Ipomoea batatasGardeners are harvesting the last of the sweet potatoes from several kitchen gardens in the Historic Area. According to Colonial Willliamsburg garden historian Wesley Greene, the use of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) in Virginia predates the use of the white potato by about one hundred years.

English author Philip Miller wrote in his book The Gardeners Dictionary (1754) that the sweet potato was cultivated in Spain and Portugal and shipped to England. Miller writes that sweet potatoes “… are by some Persons greatly esteemed; tho’ in general they are not so well liked as the common Potato, being too sweet and luscious for most Palates.”

Bushel harvestWhereas Miller describes their taste, Robert Beverly, a substantial planter and colonial official in Virginia describes what they look like in his book, The History and Present State of Virginia, (1705) saying, “Their [the Natives] Potatoes are either red or white, about as long as a Boy’s Leg, and sometimes as long and big as both the Leg and Thigh of a young Child, and very much resembling it in Shape.” Even though Colonial Williamsburg’s well-manured vegetable plots produce large sweet potatoes, they have not yet reached the size of a boy’s leg.

Another crop being harvested in our gardens now, unfortunately more by the squirrels than the gardeners, is the bull nose pepper. The three most common peppers in the colonies seem to have been the cayenne, tomato, and the bell or bull nose pepper. The bull nose pepper was grown at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson. It has been described as one of the best pickled peppers because of its mildness and thick rind. As the pepper matures from green to scarlet it becomes sweeter.

The pernicious squirrelWesley believes that although the bull nose pepper is the best representative we have today of the old bell peppers, it is probably larger than the original bell pepper. Wesley’s research indicates that although bell peppers are appropriate for the 18th century, we should grow them in only a few of our gardens, primarily at the homes of experimental gardeners or perhaps slave dwellings. Hopefully the squirrels will let us do so.

Gardener Larry Griffith sows seedColonial Williamsburg’s landscape department sustains the rich genetic heritage of plants by saving seed varieties. Ongoing research enables the department to locate plant varieties appropriate to the 18th-century. Once the seed is procured, it is carefully planted and tended with the intent of eventually harvesting and saving more seed for future generations to use.

By growing heirloom plants, we help prevent extinction and promote biodiversity in plants. The Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), a non-profit organization dedicated to collecting and preserving heritage seeds from the past, estimates that over 90 percent of the fruit and vegetable varieties grown in the United States in 1900 have since been lost.

Shelling peasFortunately, more and more people are realizing the importance of saving seeds and preserving the cultural and historical heritage of plants. Through the efforts of SSE and other organizations, Colonial Williamsburg’s landscape department has been able to obtain seed from around the world. Recently we have acquired a 14th-century variety of pea from The Henry Doubleday Foundation in England, an 18th-century cockscomb from the Thomas Jefferson Center for Plants, and a London flag leek from the Vavilov Research Center in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Cotton grown at Great HopesBecause heirloom plants are not hybridized but reproduce naturally through pollination, we must carefully plan where to plant the seed to keep it pure and prevent cross-pollination with other species. This year, the landscape department is assisting Rural Trades in its efforts to keep a strain of cotton pure. The seed for the Levant cotton was obtained from a Canadian seed house and is considered to be the first variety of cotton grown in Virginia. Although cotton would have been grown as a field crop and not in a town garden, the Rural Trades staff needed a relatively isolated location for growing the Levant to prevent cross-pollination because they are growing a different type of cotton at Great Hopes Plantation.

PomegranateIn October and November, seasonal flower beds change from summer annuals to winter-hardy annuals which are over-planted above tulips. In the spring, the effect is one of a multi-layered composition with tulips blooming above a groundcover of hardy annuals.

This part of the South is lucky to have winter months mild enough to allow some annuals, such as English daisy (Bellis perennis) and pansy varieties (Viola spp.), to survive the winter, and in many cases bloom throughout the winter.

Giant sunflowerThe pomegranates (Punica granatum) are fruiting in the small meadow to the east of the colonial nursery and are approaching maturity.

