Re: Winter Garden question

[SNSpies@aol.com]

Poster: SNSpies@aol.com

Hildegund asked:

<< I'm looking for sources on gardening: to wit, I'm writing a poem about the
 winter garden at the Governor's Palace set in Colonial Williamsburg when
 the Governor really lived there. I need to figure out if any plants gown in
 the garden in winter and if so, what names would they have. >>

It would appear that there are several angles you can approach this from.
Part of the garden was laid out with topiary and everygreen parterres, but I
don't know whether they used imported English plants or native ones.  I should
think that the winter garden was a highly formal, basically everygreen affair
with perhaps a vegetable garden of some sort into the late autumn with
squashes, etc.  That I don't know.  There would be lots of bare trees, I would
assume, both imported and native varieties.

According to Penelope Hobhouse in her book, "Plants in Garden History"
(London:  Pavilion Books, 1992), a certain John Custis was a collector and
gardener in Williamsburg until 1749.  His letter-book is held in the Library
of Congress.  That might be a good source for specific plants.

Nancy (Ingvild)
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