In April 2005 the Southern Garden History Society willmeet in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Participants will explorethe landscape and garden history of this RappahannockRiver city, as well as that of Virginia’s famed Northern Neckto Fredericksburg’s southeast. A central feature will be a visitto Stratford Hall Plantation, an internationally recognizedhome of the Lee family and a 1,700-acre site operated bythe Robert E. Lee Memorial Association.1 This is the first ofseveral projected articles exploring the history andrestoration of Stratford’s grounds and gardens. It brieflyexamines Stratford’s overall past and then looks in detail atan array of historic documents that refer to the earlyStratford landscape, beginning in the 18th century. Thismaterial is one of the pillars that supported early groundsand garden restoration endeavors.

Beginnings:The Great House at Stratford is an American

architectural icon dating from the late-1730s. No lesssignificant is its dominant ridge-top location, with amagnificent view over the broad Potomac River one mile tothe north. In the 18th and early 19th centuries thecombination of structure and site made a powerfulstatement about the wealth, power, and social position ofthe Lees of Westmoreland County, Virginia.2 Constructedunder the direction of Stratford’s first owners Thomas Leeand his wife Hannah Ludwell Lee, the Great House and itsoutbuildings were the center of a highly successful tobaccoand shipping operation, worked by indentured servants andenslaved Africans and African Americans. After ThomasLee’s death in 1750 his oldest son, Philip Ludwell Lee,inherited Stratford and expanded upon the businessendeavors of his father. Under Philip’s ownership the GreatHouse and its landscaped setting reached a pinnacle.Stratford became well known for Philip’s entertainments,and to enhance the view he may a have added a roof walk tothe Great House. He apparently made commensurateimprovements to the formal east garden and other groundsaround the house. Various sources point to an enduring

interest in botany on Philip’s part, and it might be assumedthat during his ownership the formal garden assumed theapproximate proportions known today.3

Despite Philip’s importance to Stratford, otherchildren of Thomas and Hannah played more prominentroles than his in the history of Virginia—and America. Hisyounger siblings Richard Henry Lee and Francis LightfootLee were the only brothers to sign the Declaration ofIndependence. Two other brothers, William and Arthur Lee,played important roles in the diplomatic and political

MagnoliaBulletin of the Southern Garden

History SocietyMagnolia grandifloraThe Laurel Tree of CarolinaCatesby’s Natural History, 1743

Vol. XIX No. 1 Winter-Spring 2004

Inside this IssuePage 7 Francis Porcher: Surgeon, Medical Botanist,

Herbal Specialist, Author

Page 9 Dan Franklin Dies

Page 10 Eudora Welty House Garden Opens to Public

Page 11 International Events of Note

Page 12 Saving Washington’s Trees

Page 13 In Print

Page 14 Book Reviews

Restoration of the Groundsand Gardens at StratfordHall PlantationBy Ken McFarland, Stratford Director of Preservation and Education

(continued on page 3)

Aerial view taken September 7,1929, from south of Stratford historiccomplex. The east garden area is to viewer’s right just beyond trees. Notesection of oval drive still visible in cornfield at viewer’s lower right. StratfordHall Archives.

2 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 Vol. XIX, No. 1

April 1-July 15, 2004. “Plants in Print: The Age of BotanicalDiscovery,” is an exhibition at the United States Botanic Garden inWashington, DC; co-sponsored by the Chicago Botanic Garden.On display are more than 30 rare botanical books such as Historiaplantarum, written by Theophrastus and printed in 1483 andthought to be the first botanical work published using the printingpress. For more information about this and other programs andevents, call the garden at (202) 225-8333 or visit their Web site atwww.usbg.gov.

April 2-3, 2004. “Savannah Garden Exposition … The Flavors ofSavannah.” Held at Savannah’s Roundhouse Railroad Museum, thisevent will feature garden exhibits, demonstrations, and privategarden tours in Savannah’s Historic Landmark District. Proceedsbenefit Historic Savannah Foundation and the Isaiah DavenportHouse Museum. For information call (912) 236-4795 or visit Website at: www.savannahgardenexpo.com.

April 3-5, 2004. “A Garden Reborn,” the Eudora Welty HouseGarden opening in Jackson, Mississippi. See article below for moredetails.

April 4-6, 2004. 58th Annual Williamsburg Garden Symposium on“Heirloom Gardening.” Many notable speakers are on this year’soutstanding program including: Dr. William Welch, Kent Whealy,Scott Kunst, Dr. Neil Odenwald, Lawrence Griffith, Dean Norton,and William Woys Weaver, among others. For more informationcall 1-800-603-0948 or visit their Web site atwww.ColonialWilliamsburg.org.

April 14-17, 2004. 57th Annual Meeting of the Society ofArchitectural Historians in Providence, Rhode Island. The meetingwill include an informal discussion and organizational session toconsider reinstating a Landscape Chapter of SAH reflectingincreased interest among the membership and academic disciplinesnot actively represented in the Society. For more information: (312)573-1365. Web site at: www.sah.org.

May 6-8, 2004. “Botanical Progress, Horticultural Innovations andCultural Changes,” Dumbarton Oaks Garden and LandscapeSymposium held in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution.This joint symposium will explore how major development inbotany and horticulture impacted gardens, gardening, landscapingand science; how these disciplines depended upon ongoing socialand cultural changes; and more importantly, how botany andhorticulture contributed to larger changes in social and culturalpractices. Attendees may register for the Dumbarton Oaks sessionson May 6-7, the Smithsonian sessions, or both. This three-daysymposium, in conjunction with the Smithsonian, is an expandedprogram from the usual format. For further details and registrationmaterials, visit the Web site at:http://www.doaks.org/GLS2004Sym.html. If you have questionsabout the meeting, contact: landscape@doaks.org or call 202-339-6460.

May 7-9, 2004. “Native Plants and Creole Gardens,” The 22ndAnnual meeting of the Southern Garden History Society, in NewOrleans, Louisiana. The meeting will be headquartered in theHistoric French Quarter and the entire St. Marie hotel has beenreserved. Programs will be held at the Historic New OrleansCollection facility. Tours are planned for the French Quartergardens and Uptown in the Garden District. As of this writing, themeeting is completely booked and registration has been closed. Formore information, contact Sally K. Reeves at sakr@cox.net or BetsyCrusel at: hapc@aol.com.

May 22, 2004. Annual Open House at Tufton Farm, ThomasJefferson Center for Historic Plants. Don Haynie, owner of BuffaloSprings Herb Farm, and rose authority and collector DennisWhetzel of Harrisonburg, will give presentations at the MonticelloVisitors Center in the morning, followed by an open house at theTufton nursery from noon until 4 p.m. For more information, visitthe Monticello Web site at: www.monticello.org.

June 5, 2004. Annual Georgia Historic House and GardenPilgrimage, “Sherman’s March through Covington & NewtonCounty,” co-sponsored by the Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. and theHistoric Preservation Division of the Georgia Department ofNatural Resources. The tour showcases plantations, homes, andchurches of Newton County that played a role in Sherman’s 1864March to the Sea. Included are Covington’s Boxwood, MountPleasant, First United Methodist Church, and City Cemetery;Mansfield’s Sandtown Place and Burge Plantation; and Oxford’sHigh-Point-at-Chestnut-Grove, Kitty’s Cottage, and Old Church.For brochures and ticket order forms, go online towww.oleanderdistrictgc.org/GHH&G-2004.html.

June 6-18, 2004. Historic Landscapes Institute, PreservingJefferson’s Gardens and Landscapes. This two-week course uses thegardens and landscapes at Monticello and the University of Virginiafor the study of the theory and practice of historic landscapepreservation. For information, call Peter Hatch at (434) 984-9836or visit the Monticello Web site at www.monticello.org.

