Author Archives: The Garden History Blog

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The indefatigable John Fraser and his American Nursery

Posted on 06/10/2018 by The Garden History Blog

John Fraser was another one of those botanists and plant hunters who once set the horticultural word on fire with their discoveries but are now scarcely remembered.  Like so many of them he was Scottish,  born in Inverness-shire in 1750, … Continue reading →

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Ada and her garden village

Posted on 29/09/2018 by The Garden History Blog

It’s not often I’d guess that a local election manifesto gets taken that seriously, is implemented and referred to and read decades after it was written,  and even  talks about gardens. But an exception might be  the 1922 election address … Continue reading →

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Once the Queen of the Parlour…

Posted on 22/09/2018 by The Garden History Blog

Everyone’s maiden aunt and granny had one, and Gracie Fields sang of having the biggest one in the world. A dreary, dark green, flowerless clump in a pot in a corner of the parlour. Often forgotten about for weeks on … Continue reading →

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John Evelyn’s Elysium Britannicum

Posted on 15/09/2018 by The Garden History Blog

John Evelyn is, like his friend Samuel Pepys, best known for his diary,  detailing life in the second half of the 17thc. He was a landed gentleman, government official and a high Anglican of uncompromising piety but also a man beset … Continue reading →

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East comes West

Posted on 08/09/2018 by The Garden History Blog

Dr Johnson wrote in 1738 : “There are few nations in the world more talked of, or less known than the Chinese.”  He was reflecting on the latest book about China to be published, one which Patrick Conner in Oriental Architecture in the … Continue reading →

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