The Arbutus berries (Arbutus unedo) are making their last dash to red from green as the fall begins to cool. Ask to see the Indian currant (Symphoricarpus orbiculatus), the artichokes and cardoons (Cynara scolymus & C. cardunculus), huge, edible thistle-like vegetables.

The purple berries on the American beauty berry (Callicarpa americana) are making a great show now and should hang on well into October. By the middle of November, the Giant Sunflower (Helianthus giganteus) will be in bloom and often lasts into the first of December.

Adjacent to the Colonial Nursery, on Palace Green, take some time to notice the catalpa tree (Catalpa bignonioides) seedpods which become more obvious as the bright gold leaves begin to fall. The catalpa trees are a documented fixture in Williamsburg, having been noted by Thomas Jefferson.

FoxglovesOn Market Square, the evergreen majesty of the Compton Oak (Quercus comptoniae) becomes more apparent as deciduous trees drop their leaves. At the Peter Hay Shop on Nicholson Street, the tall Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastaneum) tucked into the ravine is showing its seed clusters.

The Governor’s Palace is always a tremendous undertaking when planting the seasonal floral displays. The annual beds at the rear of the ballroom garden cumulatively take over 2,000 annuals.

The perennial beds, which surround the large annual beds, will be planted basket-of-gold (aurinia saxatilis), cottage pinks (Dianthus plumarius) and foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea), which give the perennial beds an early spring advantage while the traditional perennials catch up with the warmer weather.

Clearing land at Great HopesIn the early years of colonization, Virginia planters practiced a slash and burn type of agriculture. With a seemingly endless supply of land, they simply exhausted the fields and moved on.

By the end of the 18th century, however, some crop rotation practices began to appear, although they were generally marginal by today’s standards.

Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt of France visited Virginia in 1796 and recorded in his "Travels through the United States" the general crop practices in Virginia:

Tobacco field“Pursuant to the ancient rotation, tobacco was cultivated four or five successive years; the land was then suffered to lie fallow, and then again succeeded crops of tobacco.”

He also said that once the land no longer produced tobacco, the plantation owner switched to grain crops:

Wheat harvest“. . . the common rotation begins with wheat, followed by Indian corn, and then again wheat, until the exhausted soil loses every productive power, the land is then abandoned, and the cultivator proceeds to another, which he treats and abandons in the same manner, until he returns to the first, which has in the meantime recovered some of its productive faculties.”

Thomas Mann Randolph, Thomas Jefferson’s son-in-law, developed elaborate rotation plans that alternated crops on 10-acre parcels. In 1793, he recorded in that in the previous six years he planted “Clover, Turnips, Oats, Pumpkin, Barley and finally Clover again.”

These more sophisticated crop rotation schemes, aided by the pasturing of animals on cropland to manure the soil, made it possible to productively farm the same land for generations.

Video Extra

Watch farmer Wayne Randolph in Tobacco in the Colonies.

Rose of Sharon Hibiscus syriacaRobust, heat-tolerant plants thrive in late summer's swelter. Crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica), the medium sized, multi-stemmed small trees that dot the landscape, are heavy with blossoms in a range of colors from white to pink to purple. Although late 18th-century introductions, no Southern landscape is complete without them.

The favorite shrub of many of our grandmothers, the rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriaca), blooms in shades of white, pink, red, and blue, in single and double forms. Another traditional perennial you will see in flower is the Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum).

Joe-pye weed Eupatorium purpureumThe Governor’s Palace always offers the flower-curious visitor vestiges of summer color. The perennial beds that outline the center annual beds still bear a multitude of summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), and bits of obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana).

At the Colonial Nursery, pots near the cistern bear tall, white flowered bulbs: the tuberoses (Polyanthus tuberosa).

Historical research has shown that 18th-century Williamsburg residents planted these in their gardens, storing the non-hardy bulbs in their basements.

Also in the Colonial Nursery, expect to see a Tuberose Polyanthus tuberosawide collection of winter vegetables: purple-top turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, parsnips, mustard, kale, spinach and salsify.

Rattlesnake melonPresently, the cucumbers and melons are producing fruit in the kitchen gardens.

