an extension to theyellow and gold drawing room.

Left: Neatly clipped yew hedges.

Below: An attractive pot stands in a quiet corner.

87

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 (1872-

1944), 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 (1869-

1959) 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 gardenoriginally planted by the late LanningRoper, c.1964, as an extension to theyellow and gold drawing room.

Left: Neatly clipped yew hedges.

Below: An attractive pot stands in a quiet corner.