This article was written for Black History Month. I feet a bit uncomfortable because this article is more about the slave owners than about the slaves who did the work. The fact of the matter is that ornamental gardening really began in the southern colonies rather than the northern ones and it was always closely connected with slavery. The white plantation owners may have been interested in plants and garden design, but it was black slaves who executed the designs and actually grew the plants. It could be said that the first great ornamental gardeners in North America were black, so those great plantation gardens are a part of the heritage of African-Americans.
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