In England, cucumbers and melons had a reputation of being difficult to grow. Jane Loudon writes in The Lady’s Country Companion (1845), “I would not advise you to grow cucumbers or melons; but, should you feel inclined to try your skill, you have only to have a hotbed. . .”

On the other hand, both cucumbers and melons were grown in slave gardens. Colonel Landon Carter records in his diary in June of 1771 of a visit to see his slave, Jack Lubber, “I found him prudently working amongst his melon vines.” Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughter, Anne Cary Randolph, records purchases from local slave gardeners of over 550 cucumbers, 6 musk melons and 18 water melons between August 1805 and October 1808.

Pocket melonSeveral varieties of watermelon are known in Virginia with both red and yellow flesh. The Carolina Watermelon is one of the oldest named varieties in this country. Another old watermelon is a variety called Rattlesnake, developed in Georgia, probably in the 1830s.

Past year’s gardens have boasted the lilliputian pocket melon, grown solely for its fragrance today but apparently for culinary uses in the 18th century.

Daylily Hemerocallis fulvaThis month, daylilies, hemerocallis fulva, and lantana, lantana species, join the riot of blooms at the Governor’s Palace.

At the Colonial Nursery, opposite Bruton Parish Church, see the unusual Devil’s Claw, harpagophytum procumbens. This South African plant is named for the curious hooked fruit that follows a beautiful cream and purple orchid-like flower. Several types of squash are ripening, such as cymbling, yellow crookneck, and cushaw.

Devil's Claw harpagophytum procumbensIn other gardens, trumpet vine, campsis radicans, and virgin’s bower, clematis virginiana, climb the fences, and swamp rose mallow, hibiscus moscheutos, peeks over them.

August’s generous sun coaxes traditional perennials into flower: Stoke’s aster, stokesia laevis, New England aster, smphyotrichum novae-angliae, and New York aster, ymphyotrichum novi-belgii.

Beet greensGardeners are beginning to see the fruits of their labor with the ripening of fruits and vegetables in the Historic Area. Cucumbers are coming in by the basket full, potatoes are ready for digging, beets are nearly ready and the onions have just been harvested.

For the first time we are growing the Bull Nose Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum) in addition to the cayenne peppers. Grown at Monticello by Thomas Jefferson, it has been described as one Bee Balm Monarda didymaof the best pickled peppers because of their mildness and their thick, fleshy, and tender rind. The pepper matures from green to scarlet, getting sweeter over time. They are crunchy and good to eat raw or pickled.

By the 18th century, peppers, particularly of the bell type, are often pickled. Richard Bradley, writing in Dictionarium botanicum (1728) observes: “These make a very good Shew in a Garden and are two ways useful, the green Pods make an excellent Pickle, and when the pods are full ripe, the Seed within them being clean’d and pounded in a Mortar is very good to put into Sauces, but ‘tis very hot, so that a little of it goes a great way; the long Pods are the best for pickling, and the ripe Seeds also of the long Pods are best for Sauces."

Also ripening are the yellow egg plums (Prunus domesticus "Yellow Egg.") This is a small European plum that,Rosinweed Silphium trifoliatum in Wesley Greene’s opinion, is the best flavored plum of all.

Dead-heading the perennials is a full time task. As one flower fades another one steals the show. Bee balm (Monarda didyma) is the number one asked about plant in the garden by our guests and is a favorite with hummingbirds as well.

The tall, stately Rosinweed (Silphium trifoliatum) is an easy perennial that most gardeners do not know. It is currently blooming at the Colonial Nursery at about 8’ tall.

The oldest tree in the Historic Area is an English Yew in Custis Square, the pasture across the street from the Public Hospital. It is believed to have been planted in the mid-1700s by John Custis, the father-in-law of Martha Park Custis, future wife of George Washington.

The oldest boxwood dates to 1858 – 1862 and is the English boxwood growing in the Everard garden. Since the beginning of the Restoration, great pains have been taken to protect these shrubs.

Colonial Williamsburg is known for its boxwoods. Both the American boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) and the English boxwood (Buxus sempervirens ‘suffruticosa’) provide structure to our gardens and substance to our Christmas decorations.

