[Sansevierias] Early American Gardens

<http://americangardenhistory.blogspot.com/>Early American Gardens


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    * Nurseryman - W Atlee Burpee 1858-1915
    * Rochester, New York Seed Dealer James Vick 1818-1882
    * 18C & early 19C Seed Dealers & Nursery Owners of South Carolina

Nurseryman - W Atlee Burpee 1858-1915

Posted: 29 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT
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W. Atlee Burpee–(1858-1915)–Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The W. Atlee Burpee & Company was founded by W. 
Atlee Burpee in 1876 in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. Atlee was born in 1858 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

At fourteen years of age, Atlee’s hobby was 
breeding chickens, geese and turkeys. He 
corresponded with poultry experts worldwide and 
wrote scholarly articles in poultry journals. 
With a partner in 1876, the 18 year old Atlee 
started a mail-order chicken business in the 
family home with $1,000 loaned to him by his mother.

Poultry farmers from the Northeast knew of his 
business, and he soon opened a store in 
Philadelphia, selling not only poultry but also 
corn seed for poultry feed. It wasn’t long 
before his customers started requesting cabbage, 
carrot, cauliflower and cucumber seeds.

In 1878, Burpee dropped his partner and founded 
W. Atlee Burpee & Company, mainly for garden 
seeds, but poultry wasn’t dropped from the Burpee catalog until the 1940s.

By 1888, the family home, Fordhook Farms, in 
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was established as an 
experimental farm to test and evaluate new 
varieties of vegetables and flowers, and to produce seeds.

Before World War I, Atlee spent many summers 
traveling through Europe and the United States, 
visiting farms and searching for the best flowers 
and vegetables. Atlee shipped many of the 
vegetables and flowers he found to Fordhook Farms 
for testing. Those plants that survived were bred 
with healthier types to produce hybrids better 
suited to the United States. Fordhook Farms was 
the first laboratory to research and test seeds 
in this way. Fordhook Farms specialized in 
testing onions, beets, carrots, peas and cabbage.

In 1909, Burpee established Floradale Farms in 
Lompoc, California, to test sweet peas, and 
Sunnybrook Farms near Swedesboro, New Jersey 
tested tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and squashes.

In his travels, Atlee met Asa Palmer, a 
Pennsylvania farmer who raised beans, and who 
thought he had one plant that was resistant to 
cutworms. Burpee turned this bean plant into what 
is now known as the Fordhook lima bean, one of 
the company’s most famous items.

Another successful plant was the Golden Bantam 
sweet corn that the farmer William Chambers of 
Greenfield, Massachusetts had grown before his 
death. A friend of Chambers found some of the 
sweet corn seeds and sold Burpee seeds of the 
corn, and in 1902, Golden Bantam was featured in a Burpee catalog.

Before 1900 most people thought that yellow corn 
was fit only for animals, so in order to change 
their customers minds, many farmers slipped 
Golden Bantam corn in with the white corn they 
were selling. Within a few years, people in the 
United States were converted to yellow corn.

Iceberg lettuce was introduced in 1894 and named 
for its crispness. A key in Burpee’s business 
was the 1863 free delivery system, that required 
post offices to deliver mail to residents’ 
homes, and in 1896, free delivery was extended to 
rural areas. This allowed his catalogs to be 
delivered directly to people’s homes.

Thousands of letters were received annually from 
Burpee’s customers thanking him for his seeds. 
Burpee knew that the key to his business was 
advertising and the catalog was his advertising medium.

In his first year of business, his catalog was 48 
pages, but by 1915 his catalogs were 200 pages 
and he distributed a million catalogs. Burpee 
personally wrote most of the copy of his 
catalogs. Burpee set up an advertising department 
and offered cash prizes for the best 
advertisements. This competition is what 
originated the slogan “Burpee Seeds Grow” in 1890.

The 1891 catalog was the first to feature 
engravings made from photographs, and by 1901 
this process was done by machines. Burpee’s 
move to photography changed the whole industry 
and the hand-drawn illustration in catalogs 
disappeared. In another break with tradition, 
Burpee eliminated cultural information and put in 
testimonial letters and plant descriptions.

At Atlee’s death in 1915, the company had 300 
employees, and it was the largest seed company in 
the world. At that time the Burpee company 
distributed over 1 million catalogs a year and received 10,000 orders a day.

<http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/seeds/seedsmanbios.html>Information 
from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries research.
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Rochester, New York Seed Dealer James Vick 1818-1882

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT


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Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873, issued quarterly, pp. 132.

This article was written by seed dealer James 
Vick (1818-1882) of Rochester, New York, 
in  pages 21-24 of Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873.


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  Store Front Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

OUR SEED HOUSE

It is acknowledged that I have the largest and 
best regulated retail Seed House in the 
world.  It is visited by thousands every year 
from all parts of this country, and by many from 
Europe, and 1 take pleasure in exhibiting 
everything of interest or profit to visitors.  As 
hundreds of thousands of my customers will 
probably never have the opportunity of making a 
personal visit, I thought a few facts and 
illustrations would be interesting to this large 
class whom 1 am anxious to please, and be, at 
least, an acknowledgement of a debt of gratitude 
for long continued confi­dence, which I can feel, but not repay.


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Inside the Store Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

Two Catalogues are issued each year, one of Bulbs 
in August, and on the first of December a 
beautiful Floral Guide:, of 130 pages, finely 
illustrated with hundreds of engravings of 
Flowers and plants and colored plates. Last year, 
the number printed was three hundred thousand at 
a cost of over sixty thousand dollars. In 
addition to the ordinary conveniences of a well 
regulated Seed House, there is connected with 
this establishment a Printing Office, Bindery, 
Box Making Establishment, and Artists’ and 
Engravers’ Rooms. Everything but the paper being made in the establishment.


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Vick Store and Processing Center on State Street 
in Rochester, NY 1873 Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide

To do this work fully occupies a building four 
stories in height (besides basement) sixty feet 
in width, and one hundred and fifty feet in 
length, with an addition in the upper story of a 
large room over an entire adjoining block.

BASEMENT

The large basement is arranged with immense 
quantities of drawers, &c., for storing 
Bulbs.  Here, too, are stored the heavier kinds 
of Seeds, in sacks, &c., piled to the 
ceiling.  The heavier packing is also done here.

FIRST FLOOR

The first floor is used entirely as a sales-shop, 
or “store,” for the sale of Seeds, Flowers, 
Plants and all Garden requisites and adornments, 
such as baskets, vases, lawn mowers, lawn tents, 
aquariums, seats, &c., &c.  It is arranged with 
taste, and the songs of the birds, the fragrance 
and beauty of the flowers, make it a most 
delightful spot in which to spend an hour.


