My green fingers are itching, but it is not quite time to start gardening yet. The winter may have a few more nasty surprises for us, but I am planning. How has gardening changed, what fashions have come and gone? For most people gardening was necessary to produce food and plants for medicinal purposes, and flowers were a luxury. This month I am looking at tiny little snapshots of different gardeners from bygone eras. The first is just a really small mention in the Diurnal, or Journal, of Nicholas Blundell [ 1669 - 1737] who lived at Crosby Hall just north of Liverpool. He was a Roman Catholic and the part of his journal that covers the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 tells of his having to go into hiding and then fleeing from his own home. He was a countryman, taken up with his farming pursuits, hunting, and also he liked flowers. 1714 31st July From Skipton I came to Preston where I lodged at Richard Jackson's. I bought some roots of flowers in Preston of one Dolphine .... 1714 6th August. .... I set some roots of Ranunculas and Anemonyes on two beds in the Knot, they had been kept dry out of the ground. I sowed some seeds of Anemonyes in the knot and removed part of a double piany root. The picture is an etching dated 1718 by Claude Abrut [1665 - 1742] of Ranunculas Grandifloras. The Ranuncula is a large genus of plants which includes the buttercup, and we cannot really know exactly what Nicholas was planting, or what colour it would be. Now garden Ranunculas come in a wide variety of colours and shades. So what about his anemones? I am surprised that he sowed seeds as I have planted some anemone corms. [And I am looking every day to see if they are coming up or if the squirrels got there first] Were they spring flowering ones? What did Nicholas Blundell's anemones look like? The bright and cheerful Anemone Coronaria above ? The anemone is also the Latin name of the wild Wind Flower that carpets woods with snowy blossoms, and also the garden variety of Anemone Blanda, below. Nicholas dug up his peony. In 1714 how advanced was the development of these plants? It was probably Peony Lactiflora which had originated in Siberia and Mongolia, and is a sign of his investment in his garden. Is this what his looked like? It is also interesting that he had a Knot Garden at Crosby Hall. Knot gardens were poplar in the Tudor period, and some were decorated with different coloured gravel not plants. But at Crosby Hall in 1714 the design of the garden was still that of the patterned segments divided by low hedges. I wondered if any evidence has survived, but Crosby Hall now appears to be used for education and outside adventure pursuits by the local education authority. The OS map fo the late 1890s shows not a sign of any formal gardens. So now to a completely different type of garden. There are several places called Newsham, but this one is between Richmond and Barnard Castle, and somewhere in this village there lived a young man called James Coates [1761 - 1788]. As you see he did not live a long life, but he kept a diary, parts of which have survived. He was highly intelligent, educated, and had a small school. Alongside his teaching he was a surveyor, made scientific instruments, played the violin, kept up to date with current affairs, was very devout in his attendance at church and chapel, he fell in love, and he was a keen gardener. He took time to exchange cuttings, roots and seeds with other gardeners, and made a note of the weather and the appearance of wild flowers. 1784 18 August. ..... At evening took a walk to Wycliffe and had some conversation with Mr Tunstall's butler. I wanted to see the gardener, but did not ...... was at Mr Zouch's and got a globe thistle ......... 20 August .... Am going to get some pease at William Jackson's tonight. The globe thistle has the Latin name Echinops. Wycliffe was just a few miles away on the southern bank of the River Tees and the home of the Tunstall family [see blog for August 2021 which mentions Marmaduke Tunstall's museum]. The Mr Zouch was the Reverend Thomas Zouch [1737 - 1815] who had a school and was the author of several books. James was keen to get on with his gardening in 1785. 7 April Pleasant day and busy gardening. Caught a mole and knocked the poor thing on the head to make a ready end of it .... Gardening and grafting a cherry tree, put in 3 grafts. 13 April Got our beans and peas sown with some early potatoes..... 16 April Sowing our onions, carrots, radish, lettuce and cabbage seeds and digging til 6 o'clock ..... 18 April ... Grass begins to grow: I observe that Trees are only budding, and the Haws on the Bushes are yet very numerous, notwithstanding the severity of Winter: Our Flowers visible in the Garden, are the Snowdrop, Hepeticus, Polyanthus, Daisy, Mezereon, Crocus, Primrose, and almost the Narcissus; so late is the present Season! Most Persons have got all sown; Rain now will be very favourable. The Pilewort and Violet appear in the Hedges, with the Daisy, but have not yet attained their meridian Lustre. Hepetica? Not sure but could be anemone hepatica, Mezereon could be daphne mezereon. 20 April Gave Mr Pease several sorts of Flower Seeds, in return for some he gave me about 7 years ago. .... 23 April Went to Wycliffe and got a Basket of Flowers. Afternoon planted them and went for our Pig at Wm Jacksons ..... As well as a garden at his house James had an allotment, which was used for crops, not vegetables. 1785 4 May Very pleasant morning. Got our allotment ploughed and paid 2 shillings. Afternoon went to Wycliffe. Mr Zouch was very pleased to see me. Got some scarlet beans off Mr Zouch and left two pots of Balsams ... 