1565 Spaniards Settle St. Augustine
Spaniards settle St. Augustine, Florida, bringing plants from Spain and novelties from the West Indies. (more…)References
Timeline of American Garden History
Investigate the history of the American garden and its transformation from the mid-1600s to the present. This timeline encompasses the development of public gardens, private estates, national preserves, botanical gardens, and the American wilderness. Download as a pdf >
1607 Jamestown
English colonists settle in Virginia, naming their colony Jamestown. They bring seeds from England, but also cultivate crops grown by Native Americans, such as tobacco, corn, beans, and squash.
1640 Establishment of a Public Park in the New World
In Boston, the Puritans purchas 44 acres of property to designate as a public green space, known as the Boston Common.
1713 Governor’s Palace Gardens
The gardens surrounding the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia begin under the direction of Governor Alexander Spotswood.
1728 Botanical Garden in Philadelphia founded
John Bartram of Philadelphia establishes his botanic garden, known to be the oldest surviving of its kind in North America. In 1732, Bartram began trading seeds and plants with Peter Collinson, a London merchant and botanist. His reputation in international trade and botany earned him the title of “Royal Botanist” to King George III. Bartram was considered the greatest naturalist in the world, and was believed to have introduced 150 North American plant species to Europe. (more…)References
1741 America’s Early Landscaped Gardens
Henry Middleton begins work on his vision for the plantation’s gardens, now considered to be the oldest landscaped gardens in the United States. The labor of enslaved people enabled plantations like Middleton Place to expand and create ornamental gardens. Middleton hired an English gardener design six terraces and a pair of “butterfly lakes,” to be excavated by enslaved laborers.
1754 George Washington Inherits Mount Vernon
George Washington inherits Mount Vernon and begins developing its gardens. He wrote, “… to be a cultivator of land has been my favorite amusement.”
1766 Gardens at Monticello
Future President Thomas Jefferson cultivates hundreds of varieties of vegetables, fruits, and flowers at his Virginia estate Monticello. Jefferson writes to artist Charles Wilson Peale, “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. I am still devoted to the garden. But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.”
1803 The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubles the land area of the United States and officially opens “the West” for settlement. As settlers from Europe pour into the United States, so too did their seeds, plants, and gardening styles. (more…)References
1820 U.S. Botanic Garden
An act of Congress establishes the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
ca. 1829 Formerly enslaved, James F. Brown becomes Master Gardener at Mount Gulian in Fishkill, New York
By 1829, James F. Brown, a manumitted enslaved person from Maryland, finds work as a Master Gardener at Mount Gulian, the Verplanck’s estate in Fishkill Landing, New York. Brown kept diaries of his daily life and was very active in the 19th century horticulture movement. He attended meetings and corresponded with important horticulturists of the day such as Andrew Jackson Downing and Henry Winthrop Sargent. (more…)References
1830 Mount Auburn Cemetery
Organized by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first of many rural cemeteries that played an integral role in 19th century life. Covering 175 acres, the cemetery is landscaped with ornamental plantings, ponds, monuments, fences, fountains, and chapels that provide a setting to commemorate the dead as well as inspire a tranquil environment.
1841 Downing’s “A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening” Published
Horticulturalist and writer Andrew Jackson Downing publishes the first edition of “A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening Adapted to North America.” In the book he introduces what is later considered the “American Dream”: “… an attachment to a certain spot, and a desire to render that place attractive—a feeling which seems more or less strongly fixed in the minds of all men.”
1858 Central Park Commission
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux win the commission for New York’s Central Park which spurred the creation of parks across the United States. Olmsted was firmly established as the foremost landscape architect of the time, designing public commissions and private estates alike. (more…)References
1861-1865 The Civil War
From 1861-1865 the Civil War interrupts the rise of horticultural activity by curtailing the “embellishment of gardens and decoration of grounds.”
1872 First National Park
Congress establishes Yellowstone as the first National Park, though few guidelines or funds are assigned to preserve it.
1872 Arnold Arboretum
Arnold Arboretum is founded by Harvard University, making it the oldest public arboretum in North America.
1874 Olmsted’s Plan for the U.S. Capitol Grounds
Frederick Law Olmsted creates a plan for the design of the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C., with drives, paths, trees, fountains, and terraces. (more…)References
1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
The Centennial Exposition’s Horticultural Hall in Philadelphia showcases exotic specimens and garden displays to millions of visitors.
1878 Burpee Seed Company
The W. Atlee Burpee & Co. of Philadelphia is founded and later becomes the largest mail-order seed company in the world.
1880s-1890s The Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movements
The emergence of the Arts and Crafts movement shaped architectural and artistic trends of the period. The movement developed in England in response to industrial consumerism and its ideals–simple traditional craftsmanship–flourished in North America. Early stages of the movement are often associated with Aestheticism which advocated “art for art’s sake.” (more…)References
1886 Beauty from Nature
English art critic John Ruskin “formulate[s] a theory by which architecture could be judged by its dependence on natural form, and ornament was only acceptable when it was clearly derived from natural sources.” The contrived, exotic gardens of the Victorian era quickly became commonplace, unnatural, and out of fashion. (more…)References
1891 Ladies Garden Club of Athens
A group of women from Georgia organize the Ladies Garden Club of Athens, recognized as the first women’s gardening society of its kind. (more…)References
1892 “Mother of Balboa Park”
Horticulturist Kate Sessions arranges to lease 30 acres of land in San Diego, California for Balboa Park (originally called City Park), in exchange for planting 100 trees a year in the park and 300 trees a year in the rest of the city. The park has a collection of cypress, pine, oak, pepper tree, and eucalyptus grown from Sessions’ seeds imported from around the world.