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The Order Room Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

SECOND FLOOR

On the second floor is the Business and Private 
Offices, and also the Mail Room in which all 
letters are opened. The opening of letters 
occupies the entire time of two persons, and they 
perform the work with astonishing rapidity – 
practice making perfect – often opening ng three 
thousand in a day.  After these letters are 
opened they are passed into what is called the 
Registering Room, on the same floor, where they 
are divided into States, and the name of the 
person ordering, and the date of the receipt of 
the order registered.  They are then ready to be 
filled, and are passed into a large room, called 
the Order Room, where over seventy-five hands are 
employed, divided into gangs, each set, or gang, 
to a State, half-a-dozen or more being employed 
on each of the larger States.  After the orders 
are filled, packed and directed, they are sent to 
what is known as the Post Office, also on the 
same floor, where the packages are weighed, the 
necessary stamps put upon them, and stamps 
cancelled, when they are packed in Post Office 
bags furnished us by Government, properly labeled 
for the different routes, and sent to the Postal 
Cars.  Tons of Seeds are thus dispatched every day during the business season.


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The Packing Room Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

THIRD FLOOR

Here is the German Department, where all orders 
written in the German language are filled by 
German clerks; a Catalogue in this language being 
published. On this floor, also, all seeds are 
packed, that is, weighed and measured and placed 
in paper bags and stored ready for sale.  About 
fifty persons are employed in this room, 
surrounded by thousands of nicely labeled drawers.

FOURTH FLOOR

On this floor are rooms for Artists and 
Engravers, several of whom are kept constantly 
employed in designing and engraving for 
Catalogues and Chromos. Here, also, the lighter 
seed are stored.  In a large room adjoining, is 
the Printing Office, where the Catalogue is 
prepared, and other printing done, and also the 
Bindery, often employing forty or fifty hands, 
and turning out more than ten thousand Catalogues 
in a day. Here is in use the most improved 
machinery for covering, trimming, &c., propelled by steam.


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The Bindery Wood engraving from Vick's Illustrated Floral Guide for 1873

MISCELLANEOUS

The immense amount of business done may be 
understood by a few facts: Nearly one hundred 
acres are employed, near the city, in growing 
flower seeds mainly, while large importations are 
made from Germany, France, Holland, Australia and 
Japan.  Over three thousand reams of printing 
paper are used each year for Catalogues, weighing 
two hundred thousand pounds, and the simple 
postage for sending these Catalogues by mail is 
thirteen thousand dollars.  Over fifty thousand 
dollars have been paid the Government for postage 
stamps last year.  Millions of bags and boxes are 
also manufactured in the establishment, requiring 
hundreds of reams of paper, and scores of tons of 
paste-board.  The business is so arranged that 
the wrappers are prepared for each State, with 
the name of the State conspicuously printed, thus 
saving a great deal of writing. as well as preventing errors.

I had prepared several other engravings of German 
Room, Printing Office, Artists’ Room, Counting 
Room, Mail Room, Post Office, &c., but have 
already occupied quite enough space give readers 
somewhat of an idea of the character of my 
establishment.  Another year, I may give further particulars.  James Vick


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Seedsman James Vick (1818-1882)

James Vick was one of the merchants who dominated 
the floral nursery industry in New York in the 
19C. James Vick was born in Portsmouth, England 
on Nov. 23, 1818.  In 1833, at the age of 12, he 
arrived in New York City to learn the printing 
trade.   By the time he moved to Rochester, he 
had acquired skills as a printer & writer.

In 1837, he moved with his parents to Rochester, 
New York, where he set type for several 
newspapers & journals. In 1849, James Vick was 
elected corresponding secretary of the Genesee 
Valley Horticultural Society. From 1849 through 
the early 1850s, Vick edited & then bought the 
popular journal The Genesee Farmer in 1855.  He 
later owned part of a workers’ journal and 
helped to found Frederick Douglass’s North Star.


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Vick’s house in 1871

With Vick as editor, the publication became more 
elegant & circulation rapidly increased.  A year 
later he sold out to Joseph Harris.  On the death 
of A. J. Downing, James Vick bought "The 
Horticulturist" & moved it to Rochester in 
1853.  For for 3 years he published this with 
Patrick Barry serving as Editor. It was devoted 
to horticulture, floriculture, landscape gardening, & rural architecture.

About this time, Vick started to grow flowers & 
began sending seeds out by mail to the readers of 
his publication.  Vick also started importing 
seed stock. In 1855, he established a seed store 
& printing house in Rochester for his growing 
mail order business.  In 1856, Vick started 
"Rural Annual and Horticultural Directory".  The 
first half was a seed catalog & the second a list 
of nurserymen.  This was taken over in 1857 by 
Joseph Harris who continued it until 1867.


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Vick's Home on the South Side of East Avenue in Rochester, NY. 1877

With Vick’s knowledge of chromolithography & 
printing, he produce a catalog & later a monthly 
magazine.  The first, "Floral Guide and 
Catalogue" was printed in 1862.  His "Floral 
Guides" provided gardening advice, quality color 
prints, & reached a circulation of 250,000.  He 
entertained his readers with anecdotes, published 
letters he had received, & had a special section for children.

By the 1870s, as many as 150,000 catalogs were 
sent out each year.  A staff of more than 100 
worked in the office & packing house.  There were 
over 75 acres of seed gardens scattered about the 
city.  In 1878, Vick started a paper, "Vick’s 
Illustrated Monthly" which was published by the 
Vick Seed Company in Rochester & in Dansville 
until 1909.  This magazine was sold by 
subscription.  Vick also printed a set of 
chromolithograph prints which were either sold or 
offered as premiums with large orders.


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The Seed House of James Vick 1881 From Commerce, 
Manufactures & Resources of Rochester, NY

Vick was one of the most successful American 
horticultural seedsman, writers, & merchandisers 
of his day.  The Vick Seed Company continued into 
the 20C before being sold to the Burpee Seed Co.

Thanks to the 
<http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/seeds/seedsmanbios.html>Smithsonian 
Libraries Biographies of American Seedsmen & Nurserymen


18C & early 19C Seed Dealers & Nursery Owners of South Carolina

Posted: 27 Jul 2014 01:00 AM PDT
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  Charles Fraser (1782-1860) Golden Groves The 
Seat of Mrs (John) Sommers Stono River. Carolina 
Art Association Gibbes Museum, Charleston, South Carolina.


It is difficult to strike just the right balance 
for a diverse audience of readers. Some are plant 
historians, who want to know precisely what plants are being sold when.

Other readers are interested in the development 
of an industry & its marketing tactics of 
appealing to & changing the needs & desires of 
their customers. Those readers usually don't care 
exactly what is being sold, except as it changes 
from utilitarian to ornamental.

In this posting, I will include more specific 
plant listings. (I will also ask you to return to 
an earlier posting for the basics of seed saving, 
one of the most important ways of having seeds to 
plant the following year for all 18th century gardeners.)