Not as common, but just as historic, is a variegated form (Buxus sempervirens ‘elegantisima’) which can be found growing in the Colonial Garden and Nursery on Duke of Gloucester Street.

Prominent colonist John Custis grew variegated boxwood in his Williamsburg garden. Apparently Custis, like many of us today, grew what he liked regardless of current trends. In 1736, he wrote, “I am told those things (striped boxwood and variegated plants) are out of fashion; but I do not mind that I always make my fancy my fashion.”

Native to North Africa, western Asia and Europe, boxwood was introduced to North America in the mid-1600s. The wood, close-grained and of bonelike hardness, was used by the colonists for making musical instruments and decorative items. The inlay work on the staircase in the reconstructed Governor’s Palace is of boxwood and holly.

In June, one of the primary tasks for our gardeners is to shear the boxwood. Shearing is done annually to maintain the size and shape of the boxwood. Topiary work (pruning plants into various contrived shapes) is completed by mid-summer so that the new growth can harden-off before frost.

In addition to boxwood, yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) is the other predominant plant used for topiary. Native to southeastern North America, yaupon holly is drought-tolerant and adaptable to a variety of soils.

Dr. Alexander Garden of Charleston found that “it makes a very good and most beautiful hedge and may be kept as short and neat as Box.” However, unlike the slow-growing boxwood that only needs to be sheared once a season, the fast-growing yaupon needs to be sheared at least three times a season.

Who was John Custis?

Born in 1678 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, John Custis was a planter, a member of the House of Burgesses and served as member of the Governor’s Council in Williamsburg. He was William Byrd II’s brother-in-law, and the father of Martha Washington’s first husband, Daniel Parke Custis. Custis’ garden in Williamsburg became one of the finest gardens of its day in all the colonies.

The Philadelphia botanist, John Bartram, judged Custis’ garden as second only to John Clayton’s Gloucester County garden. Custis exchanged plants and corresponded with English botanist Peter Collinson from 1734 to 1746. Their letters survived and have been published in a book entitled Brothers of the Spade. Their twelve-year correspondence adds to our knowledge of plants and gardening in 18th-century Williamsburg.

Were there street trees planted in eighteenth-century Williamsburg?

Written documents suggest there were probably few, if any, street trees planted in the colonial capital. Surviving accounts by eighteenth-century visitors contain comments about the sandy, dusty streets that were here at that time (see below). Other comments refer to the ability to see Williamsburg from a great distance, and of the city being situated upon an "open plain."

This evidence, however, does not indicate that no large trees existed in the city. Some trees would have probably been left to grow in the town’s ravines, and a 1782 map of Williamsburg drawn by an unknown Frenchman indicates trees equally spaced along the Palace Green. However, most trees found in eighteenth-century Williamsburg were most likely small fruit trees grown in back lots and orchards.

Accounts of the early Williamsburg landscape:

“. . . There is one handsome street in it [Williamsburg], just a mile in length, where the view is terminated by a commanding object each way. . . . is very disagreeable to walk in, especially in summer, when the rays of the sun are intensely hot, and not a little increased by the reflection of the white sand, wherein every step is almost above the shoe, and where there is no shade or shelter to walk under, unless you carry an umbrella. . .” John F. D. Smyth - 1770

"22 Oct. . . . A short account of Williamsburg: This city consists of approximately 300 houses, and is fairly built up for a mile in length. The city lies upon an agreeable open plain. While it is not, it is true, so very large, one may nevertheless count it among the most beautiful cities of America." Johann Conrad Doehla - 1781

“. . . .The place [Williamsburg] lies in a pleasant, open plain, and even from a distance commends itself to the traveller by a particularly cheerful and stately appearance, and the impression is confirmed on entering the town. One may count this among the handsomer towns of America, even if not among the larger, the number of houses being only about 230.” Johann David Schoepf - 1783

June brings the first onset of really warm temperatures, driving the early flowering trees, shrubs and perennials from the landscape.

Palace GardensThe perennial beds at the Governor's Palace are an abundant mixture of summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana), Carolina lupine (Thermopsis villosa), daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) and the Yorktown onion (Allium ampeloprasum).