June 9-12, 2002. AABGA Annual Conference in Dallas FairmontHotel, in Dallas, Texas. The meeting topic is “How-to Conference”focusing on garden design, master planning, development,attracting visitors, managing design and construction partnerships,and meeting science-based curriculum standards. For information,call (302) 655-7100.

August 27-28, 2004. “Early American Nurseries and Nurserymen,”Historic Plants Symposium at Monticello. This biennial event,sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants,features some of the most prominent and influential plant and seeddistributors in America, including Bernard McMahon, John andWilliam Bartram, William Prince and the Prince Family Nurseries,Andre Parmentier, David Landreth and others. This year’s meetingtakes place at the Monticello’s new Jefferson Library. Forinformation, contact Peggy Cornett, pcornett@monticello.org orvisit the Web site at: www.monticello.org. Registration forms(including an online version) will be available in late May.

CALENDAR

Vol. XIX, No. 1 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 3

activities of the Revolution, at home and abroad. Theirwidowed sister Hannah Lee, moreover, is known as an earlyvoice for women’s rights.

Hannah’s niece Matilda Lee, who inherited Stratfordfrom her father Philip Ludwell, led Stratford to anotherimportant phase through marriage to her cousin,Revolutionary hero Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, whowas a governor of Virginia and a close associate of GeorgeWashington. This Lee knew great fame, but he also knewgreat failure, mainly caused by bad investments. His povertyforced him and his family to leave Stratford in 1810, threeyears after his second wife, Ann Hill Carter Lee, had givenbirth there to Robert Edward Lee.4 Henry Lee IV, son ofHarry and Matilda, was able to hold onto Stratford onlyuntil 1822, after which in succession the Somerville, Storke,and Stuart families owned it through the 1800s into the1920s.

It was the memory of Henry IV’s half brotherRobert that was to spark the 1929 purchase of Stratford bythe new Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, a grouppatterned after the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. Theirownership breathed new life into the property. Under theleadership of President Mrs. May Field Lanier and hertremendously dedicated executive secretary, historian EthelArmes, they hired the most prominent professionals of theera to begin the restoration process.5 The Foundation’scommitment to excellence was personified in ArthurShurcliff, Morley Jeffers Williams, and Fiske Kimball, as theStratford ladies brought these leading garden archaeologists,landscape architects, and architects to the task.

Along with their keen interest in restoring Stratford’sGreat House and other historic buildings, there was from theearliest moment a similar excitement about the grounds, andespecially the east garden. In an inspection report datedFebruary 17, 1929, for example, architect William LawrenceBottomley discussed structural issues at length, but he also

devoted five paragraphs to gardens. He believed it possiblethat when surviving features were properly explored “therestoration of the gardens with their pleached walks, cedarhedges, fig trees and roses could be established.” 6

Though some visible evidence remained, it wasobvious that every research avenue had to be followed if aproper restoration was to be achieved. Written documentsand early illustrations were, of course, one important part ofthis picture, and indeed the effort to unearth such materialhas continued to this day. Unfortunately, limited referencehas been found to gardens and gardening at 18th-centuryStratford. Little, for example, links Stratford’s first ownerThomas Lee to the topic, though given his position insociety it may be assumed he shared the gardening interestsof his peers. Such interests are evident in May 21, 1745correspondence from Lancelot Lee of Coton in Shropshire toThomas saying that “at present I live in the country, entirelytaken up with the diversions my gardens and fields affordme….” Referring to plants in America, he continued, “Yourfruits and shades are indeed delightful.” He wished to possesssuch materials, and thus he requested of Thomas Lee to “giveme leave to beg a small favor of you—the following trees are,I believe, native of Virginia, which I have endeavored toprocure seeds of, but have hitherto been unsuccessful—theVirginia Cypress…the scarlet oak and the paria, or scarletflowering horse chestnut.”7 The “small favor” was that his

colonial cousin should forward such seeds at his earliestconvenience.

More directly helpful is a line surviving in the estaterecords of Philip Ludwell Lee referring to “Job. Wigley’saccot for Brick laying on the…Garden walls & house in1776..77 & 78.”8 During an October 3, 1787 visit, Thomasand Hannah Ludwell Lee’s granddaughter, Lucinda Lee,would have seen the “garden walls and house.” She wrote in

Stratford Hall Plantation…(continued from page 1)

Pre-restoration photograph of east garden area.

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Pre-restoration photograph of east garden area, as viewed west towards theGreat House.

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her journal “…Cousin Nancy and myself have just returnedfrom taking an airing in the chariot. We went to Stratford:walked in the Garden, sat about two hours under a butifulshade tree, and eat as many figs as we could.”9 More

informative yet is a September 20, 1790 letter to his fatherfrom Thomas Lee Shippen, another grandchild of Thomasand Hannah. Writing from Menokin, home of his uncleFrancis Lightfoot Lee, he recalled a recent, happy visit to“Stratford, the seat of my forefathers…of which too muchcannot be said….” He continued by noting the “happydisposition of its grounds…delightful shades...” and the“gardens, vineyards, orangeries and lawns which surroundthe house.”10 Nine years later Stratford’s new mistress(m.1793), Ann Carter Lee, reveals some of her activities in aFebruary 18, 1799 letter to her sister-in-law Eliza Lee, thewife of Light Horse Harry’s brother Richard Bland Lee. Annreported to Eliza, who lived at Sully Plantation in FairfaxCounty, Virginia, that “…. I have done myself the pleasureof procuring the grafts Mr. R. Lee wrote for. You will receivethree kinds of Plums, they are remarkable fine, particularlythe red plum….” 11

In the 19th century, Ann Lee’s son Charles CarterLee, born at Stratford in 1798 (d.1871) recorded some of themost detailed early observations of Stratford’s grounds andgardens yet discovered. Second in his class at Harvard andrecognized for his classical learning, he put some of this inverse, such as

Tall Lombardy poplars, in lengthened rowFar o’er the woods a dwelling’s signal show,-

He continued I think there was a mile of solid wallSurrounding offices, garden, stables, and all;And on the eastern side of the garden one/Pomegranates ripened in the morning sun;And further off, yet sheltered by it, grewFigs, such as those Alcinous’ garden knew…12

Writing in 1817 while at Harvard, Charles Carter Lee spokeof “….the plains / Where Stratford’s mansion stands….”along with its “….flower-enameled lands.” He also addressesone of Stratford’s most striking landscape features, thePotomac river cliffs in highly romantic verse, rhapsodizingthat “…. on the brow/Of some tall clift we stand, / And seethe dark waves rolling slow….”13

Charles Carter Lee apparently referred to Stratford’sha-ha walls in undated writings describing “long walls,reaching only to the top & well turfed edge of the narrowartificial vallies in which those sold supports, with the light,and scarcely visible railings upon them…[which] enclosedthe Southern part of the yard, & divided it moreconspicuously on the East, from the garden, —& the higherwalls, enclosing the stable yard on one side, & the hotbeddepartment of the garden on the other….” Gravel walks ledfrom “each end of the dwelling house, to the gates infront…” and there was a “green grass plot…exactly in frontof the house, with nothing in it but the sun-dial in thecentre….” He recalled, too, the “comely, substantial” brick“Offices” standing “on each side of the gravel walks, —& thelong rows of Lombardy poplars, forming screens betweenthem & their Northern ends, & the walls stretching to thestables on the West, & the garden on the East, —& its rowsof pomegranates, & its cluster of fig-bushes, & its

ornamental horsechesnuts, & more useful English walnuts,—& the row of aspins with their white trunks & silvered &trembling foliage between the Seed house near the garden, &Office, in harmony in shape & location, on the river front ofthe house—all these attractions & many more….”14 (Leealmost certainly was recalling Stratford’s beech trees in hisreference to “aspins.”)

