United Kingdom
June 29, 2009
Source:
British Society for the History
of Science
 The
head gardener has achieved far more than just a pretty garden.
In fact, through advances in plant physiology, pathology and
breeding, head gardeners have left an indelible stamp on today’s
horticultural science. It’s time to celebrate the scientific
contributions of these often overlooked individuals, says Toby
Musgrave, a leading authority on garden history and the author
of The Head Gardeners (Aurum
Press Ltd, 2009). Musgrave will be championing the head
gardener in a talk at the annual meeting of the
British Society for the History
of Science.
It was in Victorian and Edwardian Britain that the head
gardeners’ star reached its zenith. But these polymath servants,
a creation of their time and masters of an array of
interdisciplinary sciences and arts, did more than create and
maintain vast and diverse gardens. “They also rapidly and
comprehensively advanced horticulture,” says Musgrave. “Today,
however, these invisible artisans and their diverse, influential
works are largely overlooked.”
Musgrave will shine light on these forgotten heroes at the BSHS’
annual meeting in Leicester, UK on 3 July. He will reveal how
Sir Joseph Paxton’s glasshouse designs turned the wealthy
classes onto conservatories, which in turn stimulated plant
hunting expeditions to jungles all over the world to collect new
hothouse plants such as orchids.
Head gardeners like John Caie, John Gibson and John Fleming rose
to the challenge of presenting tender summer annuals in bedding
displays, a form of planting that came to epitomise the
Victorian garden and which remains fashionable today.
And, says Musgrave, head gardeners are also responsible for
breeding many of our favourite garden plants and edible crops.
For example, Anthony Parsons' passion was “the improvement of
various florists’ flowers” and his pioneering work his work on
dahlias, pansies, verbenas, petunias, hollyhocks and achimenes
resulted in dozens of new hybrids, the forefathers of many we
grow today.
“The head gardeners’ advances and discoveries made in the
sciences of horticulture, botany, plant physiology plant
pathology, and plant breeding, as well as engineering and
architecture shaped the emergence of modern horticultural
science and popular gardening,” concludes Musgrave.
“Understanding the head gardeners’ role in developing new garden
styles is central to understanding the conditions of their
making, the evolution of the garden art form, and the continued
influence these forgotten heroes exert on garden styles today.” |
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