5 May.... Day remarkably fine and pleasant: sowing beans and setting some double Rockets which I got at Wycliffe. Evening planting 5 orange trees ...... James evidently had a system of exchanging plants because a few days later he was at Wycliffe again. 11 May. Clear and pleasant morning. Evening was at Wycliffe and got 2 fine Balsams .... What were these plants? Was he really planting orange trees as in the citrus fruit? In Newsham in the North Riding of Yorkshire???? First double rockets. This is a flower called Hesperis Matronalis sometimes called Dame's Rocket or Dame's Violet. I do not know if this is what James was growing. I have not found a double variety of it. Does any one have an ideas? Scarlet runner beans we all know, and they are great fun to grow because once they get going they shoot up their poles several inches a day, and as long as you keep picking the beans they keep on producing more flowers. All the vegetables that James grew would keep him self sufficient for most of the year. But what about the Balsams? Were these Himalayan Balsams that are now such an invasive pest in the countryside? Now to another diary and a very different garden. Dorothy Wordsworth [1771 - 1855], sister of the poet William, kept diaries and in her Grasmere Journals she describes some of the plants that they grew in the garden at Dove Cottage in Grasmere in the Lake District. I have not been to Dove Cottage, to my shame, but here are some pictures from the Visit Cumbria website. The picture of the garden gives an idea that it is a very natural garden and not manicured too much. Dorothy Wordsworth- 1800 16 May Warm and mild, after a fine night of rain. Transplanted radishes after breakfast, walked to Mr Gell's with some books, gathered mosses and plants. The woods extremely beautiful... I carried a basket of mosses and gathered some wild plants ..... I also love moss, but you have to have the right damp conditions for it to flourish, which Dorothy would have at Grasmere. Dorothy often recorded "worked in the garden" in her diary, and enjoyed it. 1800 30th May .... I planted London Pride upon the well and many things on the Borders. 31st May A sweet and rainy morning .... went to the Blind man's for plants. I got such a load that I was obliged to leave my Basket in the road and sent Molly for it. Planted till after dinner ..... Now which plant did Dorothy know as London Pride? On the left is a Heuchara, and this one is sometimes called Coral Bells, but I have always known it as London Pride. My mother called it such, and I have kept cuttings and they have moved to every garden that I have had. It is now quite happy by my front door. But some people call the plant on the right, Saxifrage, London Pride. I have both plants. Which did Dorothy have? This is a bust of William Wordsworth [ 1770 - 1850] by Frank Leggatt Chantry [1781 - 1841] and is at the Keswick Museum. I don't think William joined in gardening, but must have appreciated his sister's efforts. 1800 4 June. A very fine day. I sat out of doors most of the day, wrote to Mr Jackson. Ambleside Fair, I walked to the lake-side in the morning, took up plants and sat upon a stone reading Ballads. In the evening I was watering plants.... I brought home lemon thyme and several other plants, and planted them by moonlight. 5th June I sat out of doors great part of the day and worked in the garden ... I rambled on the hill above the house and gathered wild thyme and took up roots of wild Columbine. Just as I was returning with my load, Mr and Miss Simpson called. We went again upon the hill and got more plants, set them and then went to the Blind Man's for London Pride for Miss Simpson .... My Observer's book of wild flowers identifies Columbine as Aquilega Vulgaris, the wild version of the garden Aquilega. The picture that Dorothy describes is of a very natural garden full of native plants and mosses, quite modern in fact, as that fashion is all the rage at the present time. But they did grow vegetables as well. 1800 9th June I sowed French Beans and weeded ...... 1802 29 May ... we nailed up the honeysuckles and hoed the scarlet beans. 1 June .... The Columbine was growing upon the Rocks ... it is a graceful and slender creature, a female seeking retirement and growing freest and most graceful where it is most alone. I observed that the more shaded plants were always the tallest ... 2 June. In the morning I observed that the scarlet beans were drooping in the leaves in great numbers owing, we guess, to an insect ..... 3 June ... The Thrush is singing. There are I do believe a thousand buds on the honeysuckle tree all small and far from blowing, save one that is retired behind twigs close to the wall, and as snug as a Bird's nest. John's Rose tree is very beautiful blended with the honeysuckle ...... Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells And pretty maids all in a row. My garden is still a work in progess, all gardens are. We have made lots of changes even since these photographs were taken, and have more plans as soon as the weather is warmer. These diary extracts give an idea of how the purpose and design and contents of gardens have changed over time, but I will just stick to what I like and what will grow on this clay.
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AuthorThis is where you can share creativity with me. I believe that everyone has something creative within them, and it is a joy to find ways of being creative. Blogging is NEW to me, so here goes ..... Archives
January 2024
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