By 1840 a gloomier depiction appeared in the

Stratford Hall Plantation…(continued from page 3)

(continued on page 5)

John Filmer 1871engraving of Stratford structural complex. Note thepost-and-board fence at location of current restored ha-ha, and what isbelieved to be a Lombardy poplar to viewer’s right.

June 14, 1908 view of early beech tree in east garden showing members ofthe Stuart family, then owners of Stratford.

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Stratford Hall Plantation…(continued from page 4)

December issue of the Southern Literary Messenger. Theauthor, self described as “but a youth” and using the penname “Umbra,” wrote of a picnic at the former Lee home.Umbra recalled, “The walls that enclosed the grounds wereprostrate….” Continuing, it was noted, “We walked to thegarden, but there was little to tempt us to enter it. It was awilderness—the walks no longer distinguishable from therank vegetables of the once cultivated lawns, and terraceschoked with unchecked shrubberies.” While the house was“firm and unshaken…everything in the way of improvementor ornament—every little monument of pride or affection—the woodbine bower—the shady grove—the bloomingflower-bed had all sunk to ruin….” Only the “old mansionstood, like a venerable parent amid the graves of hischildren….”15

In 1861 Robert E. Lee wrote of Stratford to two ofhis daughters following their recent visit to his birthplace. Herecalled, “The horsechestnut you mention in the garden wasplanted by my mother.” Reminiscing about Stratford, headded that it had always been “a great desire of my life to beable to purchase it.”16 After the war Lee again brieflydescribed the property in a short biography of his fatherprefacing a new edition of Light Horse Harry’s recollectionsof the American Revolution, initially published in1812. Herecalled, “The approach to the house is on the south, alongthe side of a lawn, several hundred acres in extend, adornedwith cedars, oaks, and forest poplars. On ascending a hill not

far from the gate, the traveler comes in full view of themansion; when the road turns to the right and leads straightto a grove of sugar maples, around which it sweeps to thehouse.”17

In 1871 journalist George W. Beale wrote articlesthat echoed Robert E. Lee’s comments on the curving driveand the maples, but he also noted the presence of “severalEnglish hickory and venerable beech trees.” He added that a“wall, breast high, extends from the kitchen on the rightaround the garden.” Several rose bushes survived, along with“the remains of arbors and borders in front…” and “thescattered relics of fruit trees and shrubs….”18 In anotherpiece, Beale said, “To the right of the mansion…are thekitchen and several small buildings, with the garden

beyond….”19

This was the type of primary source informationavailable as the Foundation began its work. From suchdescriptions, and from features that survived on site, muchcould be determined about the basic layout andconfiguration of the grounds, including information on theeast garden; the approach drive; certain buildings, paths, andwalls; and various types of plants, fruit trees, and other treesthat had been planted. Additional information also began tobe gathered via interviews with older individuals who hadlong known the Stratford site. The most dramaticmanifestation of early research efforts, however, was to beseen in the garden archaeology project that began in 1930under the leadership of Boston landscape architect ArthurShurcliff. Already well known for his work in Williamsburg,Shurcliff would unearth the information most crucial for arestoration. The next article in this series will examine thisphase of the project, along with the central role played byThe Garden Club of Virginia in making Stratford’s grounds,and especially the east garden, the ideal setting for the GreatHouse of the Lees of Virginia.

Ca. 1929 unmarked photograph of what is believed tobe an obviously weakened, but surviving, horsechestnut tree planted by Ann Carter Lee, mother ofRobert E. Lee.

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Pre-restoration view taken from south side of Great House showing wirefence at location of ha-ha.

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Stratford Hall Plantation…(continued from page 5)

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End Notes1 The organization is now officially termed “The Robert E. Lee Memorial Association, Inc.” The original designation, however, was“The Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, Inc.” Italics added.

2 For their full story, see Paul C. Nagel, The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1990).

3 Jeanne A. Calhoun, “A Virginia Gentleman on the Eve of the Revolution: Philip Ludwell Lee of Stratford,” Northern Neck ofVirginia Historical Magazine, (December 1996), no. 1, 5365-5366.

4 Matilda Lee had died in 1790.

5 For an early synopsis of their work, see Ethel Armes, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees (Richmond, VA: Garrett andMassie, Inc., 1937); for reference specifically to “Gardens, Grounds and Orchards, see 495-512.

6 Stratford Archives, “Report of Inspection by Mr. Bottomley at Stratford, Sunday, February 17th, 1929, Folder A2-2a/196,“House Restoration,” Correspondence and reports of William Lawrence Bottomley, Architect, 1929, 2-3.

7 Stratford Archives, quoted from Ethel Armes, “Notes on Grounds and Gardens of Stratford Hall,” (First Installment), February1933, #1. “1745 – Extract from Letter from Lancelot Lee of England to the Honorable Thomas Lee, dated Coton, Shropshire, May21st, 1745,” 1.

8 Westmoreland County, Virginia, Records, “Inventories and Accounts,” Book 6, “Estate of Honorable Philip Ludwell Lee, 1780,”179. Transcript on file, Stratford Archives.

9 Lucinda Lee, Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia, 1787 (Stratford, VA: Robert E. Lee Memorial Association, Inc., 1976), 25.

10 Edmund Jennings Lee, Lee of Virginia, 1642-1892, Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of the Descendants of Colonel RichardLee (Philadelphia: Published by Author, 1895; Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983), 119-120.

11 Armes, “Notes on Grounds and Gardens,” 1933, #5. “1799 – Quotation from Letter from Ann Carter Lee to Mrs. RichardBland Lee” (Richard Bland Lee Papers, 1700-1825. Library of Congress), 2.

12 Armes, “Notes on Grounds and Gardens,” 1933, #6. “1800 – Reminiscent Verse about Stratford by Charles Carter Lee” (Source:“Virginia Georgics,” p. 41), 3. For a facsimile reproduction, see Armes, Stratford Hall, 498-499.

13 Armes, “Notes on Grounds and Gardens,” 1933, #7. “1817 – Unpublished Verse about Stratford by Charles Carter Lee Writtenat Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the Year 1817,” 4.

14 Stratford Archives, folder containing “Historic References to Stratford’s Landscape,” quoted material attributed to “CharlesCarter Lee Papers, Box 9, 2nd folder after Tibbs vs Hardy; sheet 12.”

15 Umbra, “A Visit to Stratford Hall,” Southern Literary Messenger, (December 1840), Vol.VI (Richmond, VA), 801, 803.

16 Captain Robert E. Lee, Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1909), 56.

17Henry Lee, Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States (New York: University Publishing Co., 1870), 41.

18 Armes, “Notes on Grounds and Gardens,” 1933, #11, “1871 – Extracts from Magazine and Newspaper Articles by George W.Beale,” (“Stratford, The Birth-Place of General Lee” by George W. Beale. The Old Dominion. Richmond, Va., January 15, 1871.Vol. V. No. 1, pages 31-34), 7-8.

19 Armes, “Notes on Grounds and Gardens,” 1933, #11, “1871 – Extracts from Beale,” (“Stratford Hall” by George W. Beale –Newspaper Clipping – Heathsville, Va., Feb. 25.), 8-9.

Francis Peyre Porcher, born at Orphir Plantation, St.John’s Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina, December

14, 1825, was the greatgrandson of ThomasWalter (1740-1789), apioneer South Carolinabotanist whoestablished a privateherbarium at hisplantation on theSantee River (Townsend178). Walter’s FloraCaroliniana, publishedin London in 1788through the efforts ofthe English plantcollector John Fraser,has been cited by

Sanders and Anderson in Natural History Investigations inSouth Carolina, as “the most extensive work on SouthCarolina botany produced in the eighteenth centuryand…also the first regional botanical work in North Americato use the Linnaean system.” Francis’ father was a doctor, hismother a botanist; and Porcher would adopt both fields inhis profession.