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c 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Detail of 
Settee on a Hill at Rice Hope Plantation from One 
of the Rice Fields. South Carolina. The Carolina 
Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, 
South Carolina. Dr. Read had been a Surgeon in 
the Continental Line during the Revolution. The 
name Rice Hope was one of the many such hopeful 
combinations; there were also a Silk Hope, a Salt 
Hope & a Brick Hope near the Cooper River.

I want to use the watercolors of Charles Fraser 
to let us feel the South Carolina landscape 
around us as we learn how it was being groomed & 
planted. Thanks to South Carolina native Charles 
Fraser (1782 - 1860 ) we have a chance to see, 
through his eyes, the homes & gardens there as he 
was growing up. Although he was primarily known 
his miniature portraits, he also created 
watercolors of historical sites, homes, & 
landscapes. He painted while working as a lawyer, 
historian, writer, & politician. Today, many of 
Fraser's works are displayed at the Carolina Art 
Association & the Gibbes Art Gallery in 
Charleston. I will also include a painting by 
Thomas Corum (1756 – 1811), who taught Charles Fraser to paint.

South Carolina was a world of its own in the 
early 18th century, and it might be interesting 
to compare & contrast the marketing of plants & 
the growth of professional seed & plant dealers 
there with the more northern colonies.

Trading seeds & plants with other gardeners

In warm, nearly tropical South Carolina, 
naturalists Mark Catesby (1682-1749) & John 
Bartram (1699-1777) both visited the intriguing 
colony, increasing botanical awareness in the 
area. Catesby & Bartram took samples of new 
plants they found and traded them with others, on 
both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
John Bartram, the Philadelphia gardener, 
explorer, & botanist, regularly sent plants to 
English merchant & botanist Peter Collinson 
(1649-1768). His famous garden at Mill Hill contained many American plants.


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1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Arbor for 
Gatherings. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

South Carolina gardener Martha Logan ((1701-1779) 
carried on a lively correspondence with 
Philadelphia botanist John Bartram. Bartram wrote 
to his English mentor Peter Collinson in May of 
1761, that she was “an elderly widow lady who 
spares no pains on cost to oblige me: her garden 
is her delight and she has a fine one; I was with 
her about 4 minutes in her company yet we 
contracted such a mutual correspondence that one 
silk bag of seed bath repast several times.”

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Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Dr. Alexander Garden (1746-1802), who practiced 
medicine in Charleston, made important 
contributions to plant identification later in 
the 18th century. Garden also traded seeds & 
plants with others interested in botany on both 
sides of the Atlantic. He is most remembered for 
the gardenia named in his honor by Linnaeus, the 
Swedish botanist who established the modern system of plant classification.

Everyday gardeners, gentry & common folk, traded 
both useful & ornamental seeds & plants with each 
other regularly throughout the 18th century in South Carolina.

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Charles Fraser (1782-1860) 1803 Richmond, the 
Seat of Edward Rutledge in St. John's Parish. The 
Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, 
Charleston, South Carolina. The Richmond house 
stood on a hill overlooking the Eastern branch of 
the Cooper River. It had belonged to Colonel John 
Harleston, one of the oldest Cooper River 
families. From him it had passed to his daughter 
Jane Smith Harleston, the wife of Edward 
Rutledge, whom she married in 1794. The house at 
Richmond is one of the most typical Low Country 
plantation houses sketched by Fraser. The high 
foundation of masonry, the two stories of wood, 
the high hipped roof, the single piazza with its 
wide brick stairway flanked by ramps of the same 
material that flare out at the ground into 
cylindrical newels-all these repeat themselves 
endlessly through the Low Country, with only 
minor local variations.(Mixup in converting slide 
to jpg caused house to reverse, sorry.)

Ordering seeds & plants from English factors

Whether planting their lands for necessity or 
pleasure, early South Carolina gardeners were 
initially bound to write back to England for 
gardening manuals and for many of the specific 
plants and seeds they were familiar with from 
their mother country. But soon commercial seed 
dealers and nursery owners began importing plants 
to sell directly to South Carolina gardeners.

Many South Carolina gardeners ordered their seeds 
directly from England. In the December 19, 1754, 
issue of the South Carolina Gazette, Captain 
Thomas Arnott noted that he brought a box of 
“Tulip, Narcissus, and other Flower Roots” 
from England “supposed to have been ordered by 
some person of this province” and that the 
“person that can properly claim them, may have them.”

Newspaper advertisements, broadsides, & estate 
inventories give a fairly accurate reflection of 
the seeds & plants early South Carolina gardeners 
purchased in the marketplace before 1820. The 
South Carolina Gazette was Charleston’s first 
newspaper commencing publication in January 1732. 
Most early seed dealers used this newspaper as a 
vehicle for marketing their wares.

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30 May 2, 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). The 
Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Buying seeds from ships arriving in South Carolina

The earliest seed dealer advertising there was 
Samuel Everleigh, although his ads weren’t 
specific. In the December of 1732 issue, he 
offered for sale “divers sorts of best Garden 
seeds,” and 3 years later in December of 
1736/7, Everleigh again advertised, “Garden 
seeds fresh and good.” On March 29-April 6, 
1739, he offered “Grass and Garden Seeds.”

When young Charles Pinckney opened his “new 
store on the Bay” in the 1740s, he advertised 
“garden seeds Just imported from London” in 
the South Carolina Gazette. His competitor, 
Robert Pringle, whose store was also “on the 
Bay” advertised garden seeds imported from London.

In 1748, Frederick Merckley & Thomas Shute 
advertised for sale “sundry sorts of Garden 
Seeds” which were imported from Philadelphia 
rather than London. However, England remained the 
dominant source for plant stuffs.

Samuel Came fist appeared in the February 12, 
1753 issue of the South Carolina Gazette 
declaring that he had “Imported from London, an 
assortment of useful garden seed, some flower 
roots and seeds, Windsor and kidney beans, dwarf, 
marrow-fat and Ormond Hotspur Peas.” Came 
advertised again in the January 1764 issue that 
he had “a assortment of Garden Seeds, flower roots, etc.”

The domestic commercial sale of plants continued 
to grow in popularity. In January 1764, Thomas 
Young advertised in the South Carolina Gazette 
that he had imported, “A greet Variety of 
kitchen-garden and flower Seeds, which are very 
fresh, having had a short passage; which, with 
some flower roots, eta. he will salt reasonably, 
at his house at the west-end of Broad-street.”

In the December issue of the same year, Young was 
about to move from his house, and he advertised 
“a parcel of seeds to dispose of cheap; also 
some shrubs, trees, roots, etc. among which are a 
great number of Cork, walnut, with some chestnut 
and almond trees, with squill and other medical roots and seeds.”


John Edwards came to South Carolina, from New 
York, in 1764. He advertised in the March 3, 
1764, South Carolina Gazette that he brought with 
him “a large collection of English garden and 
flower seed” which he had raised himself.

In January of 1765, Lloyd & Neyle advertised that 
they had just imported from London and Bristol 
“garden seeds and flower roots, amongst which 
are the best orange carrots Turkey renunculas 
roots, Dutch tulips, fine anemones, double poppies, double larkspur.”

