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Amidst all these headlong developments of new garden elements, other, and older ones were still on the move. For instance, the 'American Gardens' so popular toward the end of the eighteenth century, were still important. Many Victorian writers have plans for them, though their definition became increasingly blurred as plants from other continents were added, especially Indian and Chinese rhododendrons and camellias. Indeed, the term became used for almost any combination of conifers, 'rhodos' and other evergreens; it became almost a style in its own right, especially in the wilder parts of Scotland, where almost every industrial or aristocratic magnate had an estate. These 'magnates gardens' did particularly well on acid soils and in areas of high rainfall. By the time that most of them were being established, (using rhododendron cultivars as well as the latest species from India and America), American gardeners had become as keen on their own native plants as on the hybrids developed from them. It hadn't always been so. In the first half of the nineteenth century in America, only the most sophisticated gardeners were at all interested in the native flora. Though there were many wealthy garden enthusiasts, there were not many large estates yet held in long lines of descent,and so there was little incentive to indulge in long-term garden planning and planting. In view of the severity of the climate for much of the landlocked states, it is extraordinary that so much of the European garden flora was treasured for so long; essential things like box, rosemary, lavender, bay, even daisies and pinks had to be coddled over the winter, often being grown in pots as British gardeners were doing for oranges, lemons and oleanders. Even by the early nineteenth century there were few American garden books. The "American Gardener's Calendar" by Bernard McMahon appeared in 1806, and the delightful 'The American Gardener' by the English William Cobbett came out in 1821. Another rare American garden book based on actual American climatic conditions appeared in 1822. Perhaps not surprisingly it was concerned primarily with the garden as an economic unit. 'Gardening for Profit', a title used hundred of times since then, was by the Edinburgh born Peter Henderson. Twenty years later, the next important garden work was closely based on the works of Repton and Loudon. 'A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, with a view to the improvement of Country Residences,etc etc, with remarks on Rural Residences', by Andrew Jackson Downing, was a vast success, and appeared in its fourth edition by 1849. Though published by Longmans in London, it had been revised and expanded for the increasingly enthusiastic American market. The fascinating preface draws a contrast between the new pioneers and their rough plots in the West, and the old families and long-cultivated country in the East. This is the first book on American landscape gardening, and is an attempt to show newly prosperous gardeners how to ensure that they gardened in the most correct taste. Downing freely acknowledges Loudon's help, as well as that of various American garden owners. After having given a rather confused account of European garden history, he continues: "In the United States, it is highly improbable that we shall ever witness such splendid examples of landscape gardens as those abroad, to which we have alluded. Here the rights of man are held to be equal; and if there are no enormous parks, and no class of men whose wealth is hereditary, there is, at least, what is more gratifying to the feelings of the philanthropist, the almost entire absence of a very poor class... " He says that the middle class, who have villas and need landscaped grounds, is increasing every day, and "...we have no hesitation in predicting that in half a century or more, there will exist a greater number of beautiful villas and country seats of moderate extent, in the Atlantic States, than in any country in Europe, England alone excepted. With us a feeling, a taste, or an improvement, is contagious, and... is disseminated with a celerity that is indeed wonderful" Downing clearly felt that he had a clear field, and that it should be he who became the first great American garden designer. The only 'current' designer when the book was written was the 'late' Mr Parmentier, of Brooklyn, who arrived from Holland in 1824, and established a nursery. Downing notes wanly that he did surveys and furnished plants, though he appears to have much admired some of Parmentier's work. He continues that the "the introduction of tasteful gardening in this country, is, of course, of very recent date. But so long ago as from twenty five to fifty years there were several residences highly remarkable for extent, elegance of arrangement, and the highest order and keeping". He lists four of these.... ================================================================================================= |
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