WOW. Great list, Audrey.

Audrey--which plants are you having trouble identifying? The list is pretty complex--and I got lost trying to find the "un-identified" ones. Could you post a few of your problem "children?" A few at a time? SOME of us have attention issues. Well, I have attention issues, and I have suspicions of others who shall remain un-named...but you know who you are!

ANYHOO---long lists of text confuse me...unless I am creating them!

melanie

What about Queen Anne's lace and germander?

Fascinating.
Was this catalog/calendar for Southern US (or UK) gardeners?
Interesting to see how some plants that were in cultivation then are still commonly found, even if known by different names. Then there are those in the Some Things Never Change category. Rosa mundi = Rosa mundi.
Tess

Thanks, everybody, for your comments. Yes, Cady, tree germander appears on the list--in June, I believe. Queen Anne's Lace doesn't, since I didn't find any reference or picture similar to it in Furber's list. (My list only includes those plants he mentions, not all of those that were available at the time.) Tess, Furber was a British nurseryman, though many of the plants he included did originally come from the New World.

Thanks, Melanie, for your suggestion that I list some of the varieties with which I need help. Some plants I've had no luck identifying include: The Fameford Rose, Lisole from Genoa, Virginia Shrub Acre, Sage & Rosemary Tree, and Trisipd African golden knob. Any suggestions?

I wonder if Virginia Shrub Acre is Itea virginica--Virginia sweetspire? As to 'African Golden knob'--could it be a form of celery or celeriac? I've included a link...you are better familiar with hte research you have done than I...but it seems to me soemtimes those old lists contain mis-spellings and minor mis-identifications which throw everyone off. I'll keep looking--but I wonder of Virginal Shrub Acre could also be Acer? Any other ideas?

Here is a link that might be useful: celery link

Hi, Audrey!

Do you have pictures of the unidentified flowers? Or are you working from descriptions alone?

My attempts at contributing, according to descriptions alone:

January:
Ilex leav'd Jasmine -- Mahonia. It does bloom in early winter here and probably Britain as well.

June:
1. Perennial dwarf sunflower: could also be Heliopsis, which would have been imported from N.Am. by then, is very hardy and easy to grow from seed (want some?).

28. and 29. -- Can't be Martagon lilies, as they are only in shades of purplish-pink and white. Must be other species.

29. Mountain Dwarf Pink -- Creeping Phlox, possibly?

July:
8. Scarlet Martagon -- "Martagon" seems to have been a synonym for any "turk's cap" shaped lily, not a species. This lily may be Lilium pomponium, L. dauricum, or a host of other European species that are red.

9. White Lilly striped with purple -- there can be no doubt about it -- this is the classic Trumpet lily, white petals with a purple blush down the back of each.

August:
Ilex leav'd Jasmine -- Mahonia. It has attractive berries in August

34. Virginian scarlet Martagon -- Since identified as coming from New World, this may be Lilium superbum, an orange turk's-cap lily native to the east coast.

September:
Scarlet Indian Cane -- seems a description for Canna, which would bloom late in mild British climate

October:
Yellow perennial poppy -- surely Meconopsis cambrica!

November:
Ilex leav'd Jasmine -- Mahonia is evergreen, adds winter interest

December:
7. Shining leav'd Laurustinus -- Could be Laurel.

Hope my information helps more than it hurts! Thanks for a fascinating list!

Love,

Claudia

Thanks, mjsee and Claudia, for your suggestions. I will look into them. Yes, Claudia, there were illustrations accompanying the lists. Several online sites now offer them as posters. The flowers for each month are pictured in a bouquet format, however, with numbers indicating which is which. And it is sometimes difficult to make out the blooms that happen to be in the background--or the numbers accompanying them. I was fortunate enough to find a book that used the plates as illustrations. But, even then, it wasn't easy.

I think the book was Penelope O'Sullivan's A Garden Almanac. Since I had to return it to the library--after several renewals!--I can't now say for sure. I know that the "sunflowers" pictured looked more like rudbeckias to me, which is why I chose that designation rather than helianthus. Also, I think the jasmine pictured did look like jasmine (with star-shaped white flowers), though I'm not certain about that. (I really should buy a copy of the book for myself!)

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

Since it's unlikely that the artist was painting a "still life" from a model of a real bouquet (the flowers don't all bloom in the months in which they are shown), and since photography wasn't yet invented in 1730, it's very probable that some of the flowers were painted from descriptions rather than from actual models.

In other words, the color plates aren't necessarily horticulturally accurate, although the descriptions probably are, according to the nomenclature of the time.

You have your work cut out for you, Audrey!

Love,

Claudia

I think mountain dwarf pink is probably a dianthus--perhaps the Allspice variety mentioned on the link below...click on the name for a picture.

melanie

Here is a link that might be useful: mountain dwarf pink possibility

... Or possibly Phlox stolonifera or P. subulata?

Hello again!

Sorry, MJ -- didn't mean to contradict you, I see I already suggested that the "Pink" might be Phlox, and you are probably right about the Dianthus -- especially since the heirloom varieties you linked were garden varieties in the eighteenth century.

Thank you for the Canyon Creek Nursery link, too. I'll enjoy browsing their offerings today, since it is much too wet and cold here to work out in the garden...

Love,

Claudia

Claudia--no big hoo hoo! Seriously--I just enjoytrying to puzzle out odd questions and research--I have no "expertise." And I NEVER get offended--at least not HERE! I have itty-bitty toes...on GW anyhoo!

melanie

The man in question wrote a book "The flower garden display'd" in 1734, by some rare coincidence Bryn Mawr library in your state (PA) has a copy....check it out.

Just a note to say that I've moved the list of Furber's plants to my own web site at the following link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thyme Will Tell