Plant Swap...circa 1730

Our American garden history is filled with stories of adventure and the discovery of specimens native only to this continent, as evidenced in no small part by the well documented trails of Lewis and Clark. But, did you know that trans-Atlantic plant swaps were also adding to our early cultural and botanical heritage?

It was through researching heritage plants on the Monticello web site that I came across a fascinating review of such an exchange. John Custis, of Williamsburg, was a prodigious garden enthusiast, and his beautifully reconstructed gardens in Colonial Williamsburg tell only part of his tale. The rest of his most enthusiastic gardening story comes to life in "Brothers of the Spade" (published in 1957, edited by Virginia historian, Dr. E.D. Swem.) The conservators at Monticello refer to this collection of letters as an "indespensible tool" in guiding them through the successes---and more importantly, the failures---of 18th century plantsmen. Custis remains one of the few gardeners whose flops are so diligently recorded!

Peter Collinson, in England, was known to the rich and famous of his day in London as an unparalleled botanist. His interest in acquiring a specimen of 'Virginia Bluebell' reached John Custis in Virginia , who obtained the specie plant, sending our native "Mertensia Virginina" across the Atlantic to Collinson. This began a series of letters, plant sharing and record keeping unlike anything else.

Dating the arrival of species plants into the United States is the most obvious reason to value such an exchange, but the letters of these two men tell us much more about themselves, how they managed their gardens, and the tone of their aesthetic tastes. We learn how their specimens survived long ocean voyages, or not...were eaten by rats, overwatered on board, or were dead on arrival.

Collinson, well aware of the current trends, sent the newest and most popular English offerings to Custis in Virginia, where they often failed to thrive in the vagaries of the Tidewater climate. Some of those which liked their New World home were to become favorites, among them the 'Chili' strawberry, a genuine wonder plant in it's day. He also sent roses, fruit trees and elegantly variegated flowering bulbs.

Custis, in return, sent new taxonomiic material for Collinson's garden of noteworthy "exotics" from the distant hinterlands of Colonial America to amaze and amuse the London literati---fringe tree and umbrella magnolia. Exotics, indeed!

I have asked my local county library to help in a search for this out of print book. Check yours, you may find it! In the meantime, I highly recommend reading the article by

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