The Garden History Blog

From Carter’s 1909 catalogue

Wherever you live in the world if you are a gardener ‘of a certain age’ then you’re bound to remember Carters Tested Seeds. They were one of the great horticultural institutions of the 19th and 20th centuries. But where are they now?

When I was a child and first learning about gardening my grandparents had an allotment where I was allowed a little patch of ground on which to grow plants.

From Carter’s 1909 catalogue

We would go to the local seedsman and nursery sundries shop – Roses in Farnham  – and choose a few packets from the colourful display of Carters seeds.  If we went to London by train we would travel past their nursery and trial grounds on the south western outskirts so it was very sad when, in the late 60s and I had begun commuting,  that these were sold off and built over, and Carters seemed to vanish.

From Carter’s 1909 catalogue

Of course the company didn’t disappear completely, as you will see, but I was reminded of Carters a few months back when when writing a post about sweet peas. [Catch up on that at   http://wp.me/p4brf0-vyp]  That’s  because the founder of the firm, James Carter seems to have been a pioneer in hybridizing them to sell from his shop on High Holborn.

It made me investigate a little further, so read on to find out more about the rise and rise and then the Cheshire-Cat-like disappearance of this pioneering and iconic firm of seedsmen . Continue reading →