Where Did Perennials Come From In The Late 18th Century?

July 3, 2010

Perennials were difficult to obtain in the eighteenth century. Only seeds of most plants were available, and these seeds traveled great distances from the parent plants to the growers. In a letter dated December 17, 1784, the Marquis de Lafayette requests General Washington to obtain a list of seeds from “Kentueke,” and this list included the “Crown Imperial Cardinal Flower.” These common names could indicate the species Fritillaria imperialis and Lobelia cardinalis, the former from Persia and the latter indigenous. General Washington responded in February, 1785: “I will use my best endeavors to procure the seeds (from Kentucky) which are contained in your list; but as the distance at which I live from that country is great, and frequent miscarriages of them may happen, you must prepare yourself for delay.”

Only too often were seeds of ornamentals offered as mixtures of “flower seeds.” Vegetables and herbs were more important to the seedsmen and the growers of colonial America, and these seeds were usually handled by the individual varieties. In the letters written by General Washington we find postscripts and acknowledgments of boxes of flower seeds or flower roots. In a letter to the Reverend William Gordon, of Boston, dated December 5, 1785, General Washington states: “I have too Mrs. Washington’s particular thanks to offer you for the flower roots and seeds, which she will preserve in the manner directed.”

In the year 1787 the Reverend William Gordon forwarded from London seeds of digitalis, Digitalis purpurea, the perennial, double, bee larkspur, Delphinium datum, and the annual double rocket larkspur, D. ajacis.

In the Spring of 1795 General Washington received a communication from a trustee of the botanical gardens of Jamaica enclosing a list of 39 tropical plants which the gentleman was forwarding for the greenhouse at Mount Vernon. This gentleman included a list of plants which he desired for the botanical garden plantings. Among the items, most of which are shrubs, he requests Sanguinaria canadensis, Spigelia marilandica, Phlox paniculata, Phlox divaricata, Helonias bullata, Helonia asphodeloides and Trillium cernuum.

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Where Did Perennials Come From In The Late 18th Century?

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