In March of 1791, Charles McDonald at 186 Meeting 
Street advertised “Fresh Garden Seed, a SMALL 
assortment of Flower and other GARDEN SEED, Just imported from London.”

In the 1803 Charleston Courier, Tait, Wilson & Co 
advertised: "Early Chariton Peas, London 
Cauliflower, Dwarf Marrowfat do., Early Cabbage 
Lettuce Coss, Early Frame do.,Cabbegge of all 
sorts, Crown, Transparent, and White and Black 
Mustard, Tail Sugar do., Solid Celery, Dwarf 
White Kidney Beans, Curled Parsley, Canary and 
Rape Seeds, Green Curled Endive, Early ad 
Imperial York, Long Prickley Cucumber, Cabbage, 
Red Beet, Early Sugar-loaf do., Large Norfolk 
Turnip, Drumhead do., Round Spinnage, Green 
Glazed do., Portugal Onion, Battersea do., Garden 
Cress, Cornish York do., Salmon Reddish, Early 
Penton Cabbage, Scarlet Salmon Reddish, Red 
Pickling do., Short Top do., Early Purple 
Brocoll, Turnips do., Late do., Naples do., 
Siberian do., London Leek, White do., Choux de 
Milan, Large Green Savoy, Brussels Sprouts, Dwarf 
do, White Scariat Runners, Yellow do."

In the next year, Simmons & Sweeny, at the corner 
of East Bay & Broad Streets, advertised in the 
January of 1804, issue of the Charleston Courier, 
“JUST received and for sale by the subscribers 
a few bundles FRUIT TREES, of the best quality; 
each containing twenty-four TREES, 1 Honey 
CHERRY, 1 Amber do., 1 Early White Nutmeg Peach, 
1 Green do., 1 Early red, or rare ripe do., 2 
large yellow Lemon clingstone do., 1 White 
Blossom do., 1 English Swalsh, (or Nectarine), 1 
Green Catherine do., 1 Late October Clingstone 
do., 1 Red Pine Apple do., 1 Early black Damask 
Plumbs, 1 Magnum Bonum, or Yellow Egg Apple, 1 
large Early Harvest do., 1 large Red Spitzenburgh 
do., 1 Fall Pippin do., 1 Newton do., 1 Early 
Sugar Pear, 1 Jergonel, or large flavored Summer 
do., 1 Vergeline or fine Melting Fell do, 1 Almond, 1 Nectarine, 1 Apricot."


J. F. Gennerick, who was selling seeds at 150 
King Street advertised in the Charleston Courier 
on June 18, 1807: “ELEGANT FLOWER ROOTS, 
RANUNCULUS, Antimonies, Imperical Manager, Blue 
unbellated Crechum, The Striped Lilly, Scarlet 
Caledonian do., Double Scarlet do., Dotted 
Arcadian do., The Two Stage Martagon, Variegated 
Colechicums, Double do., Broad leafed Poncratium, 
Purple Fiemanthus, Geurnsey Lilly.”

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1800 View of Mulberry, House and Street, Thomas 
Coram (1756 – 1811), The Carolina Art Association 
Gibbes Musseum of Art, Charleston, South 
Carolina. This is the earliest known depiction of 
a plantation house with rows of single-room slave 
cabins leading to the powerful owner's house.


Buying directly from local plantation & nursery owners in South Carolina

In the September, 1745 issue of the South 
Carolina Gazette, Richard Lake advertised for 
sale at his plantation on the Ashley River, 
“Lemon Trees with Lemons on them, in boxes, 
Lime Trees and Orange Trees in Boxes, and several 
curious Plants in Pots, also variety of young 
Fruit Trees, particularly white Mulberry and Orange Trees.”

In January of 1749, Lake advertised his entire 
plantation for sale in the South Carolina 
Gazette. He used his large & diverse orchard & 
kitchen gardens as an advertising enticement. He 
stated that it had a very large garden both for 
pleasure and profit. It contained all sorts of 
fruit trees consisting of many thousands, a great 
deal of fine asparagus, and all kinds of 
kitchen-garden stuff, a young nursery with a 
great number of grafted pear and apple trees, 
thousands of orange trees, and several lemon and 
lime trees in tubs and boxes, with fruit on them.

[]
Rose Hill c 1820. Unidentified artist. Charleston 
Museum, South Carolina. Home owned by Nathaniel 
Heyward (1766-1851) & his wife Henrietta 
Manigault (1769-1827), the rice plantation Rose 
Hill on the Combhee River was home to 152 slaves. 
Rose Hill is also illustrated in the marginialia 
of the diary of their son Charles (1802-1866) 
which is at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston.

Importing experimental plants into South Carolina

During the 1770s-1780s grapes were becoming a 
popular item in both South Carolina & Georgia, 
where a friendly competition was growing between the neighbors.

The March 1772, issue of the South Carolina 
Gazette announced, “Yesterday also arrive here, 
with Captain John Turner, the ship Carolina 
Packet, from London…30,000 plants of Vines 
producing true Champagne and Burgundy GGrapes, 
procured by the Assiduity of Mr. Masnil de St. 
Pierre (from the French settlement at Longcanes, 
called now New-Bourdeaux) who has received great 
encouragement in London, to perfect his scheme of 
making wines in the province, and obtained from 
the Society of Arts a Gold Medal.”

By the 1750s Benjamin Franklin had his hand in 
potential domestic wine production. The May 1, 
1783 issue of the Gazette in Savannah noted, 
“Sometime ago Dr. Franklin sent to South 
Carolina nine vine dressers from Burgundy, and 
1,200,000 sets of plants of vines, to try whether 
those plants would thrive there. Our merchants do not wish they may.”

[]
  Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

On September 29, 1774 the South Carolina Gazette 
was carrying news of another experimental plant. 
Aaron Loocock was promoting & selling the dying 
root madder. “Those Gentlemen who chose to make 
Trial of this valuable and profitable article may 
depend on not being disappointed of Plants, if 
they order them in Time, either delivered at my 
Plantation at Goose Creek, or to any of their 
friends at Charles-Town, at Five Pounds a 
Thousand. Printed directions, from experiences in 
this Province, will be given.”

Evidently Looncook’s were successful, for 
almost 20 years later in the June 21, 1794 issue 
of the Augusta Chronicle and Gazette his 
“printed directions” appeared under this 
introduction “As the soil and climate of this 
country is said to be well adapted to the 
cultivation of that valuable dying-root, Madder, 
and as the planting, mercantile, and 
manufacturing interest of the United States may 
be very much benefited by its cultivation: I make 
no doubt but that a publication of the following 
observations on it will be very 
acceptable…written twenty years ago,, by a gentleman in South Carolina…”<

On January 9, 1796 in the City Gazette and the 
Daily Advertiser, Robert Day offered for sale 
“To Lovers of Improvement Five to Six Hundred 
LOMBARDY POPLAR TREES, one year old, from ten to 
sixteen feet high they are the first in America 
of their age or kind. Also, Two Hundred PLANTS of 
the large purple sweet WATER GRAPE, One Box, 
containing Two or Three Hundred PLANTS of the 
large Cork ASPARAGUS, two years old."