In 1844, at age nineteen, Francis Porcher receivedhis A.B. degree from South Carolina College (University ofSouth Carolina), where he studied Latin and Greek. Tothese, he later added French, and while teaching English inItaly, it was said that he gained a voice in Italian much morerapidly than his pupils learned English. Dr. Porcher’slinguistic ability greatly broadened his education andenriched his professional training. At the time of hisgraduation from the Medical College of South Carolina in1847 (taking honors in a class of 76 [Townsend 178], hechose a botanical subject for his thesis: “A Medico-BotanicalCatalogue of the Plants and Ferns of St. Johns, Berkeley,”which was afterwards published in Charleston by order ofthe faculty of the college (Wickham 456). After graduatingfrom medical school he spent two years continuing hismedical education in Paris (South Carolina HistoricalSociety).

In 1854, he was asked by the American MedicalAssociation to report on the indigenous medicinal plants ofSouth Carolina. In his report, “The Medicinal, Poisonousand Dietetic Properties of the Cryptogamic Plants of theUnited States,” published in New York by Baker, Godwin &Company in 1854, Dr. Porcher showed his artistic abilitiesby illustrating the text with delicate and exquisite pen andink drawings (Townsend 179).

Realizing the lack of medical accommodations forthousands of African-American slaves in the Charleston area,Dr. Porcher and Dr. J. J. Chisolm, opened a hospital forthem in 1855. It was during this time that he probablylearned of many natural remedies that would later appear inhis The Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests (Townsend181).

During the Civil War (1861-1865) the Union armyimposed a blockade of the South, eventually forcing theConfederacy to develop innovative modes of drugacquisition. Confederate forces sometimes captured medicalsupplies from the Union forces, but such means were anunreliable supply method (Hasegawa 478). Homemanufacturing and blockade running were the only source ofsupply during nearly four years of war for six million people(Jacobs 165). Throughout the Confederacy, druggistsmanufactured roots, herbs, and bark, and other such medicalplants as they could secure (Jacobs 166). Hunter McGuire, aConfederate surgeon, remembered that “the Confederatesurgeon’s scanty supply of medicines made him fertile inexpedients of every kind. I have seen him search field andforest for plants and flower” (McGuire 7).

Jacob Jacobs, a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia,recalled the difficulties of obtaining proper medical suppliesduring the war:

My mind was severely taxed in order to supply theremedies and substitutes to meet the demands of suchvaried practice. I perused my dispensary and called intorequisition an old botanical practice, which had beenhanded down as a relic of the past, but from which Iconfess to have received valuable aid in regard to themedical virtues of our native plants…. red oak in wateras disinfectant and promotion of the healing process. Incase of great pain I employed poppy heads, night shade[Solanum sp.] and [Datura] stramonium. Nausea orsick stomach, a handful of peach leaves steeped in waterand drank will settle it. I believe that an all-wideProvidence has especially provided the best antidotes increation on the hills and dales of our own Southland(Jacobs 167-168).

The South sought species whose value was not thenappreciated by mainstream physicians. Folk, slave, andNative American traditions supported the use of indigenousplants, and there was a popular belief that ailments commonto an area could be remedied by preparations of local plants(Hasegawa 478).

Dr. Porcher, serving as a surgeon in the Confederacyin March 1862, in Norfolk, Virginia, was detailed by Samuel

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Francis Porcher - 1824-1895

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Francis Porcher: Surgeon, MedicalBotanist, Herbal Specialist, AuthorBy Chad Carlson, Atlanta, Georgia

Moore, Surgeon General of the Confederacy, to write amedical botany in order that the people of the Confederacymight learn the useful properties of the plants growing allabout them in their woods and fields, so as to supplythemselves with medicines which, owing to the war, theycould no longer import from outside. So important was thetask of developing indigenous botanical substitutes for drugsand medicines that Dr. Moore temporarily relieved Dr.Porcher of his duties as surgeon. Dr. Porcher was the obviouschoice for the task, having already written the two publishedmedico-botanical texts cited above, and A Sketch of MedicalBotany of South Carolina (1849), (Koznarsky 2).

Dr. Moore urged citizens to gather medicinal plantsand sell them to the medical department. Furthermore, theSurgeon General instructed medical purveyors to “makeendeavors to induce the ladies throughout the South tointerest themselves in the culture of garden poppy…” (Twosamples of poppy prepared late in the war were assayed andcontained 4% morphine–good opium contained 10-14%[Hasegawa 479].)

Dr. Porcher returned to Charleston, where heproduced his remarkable 700-page book, The Resources of theSouthern Fields and Forests (Wickham 456). Of 3,500 plantscatalogued, he found 410 specimens for medicinal oreconomic value (Townsend 181). In a letter to a relative, Dr.Porcher stated: “In the state of New York, of 1450 species,but 50 are of medicinal value, while in South Carolina, amuch smaller area, of 3,500 species, 410 are of medicalvalue…the Southern States were therefore plenteous withpotent drugs waiting to have their names announced”(Townsend 183). The Resources of the Southern Fields andForests was published in Charleston in 1863 and again inrevised form in 1869.

African-American slaves had traditionally used muchof the botanical lore found in Dr. Porcher’s book, as modernblack historian, Martia Goodson, points out. She notes that“used extensively by the Negroes” was a commonly recurringphrase. Ms. Goodson claims that nearly a third of the plantsdescribed had been taken from the slaves’ pharmacopoeia(Charles 35).

Southern newspapers, at Samuel Moore’s suggestion,published extracts from the book to encourage the collectionof plants and the preparation of remedies there from(Cunningham 149). (Since the South was cut off fromimported South American cinchona bark [quinine] fortreating malaria, for instance, Resources recommended snake-root and dogwood as alternatives [Charles 35].) Moore calledupon medical officers to cast aside any prejudices they mighthave against these remedies and give them a fair opportunity(Cunningham 149).

Reactions to Dr. Porcher’s book were positivealthough Surgeon General Moore was dismayed at the failureof some officers on the regimental level to fully utilize theinformation. Dr. Burke Haywood, head of the GeneralHospital No. 7, Raleigh, North Carolina, references Dr.Porcher’s work in the use of Sarracencia purpurea (“SideSaddle of Fly Trap”) in the treatment of small pox. Dr.Haywood notes that several praised its effects, writing, “theunmistakable evidence of the efficacy of this remedy inarresting the progress of small pox has been conspicuouslymanifested in many cases (Koznarsky 3).”

Major Porcher’s efforts were applauded in the July1864, issue of The Confederate States Medical and SurgicalJournal. The editorial wrote: “we should not fail to notice theuseful and laborious effort of Surgeon Porcher, in bringingbefore the public in his work on The Resources of the SouthernFields and Forests the amount of useful material at hand”(Koznarsky 3). Colonel John Thomas wrote of Dr. Porcher’sbook: “It is no exaggeration to say that he ranks with thosewho best served the South in her hour of trial and suffering(Wickham 457).”

During the latter part of the war, Dr. Porcher was incharge of the South Carolina Hospital in Petersburg,Virginia, but when peace came he returned to his old homein Charleston to resume his medical practice. He became oneof the beloved physicians of the town, and for many years, heand his old horse, “Hilda,” and his faithful driver, “DaddyCharles,” were among the familiar sights of the town as hewent about his errands (Wickham 457).

