Description
Book SynopsisExploration of the New World offered far reaching possibilities for the acquisition of new plants and for trees, but the impact that the introduction of plants from the New World had, and still has, on the English garden is frequently forgotten. Gardens and landscapes were transformed by an influx of American roots and through the past three centuries gardens have displayed important links with the United States of America. The ancestral homes of George Washington, the residence of the American Ambassador in London, the American Museum in Britain and Bletchley Park are of cultural and political importance. Many Dollar Princesses - American heiresses - took an active part in the aristocratic role of garden creation and ex-patriots too, continue to leave a legacy of beautiful gardens. Finally, the book includes memorial gardens of honoured Americans: Princess Pocahontas; Mohamet Weyonoman; John F. Kennedy; the Magna Carta Memorial built by the American Bar Association, and at Cambridge, the American Military Cemetery, dedicated to the American Armed Services.
The American Spirit in the English Garden is unique in bringing together the story of the first influx of American plant species and an important collection of gardens influenced and/or created by Americans, reflecting social history and often overlooked links between Britain and the United States of America.
Trade ReviewThe impact of North American flora has gone largely unnoted, but Stone explores it in historical essays and profiles of storied British gardens, supplemented by hundreds of enticing color photos. -- Nara Schoenberg Chicago Tribune, October 19, 2015 The American Spirit in the English Garden details the influx of new and exotic plants into the United Kingdom, both as a show of wealth and for the opportunity to discover new medicinal remedies. Landscape Architecture Magazine, December 2015
Table of ContentsContents: Introduction: The Quest for Plants; Seeds and saplings for The New World; The John Tradescants and the Garden Museum; Henry Compton, Bishop of London and the Gardens of Fulham Palace; Charles Hamilton at Painshill Park; The Quaker Plant Collectors; Collectors, Nurserymen and the Changing Shape of Landscape and Gardens; The American Connection; The Wessynton Family at Washington Old Hall; Sulgrave Manor - The Ancestral Home of the Washington Family; Winfield House - London Residence of the American Ambassador to The Court of St James's; Bletchley Park National Codes Centre; Claverton Manor, Bath The American Museum in Britain; Thomas Hollis and James Bartos of Dorset; The Dollar Princesses; Consuelo Vanderbilt and Gladys Deacon at Blenheim Palace; The Jerome Sisters Chartwell and Brede Place; The Astors at Cliveden and Hever Castle; Nancy Lancaster at Kelmarsh Hall, Ditchley Park and Haseley Court; The Fairhavens at Anglesey Abbey; Gertrude Winthrop and Lawrence Johnstone at Hidcote Manor Garden; Dorothy Elmhirst at Dartington Hall Garden; Gardens of Remembrance; Runneymede; Pocahontas at St George s Church, Gravesend; Memorial to Sachem Mahomet Weyonomon at Southwark Cathedral, London; Cambridge American Military Cemetery and Memorial Chapel.
