More recent, but none the less an example

Here is a link that might be useful: Seven Son Flower

Yes...great example. Only I wonder how these "common folks" ended up w/ these plants...?

Perhaps they were "somebody" in the science world (as your article suggests) or knew "somebody" who brought some back for friends.

Just found this re: tree peonies:

During the first half of the 20th
century several outstanding American
breeders, including A.P. Saunders, Wil-
liam Gratwick and Nassos Daphnis,
expanded the color spectrum to include
true yellows, lavender and even hues of
orange.

OK, so they must've been popular to some degree during that time...died out and then made a resurgence..? I dunno.

i am not much on garden history.. but the Victorians were great plant hunters.. and gardeners ...

its the time frame of the great hosta hunters... central park in NY ... kew [though around much longer] ... etc ...

what makes you think that gardening is limited to the new generations ...

and .. the historic old houses .. were most likely the peeps with the disposable income to be 'collectors' on some level ...

all speculation ...

ken

I don't think it's limited to new generations...but for some reason didn't think that things like tree peonies and columnar oaks were en vogue at all (or on the oak...even known about) until later.

I just meant that the era of garden centers wasn't going on back then

ademink:

I'm an old Hoosier, born in Indy in 1947. My grandfather, Claude T. Foxworthy, owned and operated the biggest Ford dealerships in Indy and environs for decades before that. He was a big outdoor sportsman, but also a plant and tree collector. He imported plant material from all over the world. I can remember sitting with him looking at black & white photos of plants and trees he received in the mail. He pored over the lists, and through his books, and mailed off orders which did not arrive for months.

I clearly remember one shipment, which came from Germany via ship, train and truck. About 20 huge wooden crates, filled with coir and plants. There was everything from ornamental grasses to B&B conifers. 1/4 of the plants arrived dead, but the rest were carefully installed on his property.

I was 6-7 years old and this was my introduction to gardening.

This is great - just the kind of info I was looking for and wondering about! What a wonderful memory and what fascinating information!!!

Thank you so much for sharing this - love it!

Just found this re: the columnar oak:

History
Although it is commonly called the English oak, due to extensive use in ship building and half timber architecture, Q. robur is also native to Europe, North Africa and parts of western Asia. The genus for oaks is steeped in prehistory of Europe and well known to Linnaeus who named it Quercus. Linnaeus gave the proper species named for the common name used by Europeans for the tree: robur. This narrow form was first thought its own species classified first as Q. fastigiata by French botanist Jean Lamarck, 1744-1829, but was changed to the current subspecies by Swiss horticulturist Alphonse de Candolle, 1806-1893.

Subspecies is too high a ranking, the tree is a forma, a mere growth habit variant. It does tend to produce similar seedlings. It was known before 1783 and described in 1785.

Wow, mail order B&B conifers from Germany. Amazing story! I wonder if any of them are still in the ground.

Wonder how they got plants and trees before WWII... and they obviously were able to get many things, certainly many flowers, fruit trees, vegetables, and ferns. Seasonal transient markets? Sharing with neighbors? I wonder how many old trees were just planted by taking a seed form a park or neighbor?

The specialty mail-order nursery seems to have been well established before the Civil War. Definitely by 1900, a pretty close relative of the mail order business as we know it existed. Nurseries would place ads in magazines, offering free catalogs for the asking. Customers would mail in orders, and receive plants by mail. Since there were no agricultural inspections in those days, international mail order was simply a matter of money, time, and interest.

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many old catalogs available on the web. Old horticultural magazines are findable in a hit or miss manner. You may want to look at scanned copies of 'Meehan's Monthly', a horticultural magazine put out by Meehan & Sons nursery of Germantown, PA. Among other things, they sold conifer cultivars.

I think this is just incredible - I love learning about stuff like this!

I am guilty of thinking that although people have gardened for centuries, because we have commercialized it and focus so much on hybridization these days, it has previously been isolated to native and local plants.

Good to broaden my thinking!

I still want to dig up those monster tree peonies. WOW.

Will have to get a pic of these oaks...you really won't believe them and will get a total belly laugh out of how huge they are compared to the diminutive bungalow they are planted in front of.

I almost always find the most interesting plants and gardens in older neighborhoods. Houses built in the 1950s-2000s usually have very boring landscapes and monocultures of the same trees (in the midwest, it was green ash and honey locust to replace elms killed by DED). The Victorians definitely had a passion for diversity in gardens.

This probably explains where my massive cornus mas came from.

This tree is huge and it took me a year to even figure out what the heck it was (about 9 years ago). there was no info online at that time, etc.

although they grow at a good rate, this is not a young tree - a good 15-20' tall/diameter also.

I figured someone w/ some sort of flair for the uncommon must've planted it. i have literally seen one nowhere else in Indy, though I'm sure they have to be somewhere. it is definitely "planted" in a purposeful location, as opposed to just a bird migrating and poopin' it out. lol

i have only seen one in a nursery.

anyway, all of that to say...my house was built in 1904 and was occupied by an affluent family that i imagine mail-ordered or traveled or something!

very cool!

Check this out...talks about Wayside, Giraurds and others...

Here is a link that might be useful: Old publication 1960

A place to look for old nursery catalogs is the storage rooms of university libraries, where one may find a lot of them.

Cornus mas grows up to 45'. One quite near me was 33' tall in 1990. Another, in PA was 30' tall 10 years prior.

bboy...great idea! I am going to check out our library this week.

I was out looking at mine tonight and realized that I have no concept of size. LOL This thing is over 20 feet. It's getting ready to eat my garden shed and second story. sweet! 45 feet is aggressive. I may have to move into it at that point.

I would love to find the dwarf one I keep reading about....or the one w/ purple fruit. It seems that VERY few varieties of this tree are available.