In 1853-58 and again in 1873-76 he was editor ofthe Charleston Medical Journal and Review. He taught at theMedical College of South Carolina from 1872 to 1891(“Never let yourself get into a rut,” he would constantly tellhis students), was in charge of the Marine Hospital inCharleston, filled the chair of Clinical Medicine at theMedical College of South Carolina from 1872-1874, andserved as president of the South Carolina MedicalAssociation in 1872. He also worked in cardiology,publishing an article on heart disease in 1886 (Charles 35).Dr. Porcher was not limited to medical texts; he was part ofthe “Saturday Night Club,” a literary club in Charleston,where he wrote many articles of non-medical nature, whichwere published in non-medical papers (Townsend 186).

Francis Porcher died at his home, 38 Meeting Street,Charleston, South Carolina, on November 19, 1895(Townsend 178).

[The previous article was prepared as a graduate paper underthe direction of Jim Cothran, adjunct professor, in Georgia

8 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 Vol. XIX, No. 1

Francis Porcher… (continued from page 7)

Charles, Allen D. “Man with the Microscope.”Sandlapper Winter 1997-1998.

Chisolm, John. “Francis Peyre Porcher.” Post andCourier. Charleston, SC: 15 Nov. 1992.

Cunningham, H.H. Doctors in Grey. Baton Rouge: LSUPress, 1958.

Dictionary of American Biography, Scribner’s, New York,1935.

Jacobs, Joseph. “Some of the Drug Conditions Duringthe War Between the States.” Southern Historical SocietyPaper Vol. 33. Richmond, VA: Sept. 1898.

Hasegawa, Guy R. “Pharmacy in the Civil War.”American Journal of Pharmacy Vol. 57: March 2000.

Koznarsky, Michael. “Anesthetics in Field and GeneralHospitals of the Confederate States of America Duringthe Civil War.” www.civilwarinteractive.com

McGuire, Hunter. “Progress of Medicine in the South.”Southern Historical Society Papers Vol. 17 Richmond,VA: Nov. 1889.

Porcher, Francis P. “An Address before the Survivors ofthe Confederate Surgeons of South Carolina.” SouthernHistorical Society Papers Richmond, VA: Nov. 1889.

Townsend, John F. “Francis Peyre Porcher, M.D.” SouthCarolina Historical Society.

Wickham. “Surgeons of the Confederacy.” ConfederateVeteran Nashville, TN: Dec. 1925.

Vol. XIX, No. 1 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 9

Bibliography

Dan Franklin DiesDaniel Berry Franklin, a charter member of the SouthernGarden History Society, died March 7 at the age of 87 atHospice Atlanta. After serving as Master Sargeant in WorldWar II and working for Royal Crown Cola for 26 years, Danreturned to the University of Georgia in 1963 and received adegree in landscape architecture. His legacy as a landscapearchitect spans over forty years and includes over 2,000individual projects located in ten states. His body of workhas been recognized and honored in dozens of books,magazines, and newspapers, appearing on the cover ofSouthern Living Magazine six times. The College ofEnvironmental design at the University of Georgia iscataloging a complete archive of his work. Dan receivednumerous awards during his illustrious career including aDistinguished Alumni Medal from the School ofEnvironmental Design, University of Georgia; the SouthernLiving Award, “Above and Beyond the Call;” the LifetimeAchievement Award, Georgia Chapter of ASLA and manyothers. He was inducted into the Heritage Society of theUniversity of Georgia Foundation and Who’s Who inAmerica for distinction as a landscape architect. For over 20years, Dan was a member of the American Society of

Landscape Architects and in 2001, at the age of 85, receivedits highest honor, being inducted as Fellow. Dan also was amember of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, theGeorgia Conservancy, the National Trust for HistoricPreservation, the Atlanta History Center, and was a visitingprofessor at the University of Georgia, the University ofArkansas, and the University of Oklahoma. For many years,Dan’s garden has been listed in The Garden Conservancy’sOpen Days Directory and his gardens also was on theAtlanta Botanical Garden’s Garden for Connoisseur’s Tour in1986 and 1996 and, fittingly, again this upcoming May2004.

As a devoted member of the Southern GardenHistory Society, Dan attended countless annual meetingsacross the South and his lively personality was infectious. Heremained an active contributor to the Society and its missionthrough our most recent meeting in Atlanta in 2003. Dan’slighthearted wit can be summed up best in his motto forgarden maintenance, “A garden should not take more time tomaintain than two cups of coffee in the morning and twomartinis in the evening.”

The garden at the home of legendary southern writerEudora Welty opens in April for public tours. The gardenopening was celebrated with an opening, “A GardenReborn,” on April 3-5, which included tours of the garden,and talks by experts on Eudora Welty’s writing, her house,and her garden. Speakers included Welty scholar SuzanneMarrs on “The Art of Gardening: Chestina and EudoraWelty, 1925-45,” preservation architect Robert ParkerAdams on preservation of the house, and Susan Haltom,historical garden consultant and SGHS board member, on“Curtains of Green: Restoring the Welty Garden.”

The garden stretches over a lot of about three-quarters of an acre in the historic Jackson, Mississippineighborhood of Belhaven, where Welty and her familywere early residents. Eudora Welty’s mother, Chestina,designed the garden in 1925, when the house was beingconstructed. Eudora Welty helped her mother layout andplant the garden before leaving that same year for college. Atthe death of her father in 1931 Welty returned home, andshe and her mother collaborated on the garden until hermother’s death in 1966. Although Eudora Welty herselfcared for the garden well into her old age, she alwaysreferred to it as “Mother’s garden.”

The garden is being restored to the period of 1925-45, the time it best manifested the early vision the twowomen shared for it. The accuracy of the restoration projecthas been made possible in large part by the extensivedocumentation of the garden by Welty and her mother.Chestina Welty kept garden diaries noting the layout of bedsand bloom schedules, while Eudora took photographs of thegarden from the roof of the family’s house.

The garden of Chestina and Eudora Welty wastypical of the regional style. Southern gardens of that eradiffered markedly from those of today. The Weltys createdtheir garden almost exclusively with plants available locally.After World War II, improved transportation systemsallowed for the shipping of mass-produced flowersthroughout the U.S. With the development of new chemicalfertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides and techniques ofplant hybridization, the choice of plants that could begrown in the area expanded greatly. The garden comprisesdistinct smaller areas, including the front yard, the camelliagarden, the upper garden, the lower garden, and the

woodland garden, and contains more than forty camelliashrubs, some grafted by Eudora herself and others purchasedfrom nurseries in Mississippi and around Mobile, Alabama.Camellia expert Bobby Green of Fairhope, Alabama, andassociates of the American Camellia Society have workedclosely with Susan Haltom, the garden restorationconsultant overseeing the project for the MississippiDepartment of Archives and History, in identifying themore-than thirty varieties of Camellia japonicas in thegarden.

In addition to Susan Haltom, many other SouthernGarden History Society Members have been involved withthis project. Historic plant experts Greg Grant and BillWelch, both from Texas, helped identify and provideappropriate perennials for the upper garden. Although theoriginal daylilies remain, most of the perennials grown bythe Weltys in the 1930s have disappeared. The Historic IrisPreservation Society, with the help of Anner Whitehead ofVirginia, contributed almost fifty varieties of tall beardedirises for the perennial border. The upper garden is alsofilled with bulbs—jonquils, ornithogalum, ipheion, oxalis,surprise lilies, rain lilies, milk-and-wine lilies, spider lilies,oxblood lilies, and Eudora Welty’s favorite, French Romanhyacinths. Scott Kunst of Ann Arbor, Michigan, consideredthe only retail historic bulb specialist in the country, andCelia Jones, Louisiana bulb expert, provided many hard-to-find varieties for the restoration project.

