Miss Willmott's 'filmy ferns'
Miss Willmott's filmy ferns
Gardenhistorygirl
Gardenhistorygirl
Latest posts
Gertrude Jekyll's 'Munstead Flower Glasses'
Gertrude Jekyll's Munstead Flower Glasses
Apple Stories Part 3: Thomas Andrew Knight (1759-1838) - the RHS, pineapples, and the 'Pomona Herefordiensis'
Thomas Andrew Knight and the Pomona Herefordiensis
Miss Willmott's Daffodils
Miss Willmott's daffodils
The 'tea-lady's' Flower Pictures: Elizabeth Twining 1805-1889
The botanical illustrations of Elizabeth Twining
'Menabilly': Daphne du Maurier's real Cornish garden
'Menabilly': Daphne du Maurier's real Cornish garden
James Gordon (c.1708-1780): “a most Knowing and Ingenous" gardener, nursery and seedsman
Trade card of 'James Gordon, Seeds Man', c.1770. Gordon’s shop was located at the Sign of the Thistle Crown near Philpot Lane,...
Apple Stories Part 2: The National Apple Congress of 1883
‘Exhibition of apples in the Great Vinery of the Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick, October 4 to 25, 1883’. From ‘The Gardeners Magazine’, 20 October, 1883 Introduction This post is the second part of my Apple Stories, so I suggest you read Part 1: The Herefordshire Pomona first, as this will then (hopefully) make more sense! This time, I'm looking at an important apple exhibition held by the…
Mistletoe: a Christmas Friend or Foe?
'The Mistletoe Seller', by Myles Birket Foster from 'The London Illustrated News', 1854 As I now live in Herefordshire, surrounded by apple orchards mostly supplying the local cider industry, it occurred to me to write something during this Christmas and New Year period about mistletoe – which grows high up in trees I can see from my windows. Poplars in this case, although the apple trees in the…
Miss Willmott's Water Lilies
'Lily Pool', Plate 16 from Ellen Willmott's book of her own photographs titled 'Warley Garden in Spring and Summer', published 1909 Those of us who research and write about the famous gardener, Miss Ellen Willmott (1858-1934), and spend a lot of our free time wondering what her garden at Warley Place in Essex used to be like in its heyday [obviously having nothing better to do...], sometimes…
Apple Stories Part 1: 'The Herefordshire Pomona'
Plate XLV from 'The Herefordshire Pomona’, vol. 2, 1876-1885 “There is no fruit, in temperate climates, so universally esteemed, and so extensively cultivated, nor is there any which is so closely identified with the social habits of the human species as the apple”. Robert Hogg, British Pomology , 1851 Introduction – An interesting visit At the...
Crompton & Fawkes - and the Wentworth 'Winter Garden'
‘Iron Winter Garden for T.W. Vernon Wentworth, Esq., Wentworth Castle, Yorkshire. Designed, Erected, and Heated by Crompton Fawkes, Chelmsford’. Plate 8 from ‘Horticultural Buildings and their Fittings by Crompton Fawkes, Chelmsford’, 1899 As I've admitted in the past, I'm something of a Victorian glasshouse nerd and, last summer, I finally got the opportunity to visit Wentworth Castle in…
William Robinson's monthly journal: 'Flora and Sylva' (1903-1905)
‘Group of Hybrid Iris: 1. Psyche, 2. Charon, 3. Iphigenia'. Coloured plate from a drawing by H.G. Moon, of flowers sent from Haarlem. From 'Flora and Sylva', vol. 3, 1905 This month, I’d like to introduce you to Flora and Sylva a short-lived publication edited, printed and published by William Robinson, who dominated the UK horticultural press for some years with his high circulation titles The…
The Veitch Nursery: A Family Dynasty c.1808-1969
Selection of plants offered for sale in a Veitch catalogue of the 1890's Introduction During the 19th century, plant collecting in new and exciting areas of the world increased on a grand scale with nurserymen, botanic institutions and private individuals employing collectors to seek out new ornamentals suitable for cultivation in British gardens. One of the greatest, and probably most famous, of…
A "perfect bower of beauty": The White House Conservatory
The first Conservatory at the White House by Harriet Lane, built in 1857. From 'Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper', tinted by Hall Baglie, 1858 Introduction This month, I'm making one of my occasional forays across 'the pond' to write about the Conservatory and greenhouses at the White House in Washington D.C., the official residence and work-place of Presidents of the United States of America.…
Castlewellan Part 3: Thomas Ryan - a Head Gardener's Story
The story of the 5th Earl of Castlewellan's Head Gardener, Thomas Ryan
"Hidden Beauties of the Sea": the Victorian aquarium
Plate I from 'A History of the British Sea-Anemones and Corals' by Philip Henry Gosse, 1860 Introduction If you've read my blog about the Belgian botanical journal, Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe , you may remember that when reviewing the volume for 1858 I was rather surprised to come across several beautiful illustrations of sea creatures under an article titled Les Aquariums…
A Belgian Botanical: 'Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l’Europe'
"Embothrium Coccineum". From 'Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l’Europe', Vol.13, 1858 Introduction Many of the historic images of tropical or rare plants I use in my blogs are from the celebrated Curtis’s Botanical Magazine , a wonderful resource not only for the botanical plates, but also the information it provides about the plants’ history and introduction into the UK [see Notes ]. More…
The Fruits of America Part 2: The US Department of Agriculture's 'Agricultural Explorers'
'Garcinia mangostana' (the mangosteen), watercolour by Deborah Griscom Passmore, 1909 – said to be agricultural explorer David Fairchild's favourite fruit. From USDA, Pomological Watercolor Collection This is the follow-on to my blog The Fruits of America Part 1: The US Department of Agriculture's Pomological Watercolor Collection , where I looked at its beautiful, but not particularly well-known,…
Miss Willmott's Orchids
One of Miss Ellen Willmott's few existing 'autochromes' c.1908. The plant featured was identified recently by experts at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as the orchid, 'Stanhopea tigrina'. By kind permission of the Berkeley family and the Spetchley Gardens Charitable Trust Introduction This is another of my blogs regarding aspects of Miss Ellen Willmott’s (1858-1934) myriad horticultural activities –…