Essays
Essays provide a further dimension to the Hortus. They are divided into four categories; Camden Park House and Gardens, Camden Park Nursery Group, Significant Persons, and Victorian Garden Miscellany. It is intended that Essays will enhance the Hortus by providing a level of detail about the gardens, the people who worked in them, and the plants that would be inappropriate for any individual plant profile.
A Few Words on Gesneraceous Plants
The family Gesnereaceae was an important contributor to the diversity of the colonial garden of Camden Park, with 97 plants described in the Hortus, mainly from the genera Achimenes and Sinningia. This short article provides a good overview of the history of Gesneriads as garden plants, and some very useful advice on their culture. Unfortunately I have lost the source reference, but the content suggests that it was written for an Australian colonial readership. The article is simply signed L.W.
Published Jun 26, 2010 - 03:01 PM | Last updated Jun 26, 2010 - 03:19 PM
History of the Florists’ Gloxinia
In the 19th century the florists’ Gloxinia was a very popular plant with hundreds of varieties under propagation. Out of fashion today, these beautiful and easily grown plants deserve to be revived. William Macarthur would not have recognised the large, multi-coloured flowers that dominate the show bench today but the plants he grew, predominantly of the slipper, or wild type, were equally beautiful.
Published Mar 14, 2010 - 01:56 PM | Last updated Jul 26, 2011 - 04:59 PM
The Fuchsias of Camden Park
The first fuchsia introduced to English gardens in 1788 was a variety of Fuchsia magellanica Lam. This new plant soon attracted the attention of florists and, stimulated by the regular introduction of new species and varieties from South America, selection and hybridisation saw a rapidly increasing number of named varieties available through the nurseries. The first record of a fuchsia at Camden Park is Fuchsia conica, which arrived on board the ‘Sovereign’ in February 1831. By 1857 fifty-eight species, cultivars and hybrids had been recorded as growing in the gardens.
Published Mar 14, 2010 - 10:50 AM | Last updated Jun 24, 2011 - 02:45 PM
Florists’ flowers
Floristry, in the 17th, 18th and 19th century meaning of the word, the growing and improvement of flowering plants for the sake of their beauty alone, has a long history in China and Asia but is of relatively recent origin in Europe. From quite humble beginnings, the small scale leisure activity of artisans and labourers, it attracted the attention of the owners of the great pleasure gardens and botanic gardens of Europe. Specialised nurseries began to appear to service great and small gardens, providing a means of disseminating the beautiful new varieties which the nurseries were both breeding and obtaining from enthusiastic amateurs.
Published Mar 12, 2010 - 03:41 PM | Last updated Jun 27, 2010 - 05:30 PM
Raising Tropaeolum tricolor from seed
If you have tried growing Tropaeolum tricolor from seed you have probably encountered difficulty and obtained a low germination rate. This was certainly my experience before I took this advice.
Published Jan 01, 2010 - 03:33 PM | Last updated Jul 30, 2010 - 03:38 PM