A fifty-foot-wide trellis separates the upper andlower gardens. The lower garden contains the rose beds andcold frame as well as the cut-flower garden behind thegarage. Stretching from the edge of the lower garden to theback of the property is the woodland garden, with maturepines and hardwoods towering over still more camellias,spider lilies, and oxblood lilies. The back border of thegarden is a thick canebrake planted by Chestina Welty.

The Eudora Welty House is listed on the NationalRegister of Historic Places. The two-story Tudor Revival-style residence was built in 1924-25. In 1986 Welty madethe decision that the state should have her house at herdeath, and the Department of Archives and History is nowworking, with the financial support of the Eudora WeltyFoundation, to establish the property as a literary housemuseum to interpret Welty’s life and work to visitors.

10 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 Vol. XIX, No. 1

Eudora Welty House Garden Opens to Public

Correction:The fall 2003 issue of Magnolia, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, incorrectly identified Anne Abbott as president of the Herb Society ofAmerica. Ms. Abbott formerly served as a board member of the Herb Society of America.

Vol. XIX, No. 1 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 11

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS OF NOTE

RHS Bicentenary: The Year of GardeningThe Royal Horticultural Society was founded on March 7,1804, at the London bookshop of James Hatchard inPiccadilly by John Wedgwood and six other gentlemen, whomet to form a new society for the improvement and practiceof horticulture. Two hundred years later, the aims of theRHS remain much the same while broadening to reflectsocial development and changes in gardening tastes.

To recognize this anniversary year, The Tate Britainhas mounted a spectacular exhibition, “Art of the Garden,”in the original Tate gallery at Millbank. The exhibitionexamines the garden in art over the last 200 years andincludes work by artists such as John Constable, JMWTurner, Ford Madox Brown, Gertrude Jekyll, Stanley

Spencer and Lucian Freud. For information visit their Website at: www.tate.org.uk.

The RHS is further commemorating this specialyear with the publication of The Royal Horticultural Society:A History 1804-2004, by Brent Elliott. This detailed andperceptive book with over 400 pages of text and illustrationsreflects the changing faces of shows, floral arrangements andgardens, the architecturally innovative halls and library,plants introduced through RHS sponsorship, and the manypersonalities that have helped the Society reach itsBicentenary in such fine form. For information about theavailability of this book, e-mail: mailorder@rhs.org.uk or call01 483 211320.

Tours of Gardens in EuropeThe 2004 schedule of Jeff Sainsbury Tours is offering “ASummer Sojourn in Scandinavia: the Gardens and Castles ofSweden and Denmark” (June 30-July 10), hosted by Georgianative Edward C. Martin, Jr. and with Gordon Chappell and

Jim Cothran, SGHS president and vice-presidentrespectively, attending. Full details of these and other tourscan be found at: www.jeffsainsburytours.com

The Garden Conservancy’s 2004 Open Days Directory, theguide to visiting private gardens in the South is nowavailable. The Conservancy’s Open Days Program is the only

national program that invites the public to visit America’svery best private gardens. Modeled after similar programsabroad, including England’s popular Yellow Book andAustralia’s Open Garden Scheme, the Open Days Programbegan in 1995 with 110 gardens in New York andConnecticut. Since then the program has grown to includenearly 450 private gardens nationwide in 2004.

The Garden Conservancy’s program is designed tointroduce the public to gardens, provide easy access tooutstanding examples of design and horticultural practice,and prove that extraordinary American gardens are still beingcreated. By inviting people into America’s private gardens,the Conservancy emphasized the importance of preservingfine gardens for future generations and building aconstituency of committed individuals willing to act onbehalf of gardens. Notable Southern gardens in this year’sprogram include Chip Callaway’s garden in Greensboro,North Carolina and, in Charlotte, the garden of LindieWilson and of Wing Haven.

For more information on ordering the Directory orjoining The Garden Conservancy, call toll free: (888) 842-2442 or visit www.gardenconservancy.org.

The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days

The Garden History Society in Scotland (GHSS) and theRoyal Horticultural Society welcomed Peter Hatch,Monticello’s director of gardens and grounds, to its lectureseries at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on March13th. Peter also was featured in the March 18th edition ofthe New York Times in an article by garden editor AnneRaver, “Thomas Jefferson Weeded Here.” The articleincludes photos of Peter in the Monticello gardens and a

mention of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants. The Home Section of The Washington Post for

March 11 features Beate Jensen, head gardener at Belmont,the Gari Melcher Estate and Memorial Gallery, inFredericksburg, Virginia. The article, “Pruning: Tough Lovefor Plants,” by veteran garden writer Adrian Higgins,includes an action photo of Beate with Berrie, her blackLabrador, cutting back a quince bush.

12 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 Vol. XIX, No. 1

Members in the News

While the tale of George Washington cutting downthe cherry tree remains an indelible part of the myth thatclings to his name, in truth, he was “one of our nation’s mostunabashed tree-huggers,” who planted hundreds of commonand exotic trees at his Mount Vernon estate. The February12th Washington Post features an article on efforts nowbeing made to preserve and clone the thirteen remainingtrees on or near the estate’s landscaped lawn known as theBowling Green. These survivors, which have seen almostnine generations of humans come and go, are old, frail andreaching the end of their natural lives. Last SeptemberHurricane Isabel blew throughthe estate on the Potomac Riverand removed one of the twotrunks of a 145-foot-tall whiteash tree. The ash is the widest ofthe 13 trees, with a 15-footcircumference. The othersurviving originals are two tulippoplars, a white mulberry, aneastern hemlock and sevenAmerican holly trees.

In the 1920s, arboristsfrom Harvard visiting the estatecounted approximately 70survivors from Washington’s era.The most recent loss of anoriginal tree occurred in 1996,when another white ash was taken down because it wasliterally falling apart. In recent years, Mount Vernon’shorticulturist, Dean Norton, who is an active member of theSouthern Garden History Society and recently served on theboard, has been working with other horticulturists to save, ifnot the original trees, at least their genetic duplicates. Withthe help of Michigan nurseryman David Milarch, founder in1996 of the Champion Tree Project, attempts are underwayto clone and replace Washington’s trees. Through budgrafting techniques made in the summer of 2001, two dozenoffspring of the two surviving Mount Vernon ashes were

produced. Within the first year, the saplings’ height reachedsix or seven feet, slightly shorter than the tree that Nortonspeculated Washington transplanted from the edge of hisfield to the green.

One sapling was planted last spring on the groundsof the U. S. Capitol, a location known to Washington in thedays after the Revolution as Jenkins’ Hill. The remainingtrees are growing at nurseries in Alabama and Oregon, andthose not planted immediately to permanent sites will beraised at the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories in Charlotte,North Carolina. Eventually, there will be a decent selection

of large trees to plant near theaged parents as replacements.Efforts are underway topropagate the other MountVernon trees as well. Traditionalrooted cuttings of the holly andmulberry trees are growing nowand the hemlock has beenpropagated. The poplars havebeen bud-grafted, but the successof these grafts won’t be knownuntil this spring.

Dean Norton understandshow vital these trees were to the18th-century landscape at Mount

Vernon. At the same time, he fullyrealizes their vulnerability at this

late stage of their lives. “These trees have a hard time makingit because of their height. They are so tall and catch so muchwind and constant movement. This has got to be a factorthat might eventually cause problems for them—stressfractures. The biggest fear of any senior citizen is that theyfall.”

[From “A Race to Save George Washington’s Trees: ThirteenOriginal Remain but for How Long? Cloning to theRescue,” Henry Heilbrunn, Washington Post, February 12,2004.]

