Category Archives: Garden Musings

A Modern Man: A. J. Downing and the American Gentleman’s Country Seat

Posted on June 20, 2022 by mansionmusings

A. J. Downing (1815–1852) was full of modern ideas about landscape gardening. And he particularly wanted to create a tradition in the United States that was inspired by—but separate from—British and European precedents. He also recognized the need to adapt … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings | Tagged A. J. Downing, A. J. Downing and lawns, A. J. Downing Treatise, Alexander Jackson Davis, Andrew Jackson Downing, Bartow mansion, Bolton Priory, Conservatories in the 1840s, Conservatories in the 19th Century, Domestic Circle in the 19th century, Graceful Beauty, Greek Revival, Hunter Mansion, Landscape Design in the 1840s, Landscape Gardening in the 1840s, Maria Bartow Cole, Pelham Bay, Pelham Bay Park, Pelham Priory, Picturesque Beauty, Robert Bartow, Robert Bolton, Rural pursuits in the 19th century, The Picturesque, Thomas Cole, William Rickarby Miller | 1 Comment

Zelia Hoffman Does It Again: Untold Stories of the 1916 Flower Show at Bartow

Posted on May 24, 2021 by mansionmusings

Why is a long-forgotten flower show still relevant over one hundred years later? And why was a woman named Zelia Hoffman once a galvanizing force in the gardening world? A little digging into the past reveals some answers. On a … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings | Tagged 1916 June Flower Show, 620 Fifth Avenue, Arthur Herrington, Bartow mansion, Biltmore Hotel, Caroline Crawford folk dancing, Carrere & Hastings, Charles Frederick Hoffman, Delano & Aldrich, Demolished buildings in New York City, F. R. Pierson, Flower shows in the early 20th century, Garden clubs in the early 20th century, Gardening in the early 20th century, Grand Central Palace, International Flower Show, International Garden Club, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Mrs. Edward Henry Harriman, Mrs. Frank Sullivan Smith, Pelham Bay Park, Wallace R. Pierson, Zelia Hoffman | 1 Comment

The Wigwam at Bartow-Pell: A Living History for Students

Posted on February 19, 2021 by mansionmusings

In 2002, the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum was preparing to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the signing of a treaty on June 27, 1654, by Thomas Pell, his associates, and Lenape sachems. This treaty signified the transfer of land, which included … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged Bartow-Pell wigwam, Lenape, Lenape lifestyle, Lenape sachems, Pelham Bay Park, Pell treaty, Reproduction wigwams, School programs about Native Americans, School programs about the Lenape, Thomas Pell, Treaty Oak, Wigwams | 3 Comments

Rose Garden Mania: A New York City Garden Club Joins the Craze in 1917

Posted on July 11, 2020 by mansionmusings

Rose gardens were definitely a thing in the early 20th century. The so-called Queen of Flowers—redolent of summer pleasures—filled gardens large and small with a heady mix of colors, scents, shapes, and sizes that ranged from subtle to dramatic. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged Armsea Hall rose garden, Arthur Herrington, Beatrix Farrand, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Garden clubs in the early 20th century, International Garden Club, International Garden Club rose garden, Iselin rose garden at New Rochelle, Journal of the International Garden Club, Jules Gravereaux, Madame Caroline Testout rose, Madame Ravary rose, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Pelham Bay Park, Rose gardens, Rose gardens and World War I, Rose gardens in the early 20th century, William Adams Delano, Zelia Hoffman | 2 Comments