[]
Jacques Burkhardt (1818-1867). Home of Gabriel Manigault.


Emerging professional gardeners, seed dealers & 
nursery owners in South Carolina

Just as it had in the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South, 
the method of selling seeds & plants changed 
dramatically in South Carolina at the end of the 
century. However, in South Carolina, the change 
began well before the American Revolution. The 
growth of urban economies gave rise to new 
commercial gardening ventures, nurseries & seed 
stores, operated by professional gardeners who 
initially imported & then grew their own seed & plant stock.

Plant Dealer & Garden Writer Martha Logan


Martha Logan (1701-1779) first advertised her 
gardening wares in November 1753 in the South 
Carolina Gazette. She offered for sale “seeds, 
flower roots, and fruit stones at her house” on 
the Green, near Trotts Point. Martha Logan was 
the daughter of Robert Daniell, Landgrove and 
Deputy Governor of South Carolina. She was born 
December 29, 1704, and married George Logan, Jr. 
on July 30, 1719. Widowed by 1741, she was 
keeping a boarding school for children where they 
would be “carefully taught to read, write, 
dance and work several kinds of needle-work” in 
a “pleasant, airy situation” on the green 
near Mrs. Trott’s point. But her first love was gardening.

Martha Logan wrote a “Gardener’s Kalendar” 
that appeared until well past the turn of the 
19th century in various almanacs. In the March 
14, 1768, South Carolina Gazette she advertised 
seed imported from London: “A Fresh assortment 
of very good garden seeds and flower roots, with 
flowering shrubs and box edging beds, now growing 
in her garden.” Her notice establishes that box 
was used for edging in pre-Revolutionary gardens.

[]
1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View from Mr. 
Fraser’s City Residence from untitled 
sketchbook, The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. 
Apparently Fraser lived on King Street with his widowed mother.

Gardener & Plant Dealer John Watson

One of the most important working gardeners & 
seed dealers of the last half of the 18th-century 
in South Carolina was John Watson. He came to the 
province seeking work as a gardener from London 
in 1755. By December 10, 1763 he advertised in 
the South Carolina Gazette that he had imported 
from London, “a proper assortment of garden 
seed, flower roots, me, which he will sell reasonably.”

In 1764, when John Laurens built his "large, 
elegant brick house of sixty feet by 
thirty-eight," with piazzas on the south & east 
sides overlooking the marshes & Cooper River. He 
& Martha Laurens created a 600' by 450' 
brick-walled botanical garden, containing such 
exotics as orange, olive, lime, capers, ginger 
and guinea grass, with the aid of John Watson.

By September of 1765, Watson advertised an 
expanded line of garden wares advertised in the 
South Carolina Gazette. Beside garden seeds and 
flower roots, he offered “…a great collection 
of fruit trees, Of all kinds, which have been 
grafted and budded from the best fonts in the 
province, with a great variety of English grape vines.”

On February 4, 1778, Watson added clover seeds to 
his offerings. By the November issue of the South 
Carolina Gazette for the same year, he noted for 
sale “a great variety of Tulips, hyacinths, 
lilies, anemanies, ranuculuses, double jonquils” as well as asparagus roots.

His wares became more exotic by his November 28, 
1776, notice in the South Carolina Gazette, 
Watson offered for sale “Sweet Almonds, 
Filberts, English Quinces, Olives, China double 
flowering Peaches, Almonds and Pomegranates.”

On January 1, 1778 his ad in the South Carolina 
and American General Gazette offered “Hazel 
Nuts Nutmeg, Myrtle flowering Trees….Magnolia 
or Laurels fit for Avenues, etc. any height from three to twenty, Artichoke.”

John Watson’s last notice appeared in February 
of 1789, when he offered “seedling cassenas for 
hedges, tallow trees for exportation.” In March 
1789, John Watson died. His sons James Mark and 
John ran the nursery, until young John left South 
Carolina in 1802, finally selling “Watson’s Gardens.”

[]
c 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Rice Hope 
Taken from One of the Rice Fields. South 
Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Gardener William Bennet

Another gardener who came from England to South 
Carolina seeking work was William Bennet. In his 
initial ad for public work in the South Carolina 
and American General Gazette on May 13, 1771, he 
also noted “Seed to be sold,” which he had 
apparently brought with him from England. In the 
October 1, 1778, issue of the same publication he 
was still offering unspecified garden seeds for sale.

In in 1786 & 1787, someone claiming to represent 
Peter Crouwells, a well-known Philadelphia 
florist, who had immigrated from Holland, 
advertised in the South Carolina Gazette on 
December 11, 1786, “for sale, an extensive 
variety of the most rare and curious Bulbous 
Flowers, Roots & Seeds, which have never appeared 
in this country before they are just imported 
from Amsterdam…the most choice sorts of 
Hyacinths, double Jonquiillea, Polyanthos, 
Narcissusses, Tarcetts, Tulips, double Tuberoses, 
Pasetouts, Carnations, with a great variety of 
double Ranunculas and Anemonies, a sort of Rose 
Bushes, etc.” Ladies and Gentlemen could get a 
catalogue giving the names and colors of all the Bulbous Flowers.

In February of 1790, “John Chalvin & Co. 
Florists and Gardeners, from France” announced 
that they had brought “from France a great 
variety of Seed and Plants or flowering trees, 
lilly roots, jacinths, and crow feet of the 
scarcest and prettiest qualities; rose bushes of 
different colours; es also a great variety of pot 
and herbs seeds” which they had for sale at a 
very moderate price at No. 8 Elliott-street.

[]
1800. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Brabants on 
French Quarter Creek, The Seat of the Late Bishop 
Smith. South Carolina. The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, 
South Carolina. This plantation lies on French 
Quarter Creek, a tributary of the Eastern Branch 
of the Cooper River. The original grant to 
Francis Pagett in 1704, was later joined a tract 
granted in 1709 to Daniel Brabant, a surgeon 
whose name became that of the plantation. It 
amounted to 3,000 acres, when Elizabeth Pagett 
married the Reverend Robert Smith, rector of St. 
Philip’s Church in Charles Town. He became the 
1st Bishop of the State of South Carolina, and 
was the First Principal of the college of 
Charleston, where Charles Fraser was one of the students.

Gardener & Plant Dealer John Bryant

John Bryant was an English gardener who arrived 
in South Carolina, sometime before his 1794 
marriage to Jane Thornton in St. Phillip’s 
Parish in Charleston. He first advertised in the 
City Gazette and the Daily Advertiser on June 6, 
1795 as a gardener for hire, but also noted that, 
“like wise imports, on commission, all kinds of 
trees, shrubs and seeds, either useful or 
ornamental, from England, Philadelphia and New York.”