Saving George Washington’s Trees

A print of George Washington’s leafy estate, created in the 1830s byKarl Bodmer

Vol. XIX, No. 1 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 13

Lewis and Clark’s Green World, the Expedition and itsPlants, by A. Scott Earle and James L. Reveal. Far CountryPress, 2003, 1-56037-250-8, hardcover, $34.95

Everyone interested inthe Lewis and ClarkExpedition or theplants they collectedfor scientific study willwelcome this bookthat combines theday-by-day story withillustrated botanicaldescriptions.Following the journalschronologically, andhaving examined theoriginal specimens

that Meriwether Lewis collected, the authors take readers intothe field to see and learn about flowers, grasses, trees,medicinal and food uses, and more. Drs. Reveal and Earlefocus on the plants new to science in 1804-1806 and includeplants that were probably collected, but failed to survive thetrip’s rigors. Each species appears in sequence of its firstappearance, with color photographs, botanical description,and cultural information about how Indian nations or theexpedition used it.

The Diary of William Faris: The Daily Life of an AnnapolisSilversmith, edited by Mark B. Letzer and Jean B. Russo andpublished by the press at the Maryland Historical Society,2003, 0-938420-80-1, hardcover, 496 pages, $55. Availableat the society’s Web site: www.mdhs.org; or through Alan C.Hood & Company (1-717-267-0867).

Readers of Magnolia will recognize William Faris, thediarist and subject of this new book, from Barbary Sarudy’sEighteenth-Century Gardens of the Chesapeake, published bythe Maryland Historical Society in 1990. Here we have Faris’sdiary accounts in full, beginning in January 1792 andcontinuing for the next 12 years. According to James H.Bready, writer for the Baltimore Sun, “Mark Letzer, an experton old silver and a Faris descendant, and Jean B. Russo of theHistoric Annapolis Foundation, profiting from Barbara WellsSarudy’s garden studies, have de-tarnished and un-mulchedan authentic early bright light. Other period diaries, sincepublished, are less vivid.”

In his preface to The Diary of William Faris: TheDaily Life of an Annapolis Silversmith, Mark B. Letzer pointsout that most of us are fascinated by the private diaries ofothers. We enter the world of the writer, living his life as heexperienced it, meeting his friends, satisfying our curiosityabout his world. In the process, we may learn somethingabout ourselves.

William Faris wrote a diary with depth and candor.He was himself a man of many talents: a silversmith, clock

maker, designer, portrait painter, cabinet maker, tavernkeeper, dentist, horticulturist, inventor and experimenter,scientist, social observer, genealogist, and gossip. Eighteenth-century Annapolis, too, was a world at once varied, vibrant,and absorbing. Faris recorded meaningful events—births,marriages, deaths—but also family quarrels, affairs of hisneighbors, and the blooming of his tulips.

A treasury of information, the Diary includes anappendix listing and describing plants Faris grew in his well-known garden and an inventory of his “goods and chattels”with their value at that time. A complete and detailed indexsimplifies research on the book’s many subjects of interest.

Born in London, William Faris arrived in Annapolisfrom Philadelphia when in his mid-50s on the eve of the portcity’s “golden age” before the American Revolution. Tobaccoand wheat translated into good living for many Annapolitans:elegant mansions, clothing of silk and velvet—and silverhousehold utensils, beautiful clocks, and intricate watches.The city enjoyed and appreciated the accoutrements of thegood life, and the skill and knowledge required to makethem.

The Diary of William Faris is a book of remarkabledepth and variety. It is a rich resource for silver collectors, areference for students ofthe period, a fascinationfor gardeners, and a goodread for generalists. It iselegantly designed andimpeccably researched.Editors Mark B. Letzerand Jean B. Russo spentseveral years compilinginformation for thebook. Mr. Letzer is ahistorian specializing inthe study of 18th-century silver. Dr. Russo,an accomplished scholarin the field of colonialhistory, is a historian forHistoric Annapolis Foundation.

DSU Herbarium Exhibit Booklet A 53-page exhibition booklet for “The Botany of the Shroudof Turin: A Floral Crime Scene Investigation,” an exhibit atthe Claude E. Phillips Herbarium at Delaware StateUniversity, is available for $12 ($10 plus $2 for shipping andhandling). Checks should be made payable to “DelawareState University/Herbarium.” The booklet sifts through thepublished information and gleans out the botanical science.Send orders to: Dr. Arthur O. Tucker, Department ofAgriculture & Natural Resources, Delaware State University,Dover, Delaware 19901-2277. For more information, visitthe Web site at: http://herbarium.desu.edu or contact Dr.Tucker at: atucker@desu.edu.

In Print

Gardens and Historic Plants of the Antebellum South, byJames R. Cothran. University of South Carolina Press, 2003.Hardcover, 344 pages, 142 color illustrations, 21 halftones,27 line art, ISBN 1-57003-501-6, $49.95

James Cothran’s long interest in the gardens andplants of his native South have been brought to a certainfruition with the publication of Gardens and Historic Plants ofthe Antebellum South. A personal interest in the subjecthappily coincided with his professional work as a landscapearchitect, urban planner and adjunct professor in Georgiaschools. As a result he has had the good fortune to be able topursue research in tandem with design projects, gaininginsight and knowledge about the southern landscape that heshares with colleagues, clients, students, and now us, hisreaders. The road, of course is not one-way, and he, too, hasappreciated the cooperation of many friends and associates,their encouragement, and support. This breadth of effort andinterest is evident in a book whose secondary goal, he notes,“is to stimulate and encourage greater interest in southerngarden history.” His hope is sure to meet with success.

The organization of the book reflects the duality ofits title. The first half of Gardens and Historic Plants of theAntebellum South and seven of its eight chapters provide theframework for his perspective on the southern landscape, itsagricultural traditions, gardening practices, the fixtures andfurnishings of gardens and house grounds, and an overviewof an era brought to an end with the Civil War. He concludesthis section with essays on the nursery seed catalogues,garden books, and agricultural journals available to southerngardeners in the early 19th century and antebellum period.While one section is set apart specifically for a series of travelaccounts that appeared in contemporary books, journals, andnewspapers, he also uses such records of the southernlandscape, whether factual or laden with boosterism, toelucidate points and themes throughout the book.Nineteenth-century paintings, prints, drawings,documentary photographs, his personal photographs andthose of others illustrate these short thematic sketches insouthern garden history. Mr. Cothran and the book’sdesigners also make frequent use of the collection of oftenidealized garden plans, drawn by Atlanta architect PhilipThornton Marye (1872-1935) with an unwavering emphasison symmetry, which were prepared for Garden History ofGeorgia, published in 1933.

The second half of the book consists of a series ofprofiles of plants that were either native to the South orintroduced in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ranging fromAilanthus altissima to Yucca filamentosa, both of which arehere at Isinglass, this roster includes many of the mainstays of

southern house grounds but omits others such as Poncirustrifoliata, which was used both for hedges and as a prized,exotic ornamental in the center of beds. The chief appeal ofthese accounts is his frequent use of contemporarydescriptions of plants from period garden literature. One,among many that gained our interest, first appeared in 1852in The Soil of the South, a monthly agricultural journal:

But of all God’s beautiful trees, there is nothingmore exquisite than the Mimosa, now inbloom. How graceful it rears its feather-tuftedblooms—how delicately it blends therainbow—how sweetly it exhales its scentedbreath, and yet how humbly closes its myriadleaves at evening! If, as Downing [AndrewJackson] says, it is worth a trip to England tolook upon one of her velvet lawns, it is richlyworth a trip to the South to look upon a full-grown Mimosa tree in bloom. They are easilypropagated by seed, and flourish like the ChinaTree amongst any kind of soil.

