The UK's first garden gnomes - or "fairy miners"
Painting by Heinrich Schlitt, c.1900, Hungarian National Gallery Do you have a gnome in your garden? If you do, you’re in good company!...
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gardenhistorygirl
- Oct 15, 2022
- 20 min
In focus: Miss Willmott's published photographs
'The Garden House'. Plate 37 from 'Warley Garden in Spring and Summer' by Ellen Willmott, 1909 Introduction Anyone that reads my blogs...
1,277 views3 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Sep 24, 2022
- 13 min
Country Life: The Garden Historians’ ‘bible’
Front cover of June 1st, 2022 issue of 'Country Life' Introduction I have to admit to only buying Country Life very occasionally – it’s...
310 views2 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Aug 8, 2022
- 15 min
Photography as applied to flowers: Mr Stevens’ ‘prize picture’
'Gloire de Dijon Roses from a prize photograph by Mr Henry Stevens', from 'The Gardeners' Chronicle', February 10, 1883 After a day’s...
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gardenhistorygirl
- Jul 22, 2022
- 13 min
‘Gardens under Glass’: The Victorian conservatory
'In the Conservatory' by James Tissot c.1875 I've always been somewhat taken with glasshouses: be it the Palm House at Kew or smaller...
3,508 views1 comment
gardenhistorygirl
- Jul 11, 2022
- 7 min
Geraniums (or pelargoniums?) on the windowsill
‘Rubens Peale with a Geranium’, painted by his brother, Rembrandt Peale, 1801. National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA – Patrons’...
781 views2 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Jun 30, 2022
- 13 min
Miss Willmott's Roses
Rosa 'Ellen Willmott'. Photograph by Eric Timewell. This rose has been delightfully described as “an Audrey Hepburn of a rose, nothing...
689 views1 comment
gardenhistorygirl
- May 26, 2022
- 13 min
The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910
Souvenir Exhibition 'Official Guide' to the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 priced at one shilling. There was also a daily programme...
859 views2 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Apr 27, 2022
- 10 min
The 'juicy' tale of the Renaissance citron
‘Still Life with Bowl of Citrons’, late 1640's by Italian artist, Giovanna Garzoni This month I'm stepping out of my comfort zone of the...
1,624 views2 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Apr 1, 2022
- 12 min
Gardening across ‘the pond’ in the early 20th century
Front cover of the US ‘Garden Magazine’, March 1922 edition Most of my garden history research topics relate to the UK, and I’ve always...
474 views6 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Feb 25, 2022
- 13 min
'Beautifying railways for the weary traveller'
'Flowers Before Fares' from 'Funny Folks' magazine. Courtesy Dr David Turner on Twitter. In 1884, the Midland Railway company started a...
920 views2 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Jan 19, 2022
- 17 min
“Gardeners in bloomers”: Early horticultural schools and colleges for women
The first female gardeners at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew wearing their famous bloomers - a somewhat short-lived and controversial...
979 views1 comment
gardenhistorygirl
- Dec 31, 2021
- 7 min
A Christmas Present for 1909
For December, I’ve indulged myself somewhat by writing a blog containing some of my favourite garden history topics – the horticultural...
230 views0 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Nov 22, 2021
- 9 min
The Early Amateur Photographers - and the beginnings of 'garden photography'
'A Summer’s Evening, Penllergare', by John Dillwyn Llewelyn, August 1854. Note the camera on a tripod on the bank and its reflection in...
395 views1 comment
gardenhistorygirl
- Oct 23, 2021
- 17 min
The ‘Curious and Noble’: Robert James, 8th Baron Petre of Thorndon Hall (1713-1742)
In the summer of 1741 as a lively dinner hosted by Lord Petre at his Essex estate, Thorndon Hall, neared its conclusion, the guests were...
569 views3 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Feb 8, 2021
- 5 min
The UK Horticultural Press:1840s - 1920s
Mastheads for The Gardeners' Chronicle (1889), The Gardener's Magazine (1867), Country Life (1900) and The Garden (1880) I am a big fan...
893 views1 comment
gardenhistorygirl
- Jan 6, 2021
- 9 min
‘Booby-trapped’ daffodils and a stolen water lily: 100 years of plant thefts
Notice photographed in 2011 at the 6 & B Garden in Manhattan's East Village, New York As you can see from this notice, photographed in a...
476 views3 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Nov 17, 2020
- 7 min
For the “use of Ladies, Gentlemen and Gardeners”: Curtis’s Botanical Magazine
'Iris Persica (the Persian Iris)' by James Sowerby. Plate 1 from the first issue of 'The Botanical Magazine or Flower-Garden Displayed'...
356 views3 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Nov 8, 2020
- 6 min
The Wardian Case – preventing damage to plants by “monkeys and parakeets”
Detail from ‘A Primrose from England’ by Edward Hopley, 1855 This painting, A Primrose from England, by the artist Edward Hopley was...
528 views0 comments
gardenhistorygirl
- Nov 5, 2020
- 6 min
The 'first' Chelsea Flower Show: the Royal International Horticultural Exhibition of May 1912
The 'first' Chelsea Flower Show
389 views6 comments
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