By his April 15, 1796 notice in the City Gazette 
and the Daily Advertiser, Bryant was importing 
seed for speculation rather than commission, 
“just Imported, a small assortment of seeds.” 
Bryant gained confidence in his buying public as 
the years passed, and by the December 15, 1807 
issue of the Charleston Courier, he was 
advertising, “A QUANTITY of FRUIT TREES, 
FLOWERING SHRUBS and PLANTS, of the most esteemed 
for quality and beauty. The Fruit Trees consist 
of Peaches, Nectarines, Pears, Cherries, Plumbs 
and Quinces, of the largest size ever imported, 
for their age, into this state.”

In 1807, Bryant eventually became the Clerk of 
Market Hall, where many plants & seeds were sold 
& exchanged; but in the fall of 1808, Bryant 
died. His wife Jane kept the garden operating 
into the spring of the next year. She advertised 
in the February 13 issue of the Charleston Times 
“For sale at the late John Bryant’s Garden, 
upper end of King Street - grafted Peach, 
Nectarine, Apricot, Plum and Apple Trees; Pride 
of India…Pine Apple plantsâ…Geranium, and other 
Green House Plants.” She did not advertise again.

But it seems that someone bought Bryant's store & 
stock. The Charleston Times of January 16, 1811, 
announced the opening of a new seed store King 
Street. The unidentified proprietor advertised: 
“New Seed and Plant Store, Wholesale and retail 
200...220 KING STREET RECEIVED from London an 
extensive assortment of choice Garden, Field, 
Flower and Bird Seeds, the growth of 1810. Also, 
by the ship Minerva, from New York, a large 
supply of fresh American SEEDS, together with the 
former Stock of fresh Seeds on hand, making the 
most complete and extensive assortment of Seeds 
ever offered for sale in this city. On hand, a 
large assortment of inoculated FRUIT TREES, among 
which are all the most approved kinds of Peach, 
Pear, Apple, Cherry, Plum, soft shelled Almond, 
Dwarf Pear, Dwarf Apple; Fruit and Flowering 
Shrubs, Red and White Antwerp Raspberry, that 
gives remarkable large Fruit, Red and White 
Currant, English yellow Jesamine, Lilach, with a 
large assortment of Plants, Garden Tools, Flower 
Pots, Hyacinth Glasses, Bulbous Roots, Split 
Pease, Oat Meal, Flour or Mustard, Etc.”

[]
c 1799. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). View of a 
South Carolina Plantation Barn. The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Botanist, Nusreryman, Gardener, & Writer Robert Squibb

Robert Squibb, botanist, nurseryman, gardener, 
and writer, had published his catlogue-style 
book, The gardener's calendar, for 
South-Carolina, Georgia, and North-Carolina: 
Containing an account of work necessary to be 
done in the kitchen and fruit gardens every month 
in the year, with instructions for performing the 
same. Also particular directions relative to soil 
and situation, adapted to the different kinds of 
plants and trees most proper for cultivation in 
these states. He called himself a nursery and 
seedsman of Charleston, South-Carolina. The book 
was printed by Samuel Wright and Co. for R. 
Squibb, and recorded in the secretary of state's 
office, agreeable to the act of Assembly. (Price six shillings.), in 1787.

Squibb had announced his upcoming book with no 
undue modesty in the Charleston Evening Gazette 
of July 4, 1786. He declared that his patrons 
needed a gardening book to fit their particular 
coastal climate, and English books only mislead them with their instructions.

Squibb offered seeds for sale in the newspaper on 
August 19, 1795 in an issue of the City Gazette 
and Daily Advertiser, “THE Subscriber, after 
many years practice in this state, is fully 
convinced that garden seeds saved here are much 
better than those imported and does hereby 
forewarn his friends and customers against 
depending on foreign seeds, in particular such as 
onion, leek, carrot, parsnips, parsley, celery, 
lettuce, endive and spinage.”

In 1801 Squibb advertised using much the same 
technique in the Augusta Chronicle and Gazette of 
the State of Georgia on March 14: “GARDEN 
SEEDS. THE Subscriber having taken up his 
residence in Augusta, as Market Gardener, and the 
saving of Seeds being a branch of his profession, 
intends from time to time, both to import and 
save seeds of the very best kinds."

Squibb declared that he was offering his services 
& plants out of a sense of public responsibility, 
"He considers it a duty he owes to himself and 
fellow citizens, to remind them of the numberless 
impositions that for some years past have taken 
place in this city, by sale of garden seeds, 
which from their age of the inexperience of the 
collectors, have either not vegetated or else 
produced a degenerated offspring, by which the 
public have been much discouraged in the 
cultivation of gardens. To remedy this evil he 
offers for sale a small assortment of SEEDS collected from his own plants."

However, in 1802, Squibb was back in Charleston 
at his old garden. Squibb called his garden and 
nursery, “The Botanic Garden.” In the June 8 
1802, issue of the Charleston Times, he 
advertised, “that he has imported from London, 
a small assortment of GARDEN SEEDS, in excellent 
order. Also a few kinds of Seeds on his own 
saving, equal to any ever saved in this state. 
Market Gardeners may be supplied with London 
Salmon Redish Seed, at one dollar per pound.”

Robert Squibb died on April 22, 1806 at Silk Hope 
Plantation near Savannah, Georgia, and was buried 
there. However, an ad for the “Botanic 
Garden” appeared in the Charleston Courier on 
November 2, 1812, “At the Botanic Garden. A 
variety of Elegant PLANTS, Such as Liqusiriniums, 
Geraniums, Cleroaedrems, Rosa Multifloras, double 
and white Oleanders, Flowering Heaths, Laurustkius.”

[]
Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Gardener & Seed Dealer Charles Gross

Charles Gross was a gardener on King Street in 
the 1790 Charleston City Directory, who bought a 
lot for his garden in Hampstead in 1792. From 
there he continued to work as a gardener and sold 
seeds until his death in 1802.

Gardener & Seedsman Edward Otter
Edward Otter was another gardener & seedsman from 
England who brought garden seeds, peach trees, 
and Lombardy poplars with him when he came to Charleston In 1803.