Davyd Foard Hood, Book Review Editor Isinglass, Vale, North Carolina

14 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 Vol. XIX, No. 1

Book Reviews

Vol. XIX, No. 1 Magnolia • Winter-Spring 2004 15

Ambitious in scope and beautifully produced by TimberPress, Denise Wiles Adams’ book on heirloom ornamentalplants is, by all accounts, a singular achievement. Gardenhistorians have not received such a significant andcomprehensive resource since the books of Rudy and JoyFavretti and the Anne Leighton trilogy, published nearly 30years ago, during the early days of the landscape restorationmovement in America. By using period books, journals,paintings, illustrations, and photographs as her primaryresearch material, Ms. Adams has methodically assembled animpressive database of more than 25,000 plants andhundreds of antique nursery and seed catalogues.

The book begins with ageneral overview of historicAmerican garden design, exploringa continuum of garden traditionsand styles from Maine to Oregon.In this introductory section, Ms.Adams attempts also to distill anddescribe modern methods ofhistoric garden research now usedby the U. S. National Park Serviceand other organizations. While thissection sets the context and makesthe argument for the necessity ofher research, the author herselfadmits that the wide-rangingaspiration of her work should becombined with regional research,and she encourages the reader tovisit local libraries, public recorddepositories, and even “old-timersin your neighborhood,” in order toachieve the fullest picture of thehistoric garden and its contents.Participation in garden history organizations, including theSouthern Garden History Society, is encouraged throughoutand, it is important to mention that many members of oursociety were key players in the conceptual development,direction, and content of her publication. Footnotes andother citations are noticeably lacking in the openingchapters, which is a noteworthy omission, although theappendices and extensive bibliography found at the end ofthe book will prove quite useful for the serious researcher.

The meat of the book comes with her “catalogchapters,” beginning with heirloom trees in chapter 5. Herewe discover that, even though the book’s title suggests athree-hundred year historical overview, Ms. Adams is most

comfortable and thorough in her analysis of the 19th- andearly 20th-centuries. This, in itself, is no small feat, and fromthis point forward, the book proves it is truly a significantcontribution to the historic landscape professional. Eachvariety is chosen with respect to its importance andprominence in the literature, in the trade, and in actualgardens, and each thumbnail sketch is infinitely fascinating.Through their own words, Ms. Adams introduces us to thekey players spanning the centuries of American gardenhistory: Bernard McMahon, Mrs. Francis King, ThomasJefferson, Louise B. Wilder, Liberty Hyde Bailey, JohnCustis, Robert Buist, Charles Hovey, Andrew Jackson

Downing, and countless others. Wealso become acquainted with periodnursery establishments across thecontinent—Good & Rees, JamesVick, Storrs & Harrison, PeterHenderson—many of which nolonger exist. And finally, we meetsuch curious cultivars as ‘LadyGrisel Hamilton’ sweet pea, ‘BloodyWarrior’ wallflower, ‘Van der Neer’tulip, ‘Daylight’ hyacinth bean, and‘Thomas Hogg’ hydrangea. Someare still with us, while many moreare lost forever, existing solely inthe ephemeral literature of thetimes, which, itself, is rapidlyvanishing.

Despite the extensivenessof her study, Denise Adams makesclear that this book should not beconsidered the definitive work butrather an inspiration and alaunching point for future study,

further analysis, and endless debate and discussion, with theultimate goal of precise documentation and accurateinterpretation. In this regard, Ms. Adams raises the bar andputs the challenge to us all. I am certain I am not alone inrecognizing the tremendous value of this book. It has alreadyfound its place at the foot my desk among my most essentialand well-worn references, resting next to Jefferson’s GardenBook, McMahon’s American Gardener’s Calendar, and HortusThird. Indeed, it is in good and honorable company.

Peggy Cornett, editorCharlottesville, Virginia

Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants 1640-1940by Denise Wiles Adams, Timber Press, Inc., 2004, 420 pages, 155 color photos, 37 b/w photos, 154 linedrawings, hardcover, 0-88192-619-1, $39.95

Southern Garden History Society

Old Salem, Inc.

Drawer F, Salem Station

Winston-Salem, NC 27108

Officers: Editor: Assistant Editor: Book Review Editor:President, Gordon W. Chappell, Williamsburg, VA Peggy Cornett Kenneth M. McFarland Davyd Foard HoodVice-President, James R. Cothran, Atlanta, GA Monticello, P.O.B. 316 Stratford Hall Plantation 6907 Old Shelby RoadSecretary-Treasurer, Flora Ann Bynum, Winston-Salem, NC Charlottesville, VA 22902 Stratford, VA 22558 Isinglass, Vale, NC 28168

(434) 984-9816 (804) 493-1558 (704) 462-1847Fax (434) 984-0358 Fax (804) 493-8006 Fax (704) 462-2491pcornett@monticello.org kmcfarland@stratfordhall.org

Magnolia grandiflora reproduced by courtesyof Rare Book Division, Special CollectionsDepartment, University of Virginia Library.

FIRST CLASS MAIL US POSTAGE

PAIDCharlottesville, VA

Permit No. 345

Deadline for the submission of articles for the winter issue of Magnolia is May 31, 2004.

The New Louisiana Gardener - Nouveau Jardinier de la Louisiane, 1838publication by Jacques-Felix Lelièvre and translated into English by Sally KittredgeReeves. Published by LSU press in cooperation with SGHS. Hardcover. 186 pageswith color photographs and halftones. Specially priced for SGHS members at $25(plus $3.95 postage). NC orders add 7% sales tax.

Bound Sets of Magnolia Back Issues. Includes Vol. I, No. 1 (Fall 1984) throughVol. XIV, No. 4 (Winter/Spring 1999), with index. $50. Price includes postage andtax. (Individual back issues of Magnolia $5.00 each)

NEW Cultivating History: Exploring Horticultural Practices of the SouthernGardener (2001 proceedings of the thirteenth biennial Restoring Southern Gardensand Landscapes Conference held at Old Salem). $10 (plus $3.95 postage). NC ordersadd 7% sales tax.

Also available: Breaking Ground (1997 proceedings) and The Influence of Womenon the Southern Landscape (1995 proceedings). Contact publications secretary forspecial SGHS member's pricing.

Send orders to: Kay Bergey, publications secretary, SGHS, c/o Old Salem, Inc.,Drawer F, Salem Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27108.

NOTE: Checks payable to SGHS for Nouveau Jardinier and Magnolias. Checkspayable to Old Salem, Inc. for conference proceedings. For information call(336) 721-7378 or e-mail: bergeymk@wfu.edu

Annual Membership Dues

The membership year runs from May 1 to April 30.

Members joining after January 1will be credited for the

coming year beginning May 1.

Write to membership secretary at:

Southern Garden History Society,

Old Salem, Inc., Drawer F, Salem Station,

Winston–Salem, North Carolina 27108

phone (336) 721–7328

www.southerngardenhistory.org

Benefactor $250 Joint/husband-wife $30

Patron $150 Individual $20

Sustainer $75 Student $5

Institution/Business$30

Life membership $1,000 (one time)

Publications Available Through SGHS

Board of DirectorsRuth Coy, Richmond, Kentucky

Fletch Coke, Nashville, Tennessee

Betsy Crusel, New Orleans, Louisiana

Gail Griffin, Bethesda, Maryland

Susan Haltom, Ridgeland, Mississippi

Nancy F. Haywood, Houston, Texas

Davyd Foard Hood, Vale, North Carolina

Patti McGee, Charleston, South Carolina

Larry Paarlberg, Tallahassee, Florida

Mary Anne Pickens, Columbus, Texas

Sally K. Reeves, New Orleans, Louisiana

Jeanne Symmes Reid, Greenville, South Carolina

M. Edward Shull, Catonsville, Maryland