Thinking of spring and gardening!

 As always at this time of year, I am starting to think about gardening. And so, here I am blogging about garden issues, again.

I recently discovered that, as with most other industries and occupations in Regency Britain, friendly societies and mutual aid societies abounded for the horticultural community. I came first upon the Order of Free Gardeners, begun in Scotland in the mid 1700s. It was set up to resemble the guilds which protected urban professions.

The Order relied heavily on the structure and forms of Freemasonry. Their 'arms' above therefore include the usual square and compass but include a pruning knife. Their object was to support, for a subscription fee, their associates in the gardening trade with insurance, charity, training, and community.

The Order was always more active in Scotland and in the northern counties of England.

Tyne Mercury; Northumberland and Durham and Cumberland Gazette - Tuesday 29 August 1815

 Westmorland Gazette - Saturday 28 August 1824

But the London newspapers also considered their activities noteworthy.

Star (London) - Saturday 28 July 1810

More active in England, it appears, and very numerous were Friendly Florist Societies. 'Florist' did not, at that time, mean retailers of flowers, but rather growers of flowers (though they may have sold them as well). 

Durham Chronicle - Saturday 08 May 1824

Tyne Mercury; Northumberland and Durham and Cumberland Gazette - Tuesday 10 May 1808

These friendly societies were prime presenters of flower shows and displays and bestowed prizes which provide us with the names of these early plant varieties.

Nowadays, horticultural societies abound--I belong to one myself. And they still offer community, instruction and competition. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

N.B. newspaper articles from the British Newspaper Archive

Regency Gardening - Bulbous Roots for Sale

At this time of year--with two months of winter left where I live--my thoughts turn to my garden. I pore over seed catalogues looking for new flowers to try, new bulbs to plant.

It seems that during the Regency, garden lovers had exactly the same desire to plan their gardens. In the late fall, the newspapers offered advertisements from seedsmen and nurseries for the latest in Dutch 'bulbous roots'.

Carlisle Patriot - Saturday 10 October 1818

Dublin Evening Post - Tuesday 12 October 1819

Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Monday 21 October 1816

The Tyne Mercury; Northumberland and Durham and Cumberland Gazette - Tuesday 29 October 1816

Bristol Mirror - Saturday 23 October 1819

In January, the Hull Packet posted the advertisement below. Several familiar plants are on the list--I have an amarillis [sic] blooming in my dining room right now! And martagon lilies are now enjoying a resurgence in popularity...

Hull Packet - Tuesday 17 January 1815

By March the seedsmen were advertising. If I had a garden in Regency times, I would hope to be able to purchase one or two packets of new, different seeds to supplement those I had collected and that I traded with my neighbours.

The Suffolk Chronicle;  or Weekly
General Advertiser & County Express
Saturday 02 March 1816

 By spring and early summer the flower shows were beginning and competition was keen.

Saunders's News-Letter Dublin - Monday 05 April 1819

The Globe - London - Friday 03 May 1811

Durham County Advertiser - Saturday 07 June 1817

There were many astonishing botanical artists practicing during the Regency era. The illustrations in this post are by Pierre Jean Francois Turpin, one of the greatest. He probably became known and appreciated in England after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

I must go and make up my order for seeds now from my new catalogues. It is nice to know I am continuing a tradition that dates back well before the Regency era.

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

Sources: 

British Newspaper Archive http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/