[]
1803. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Entrance to 
Ashley Hall near Charleston, South Carolina. The 
Carolina Art Association Gibbes Museum of Art, 
Charleston, South Carolina. The 2nd Royal 
Governor William Bull inherited Ashley Hall in 
1755. A medical doctor, he never wavered in his 
loyalty to his King. He left with the British in 
1782, dying in London 9 years later. His will 
states: “I William Bull the late Governour of 
South Carolina for his Britanic Majestiy do …my 
worldly goods greatly deranged and lessened in 
value not by my Fault but by some unexpected 
contingencies I have met from peculiar situations 
wherein I have been placed during the late 
unhappy times in America…my plantation on 
Ashley River in Carolina where my Grandfather 
lived died and lies buried where my Father and 
all his children were born I wish to remain in 
the possession of one of his Posterity I 
therefore give to my nephew William his heirs…”

John Foy's Seed Store
John Foy’s Seed Store at 184 Meeting Street was 
especially active in 1810. In the November 14, 
1810 issue of the Charleston Times he placed this 
notice: "A General Assortment of Choice Garden 
Flower, and Bird SEEDS FLOWER POTS, and some 
excellent APPLE TREES: ASPARAGIS-Gravesend; 
BEANS-Long Pod, Mangan, Windsor; BEET-Green, 
Blood Pled; BROCOLO-Purple, White; BURNET; 
CABBAGE-Early York, Heart Shaped, Sugar Loaf, 
early and later Battersea, Drum Head, Red Dutch, 
Green Glazed, Bergin, Green Savoy; CARROT-Early 
Mom, Orange, Yellow; CAULIFLOWER-Early and Late; 
CELERY-Solid, Italian, Chardoon, Chervil: 
CUCUMBER-Early Frame, Shod Prickly, Long Green 
roman: ENDIVE-Green Curled, White Curled, Broad 
Leaf or Bataivian; BEANS-Bush, China, Liver, 
Yellow, Refugee, RUNNERS-Scarlet, White; 
LEIUCE-Impoerial, Grand Admirable, Tennis Ball; 
ONIONS-Silver Skin, Large White. Red; LEEKS; 
PARSLEY-Double and single; PARSNIPS:PEASE- Early 
Frame, Golden Hospur, Early Charlton, Dwarf 
Marrowfat, Pearl and Prusian; Radish-Early Frame 
Salmon; White and Red do., White and Red Turnip, 
Saisafy, Sanzonara, Sorrel; SPINACH-assorted; 
TURNIP-assorted; BIRD SEEDS-Canary, Hopp, Maw, 
Rape; HERB SEEDS-assorted; FLOWER SEEDS-assorted; 
a few TULIPS and HYACINTHS; Assortment of most 
approved PEAR and APPLE TREES. JOHN FOY expects 
some PEACH and PEAR TREES, and also some APPLE 
TREES from the Botanic Garden, New-York."

By his December 24, 1810 ad in the same paper Foy 
added, “A HANDSOME assortment of FRUIT TREES."

[]
c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Mepkin, The 
Seat of Henry Laurens, Esq., near Charleston, 
South Carolina. The Carolina Art Association 
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. 
Mepkin was comprised 3,000 acres. John Colleton 
of England, sold Mepkin in 1762, to Henry 
Laurens. After the destruction of the house 
during the Revolution, Henry Laurens built this 
one in which Henry Laurens, Jr. was living at the 
time of the sketch. As the latter had married a 
daughter of John Rutledge, Fraser was again among relatives.

Gardeners, Plant Dealers, & Botanists John Fraser & Sons

John Fraser & his son James were gardeners, 
botanists, & seed dealers active in Charleston 
from the 1780s, until James’ death in 1819. 
James remained in South Carolina during his 
father’s various returns to England.

In the Columbian Herald of December 17, 1795, 
James Placed the following advertisement. "GARDEN 
Seeds, JAMES FRASER, UP THE PATH. Has received 21 
John Praiser, Nursery and Seedsman of Sloan 
Square, Chelsea, near London, per the ship 
Roebuck, A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF CULINARY SEEDS."

In the December 6, 1808, Charleston Times, the 
following notice appeared, “FRASER & SON HAVE 
received by the schooner Blazing-Star from 
New-York, several hundred handsome PEACH, 
NECTARINE and APRICOT TREES a few handsome FLOWERS, SHRUBS, AND PLANTS.”
The June 1, 1806, issue of the Times carried a 
notice that, “Fraser & Son, Have imported from 
London, A GENERAL assortment of GARDEN and FLOWER 
SEEDS, which will be warranted as genuine, and all of the crop of 1808."

In 1810, they advertised, "A variety of English 
Garden & Flower Seeds; Flowers; Flower Pots; and 
a few rare Plants, the proper of Mr. John Fraser, 
botanist, having finished his collection of 
American plants. The seeds will be put up in 
convenient lots, for the accommodation of the 
purchaser. Any Ladies or Gentlemen who wish to be 
supplied annually with warranted Garden, 
Agricultural or Flower Seeds, and Roots, or 
choice Fruit Trees, will please send their orders 
to the said office, or address them to Messrs. 
MASERS & SONS Sloan Square, Chelsea, London."

[]
c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). Mepkin, The 
Seat of Henry Laurens, Esq., near Charleston, 
South Carolina.The Carolina Art Association 
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

William Dobbs Seed & Plant Store


William Dobbs operated a Seed & Plant Store at 
315 King street. He advertised in the December 2, 
1811 edition of the Charleston Times: "For sale 
at wholesale and retail, an extensive assortment 
of Choice Garden Flowers and Bird seeds, the 
growth of 1811. Also, a great variety of Double 
Flowering Hyacinths; double, single, parrot and 
sweet scented Tulips; Renunculus’s: Ixia 
Crocata; Persian Iris, white and yellow 
Narcissus; Gladiolius, Garden Tools, Flower Pors, 
Hyacinth Glasses. Upwards of 4000 Inoculated 
Fruit Trees, among which are all the most 
approved kinds of Apple; Pear, cherry, Plum, 
Peach, Apricot, Nectarine, Hughe’s Crab, 
Chinese, and Syberian Apple, soft shelled Almond. 
Quince, Goosebery, red white and black Currant, 
Filbert Nut, Antwerp Rapsberry. Ornamental Trees 
and Shrubs - doable flowering Peach, Cherry, and 
Almond, spired Fruitrix, Mountain Ash, English 
yellow Jessamine, dwarf variegated Althed, 
Venetian Shumach, Guilder Rose, Burgundy and Moss do. Balm of Gilead Fir."

Unfortunately, Dobbs died in the fall of 1812. 
His inventory of December 3, 1812, gives a 
glimpse of the property owned by the seeds: 
“Rose Apple Trees, Rosemary, Squills, Double 
Tube Roses, Amaryths, Peach Trees, 40 Canary 
Birds, Seeds, Bird Seed, shovels, spades, bird 
cages, pees, 2 green Houses and glasses, garden 
tools, Glasses for Roots, Shelves of Jars with 
Seeds in them Double Seeds Box”

In October 1812, Dobbs property was put up at 
auction through ads in the October 13 and 22 
editions of the Charleston Courier. “All the 
Personal Estate and Stock in Trade of WM. DOBBS, 
late of Charleston, Seedsman, deceased; 
consisting of a variety of elegant and choice 
Plants and Shrubs, in boxes and pots, various 
kinds of Seeds and Roots; Gardening Utensils; a 
variety of empty Flower Pots; an assorting of 
Crockery Ware: together with his elegant 
collection of Singing Birds; consisting of Canary 
and Mocking Birds; a Glass Case, containing 
stuffed Birds; empty Bird Cages; a few Botanical 
Books; Also, his two Green Houses with sashes. 
ALSO Several hundred choice Fruit Trees, now in the ground.”