A Carpet of Velvety Green: Lawns on 19th-Century Country Estates

Posted on May 25, 2020 by mansionmusings

A beautiful undulating carpet of fresh green grass was an essential luxury on 19th-century country estates. Today, that idea may seem fairly obvious, but why? And how did the landed gentry plant and maintain their expansive (and expensive) lawns in … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged A. J. Downing, A. J. Downing and lawns, Andre Parmentier, Attingham Park, Bartow estate, Claude Lorrain and A. J. Downing, Croquet in the 1870s, Elisha King, English influence on American landscape gardening, English style of gardening, Hawkswood, History of lawns, Humphry Repton, Hunter's Island, John Hunter, Lawn scythes, Lawn tools in the 19th century, Lawns, Lawns and the picturesque, Lawns on 19th-century estates, Martin Euclid Thompson, Mount Vernon, Pelham Bay estates, Pelham Priory, Robert Bartow, Robert Bolton, The Picturesque, Thomas Payne Knight, Uvedale Price, William Rickarby Miller | 5 Comments

Reimagined: A 19th-Century American Apple Orchard

Posted on August 6, 2019 by mansionmusings

Americans loved apple orchards in the 19th century (and we still do!). Apple blossoms in the spring, apple picking in the fall, cider making, and apples served every which way have all helped to make the American apple orchard a … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged American apple orchards, American apple varieties, Andrew Jackson Downing, Apple blossoms, apple orchards, Apple picking, Apples and health 19th century, Apples as livestock feed, Apples in the 19th century, Bartow orchard, Hard cider, James Bolton, New York State apples, Newtown Pippin, Pelham Bay Park, Temperance movement | 2 Comments

Alice Vaughan-Williams Martineau: An Englishwoman’s Crusade to Cultivate American Gardeners

Posted on June 26, 2019 by mansionmusings

On September 24, 1913, the British writer and garden designer Alice Martineau (ca. 1865–1956) set sail from Southampton for New York on the White Star Line’s legendary RMS Olympic, the enormous luxury ocean liner that was the sister ship of … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged Alice Martineau, Armsea Hall, Cottage gardens, Edith Wharton, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Garden clubs in the early 20th century, Gardening in Sunny Lands, Hurst Court Berkshire, International Garden Club, John Munro and Mary Beecher Longyear, Margaret Waterfield, Martin C. Ebel, Mattie Edwards Hewitt, Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoffman, Mrs. Philip Martineau, RMS Olympic, The Herbaceous Garden, Wellsbridge Cottage, William Robinson, Zelia Hoffman | 3 Comments

A Botanical Paradise: Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London

Posted on January 6, 2019 by mansionmusings

One summer day in 2009, while rummaging through some uncatalogued volumes in Bartow-Pell’s collection of antiquarian gardening books, we unearthed something unexpected—seven large editions of the lavishly illustrated publication Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. The title is businesslike, … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged 19th-century botanical prints, 19th-century horticulture, Alice Martineau, Barbara Cotton, Charles Francis Greville, Charles John Robertson, Chiswick, International Garden Club, John Braddick, John Lindley, John Wedgwood, Joseph Sabine, Royal Horticultural Society, Sir Joseph Banks, Thomas Andrew Knight, Thomas Maitland Cleland, Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, William Bulmer, William Hooker, William Say, Zelia Hoffman | 1 Comment

The International Garden Club Goes International: The Barra School Children’s Garden Competition, 1936–1952

Posted on February 4, 2017 by mansionmusings

The Isle of Barra, a remote windswept island in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, is a world away from Bartow-Pell and New York City, but there is a fine story to be told about these two places and their forgotten connection. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings, Mansion Musings | Tagged Barra Hebrides, Barra School Gardens, Barra Scotland, Bartow-Pell Children's Garden, Children's School Gardens, Eve Balfour, F. Marian McNeill, International Garden Club, Isle of Barra, Kisimul Castle, Marie Macneil of Barra, Mrs. Eliot (Mary) Tuckerman, World War II | 1 Comment

Winter gardens: Bringing the Outdoors In!

Posted on February 3, 2016 by mansionmusings

“The winters were longer when I was a girl” … well, probably not, but winters often seem long. Even during a relatively mild one, the dark, and especially the lack of green, is disheartening. Many of the world’s holiday traditions … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden Musings | 1 Comment