[]
  Charles Fraser (1782-1860) The Carolina Art 
Association Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.

Philippe Stanislaus Noisette (1772-1835) Nurseryman & Seed Dealer

Another gardener & seedsman active in Charleston 
in the same period was Philippe S. Noisette. 
Philippe was a member of a distinguished family 
of nursery owners who had been gardeners to 
French nobles. He first moved from Paris to 
Haiti, when he was a young man and fell in love 
with a dark-skinned Haitian woman whose name was 
Celestine. In 1794, because of the Haitian slave 
revolution, he & Celestine relocated to 
Charleston, where he was offered a position as 
Superintendent of the South Carolina Medical Society Botanical Gardens.

He was especially interested in the production of 
sugar cane & ran this ad in the November 14, 1814 
edition of the Courier. "P.S.NOISETTE begs leave 
to inform the Planters of south Carolina that he 
has successfully cultivated, for some pears past, 
in his garden at Romney Village, opposite Mr. 
Turpires farm, the Sugar Cane; and that he has at 
this moment canes form which Sugar may be 
extracted. In consequence of this great 
advantages likely to be drived to this state, 
from this valuable plant, he offers cuttings for 
sale, to such as which to increase their wealth, 
and that of their country, et the rate of Five 
Dollars for a hundred buds, or eyes."
"He has also in his garden, a great quantity of 
FRUIT TREES, grafted by himself of the best kinds 
from Europe; such as different kinds of Peaches, 
Nectarines, Apricots, Plumbs, Pears, Apples, Figs 
and Grapes; as well as many foreign, Ornamental 
Trees, Shrubs and Plants. Also for sale, a 
collection of garden SEEDS, FLOWER SEEDS & FLOWER."

Philip Noisette's personal life was as 
interesting as his professional accomplishments. 
Because of the miscegenation laws of South 
Carolina, Philippe was forced to declare his 
wife, Celestine, his slave. They had 6 children 
who also became his slaves. The 1830 Federal 
Census recorded him as a single white man owning 
eight slaves, who are believed to be his wife & 
at least five of his six children.

In 1821 Charleston, records show that Phillipe 
Stanislaus Noisette, "Botanist of Charleston," 
stated that "under peculiar circumstances" he 
became "the Father of Six children, begotten upon 
his faithful Slave named Celestine." For many 
years it had been his intention to free his 
family, but the "passage of the late Law upon 
this subject" prompted him to seek their freedom 
now by the passage of a legislative act.

Shortly before his death, in 1835, Philippe 
petitioned the state of South Carolina for the 
emancipation of his faithful wife, now his slave, 
Celestine & their six children. Philippe died 
without knowing the results of his petition. 
Philippe’s family was in fact later emancipated 
and allowed to secure their inheritance & remain 
in the state of South Carolina.

In 1859, the South Carolina House of 
Representatives was petitioned to let the 
"mulatto" children of Philip Stanislas Noisette 
remain in South Carolina, as free persons of 
color. By his will Noisette had directed that the 
children, born of his enslaved wife, Celeste, be 
removed to some other country, where they would 
be free. The children, however, were "attached to 
the laws of the County, and very unwilling to remove."

Intrigue also followed Noisette's botanical 
accomplishments. An 1889 journal on botany 
reported the following information, "The Noisette 
Rose is a daughter of America. She was born one 
day in the garden of a brave citizen of 
Charleston, South Carolina, Mr. John Champney. It 
was obtained by fertilizing a Musk Rose, Rosa 
Moschata, by pollen from the China or Bengal 
Rose. Botanists called the new creation Rosa 
Moschata hybrida, and Rosa champneyana 
indifferently. But after awhile the name was 
superseded by that of Rosa Noisettiana in this 
way: At Charleston there lived a gardener named 
Philip Noisette, who was of French origin. This 
man fertilized one of Champney's hybrids, 
Champney's Pink Cluster, and getting from it 
another variety sent it in 1814 to Louis Freres, 
of Paris. The Rose became rapidly famous, and the 
name of Noisette replaced the first name of 
Champney, for the new race... The flowers of the 
Noisette are highly fragrant; they are numerous, 
double, and charm by the variety and delicacy of 
their colors." John Champneys, who lived 
southwest of Charleston, was an import-export 
merchant, whose trade was so successful, that he 
had his own wharves on Johns Island.

[]
  c. 1796. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). The Seat 
of James Fraser, Esq., Goose Creek, South 
Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. James 
Fraser was the older brother of Charles. The house was called Wigton.

Comparison of seed dealers & nursery owners in 
South Carolina & the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South

The pattern established by the growing South 
Carolina seed & nursery trade is similar to that 
of the Mid-Atlantic & Upper South, but there are 
some significant differences. In the extended 
Chesapeake region, gardeners & plant dealers 
dedicated to promoting & selling plants found 
their most secure footing after the Revolution.

Female Pennsylvania & South Carolina nursery 
owners & seed merchants successfully began 
selling both useful & ornamental plants decades 
before the Revolution. In South Carolina, much 
seed & plant material was imported from England, 
both before & after the Revolution.

In the Chesapeake, the earliest seed merchants & 
nursery owners, appearing after the Revolution, 
were from France & Germany. After the war, Dutch 
bulbs & roots found their way into South Carolina 
as well; and itinerant French seed merchants also 
peddled their wares in Charleston, but English 
nursery proprietors continued to own the majority of Carolina businesses.

In both regions, English gardeners & nursery 
owners came to dominate the local seed & nursery 
trade by the turn of the century. Both Chesapeake 
& Carolina garden entrepreneurs offered a full 
range of stock from greenhouse plants to seeds 
for field crops, from traditional medicinal herbs 
to fragrant shrubs by the beginning of the first decade of the 19th-century.

Seed merchants & nursery owners in both areas 
aggressively advertised their services & stock 
(at both retail and wholesale prices) in regional 
newspapers, & sometimes offered free printed 
catalogues to prospective clients. Gardeners in 
both regions sold seeds & plants at their 
nurseries & stores; at local farmers’ markets; 
and through agents at various locations throughout their regions.

Gardeners from both regions sold seeds & plants 
imported from Philadelphia & New York, as well as 
those from their local suppliers. A new 
nationwide network of capitalistic nursery & seed 
business was nipping at the heels of traditional 
garden barter exchanges in the Mid-Atlantic, 
Upper South, & South Carolina as the 19th-century dawned over the horizon.

[]
  1803. Charles Fraser (1782-1860). A Bason & 
Storehouse Belonging to the Santee Canal in South 
Carolina. The Carolina Art Association Gibbes 
Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. This 
was the storehouse at Simpson's Lock on the canal 
between the Santee & Cooper Rivers..