The front edge of the perennial bed is planted in an heirloom mixture of colors of the globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa), a plant known to have been grown by John Custis in Williamsburg ca. 1735. The permutations of saturated purple, soft pink and dusky white offer a rippling pattern to the front of the perennial beds.

The boxwood garden to the west of the ballroom is planted in a two-toned yellow and pink lantana, whose soft colors and naturally floppy habit give this garden a sense of serenity. To the east of the Palace, in the yellow-berried holly garden, balsam (Impatiens balsamina) has been installed because of the heavy shade on this side of the building. Balsam of this kind can often reach four feet tall and have stems more than two inches in diameter. Their tendency to seed widely and profusely can be troublesome, but they are stout in the heat and floriferous throughout the hot growing year in Williamsburg.

MagnoliaThe Colonial Nursery, opposite Bruton Parish Church, is a treasure trove of flowering plants, especially in June. Expect to see sweet bay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) along with oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) and smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), the latter of which presents flowers ranging from a flat flower panicle to a more fully spheroid flower head.

In June some traditional perennial herbs are coming into flower or will still be in flower: valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium), were both essential healing herbs in antiquity. The yarrows (Achillea millefolium) and (A. fillapendula), the common white and the familiar yellow, have been common in perennial borders for centuries. Both yarrows perform well in the South because of their drought tolerance.

CardoonAlso expect to see the artichoke-like cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) in bloom as well as a slew of other herbaceous plants such as blattaria, or moth mullein (Verbascum Blattaria), common mullein (Verbascum Thapsus) bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), Stoke's aster (Stokesia laevis), pink root (Spigelia marilandica), flowering tobacco (Nicotiana syvestris), wormwood (Artemesia Absinthium), and lovage (Levisticum officinale), a celery-like vegetable.

While at the Colonial Nursery , see the tall yellow silphium (Silphium astericus), the sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa), the sea holly (Erygium amethystinum), and the familiar orange butterfly weed (Aesclepias tuberosa).

In addition, look for the familiar rose campion (Lychnis coronaria), clary sage (Salvia sclarea), money plant (Lunaria annua), acanthus (Acanthus mollis) Turk's cap lily (Lilium martagon) and Madonna lily (Lilium candidum), and the regular and Spanish lavenders (Lavandula angustifolia & L. Stoechas).

HollyhocksIn other gardens, such as the Geddy House on Palace Green, look for hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) peeking over the fence. In the oval garden at the Orlando Jones House, the annual bed is planted with a traditional combination of orange marigold and dwarf ageratum.

The great southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) will bloom in June, and no sight of the 10-inch flowers is complete without a whiff of its fragrance: like butter, sugar and lemon folded into cake batter. The prominent catalpa trees (Catalpa bignonioides) on Palace Green bear their huge panicles of flowers in June, and tender their 12-inch seeds pods later in the fall. Don’t miss the bright flowered pomegranates , (Punica granatum) prominent at the Prentis Garden as well as a white ruffled variety at the colonial nursery.

Pot MarigoldPlants in profusion and variety, both native and imported, grow in and around the Historic Area of Williamsburg. To provide the majority of the color in our gardens throughout the seasons, Colonial Williamsburg’s landscape staff and volunteers plant a combination of annuals, biennials and perennials.

In June, we will have just completed planting heat-loving annuals in the flower beds. These annuals will stay in the beds until the fall when they are replaced with bulbs and cold-hardy annuals.

Two summer annuals that you will see throughout the Historic Area are the marigold and globe amaranth. Like many of the plants grown in the Historic Area, they were introduced to the New World before 1800.

Striped MarigoldThe 17th-century nurseryman, Thomas Fairchild, recommended both French (Tagetes patula) and African (T. erecta) marigolds for ornamental London gardens. Native to Mexico, both species are tough annuals that produce an abundance of flowers from midsummer to fall in a variety of colors and forms. Some marigolds of note include the double African marigold and the “striped French Marygold” that was bought by Sir Peyton Skipwith in 1793.

Native to Central America, the globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) tolerates heat, humidity and drought. The purple, pink or white clover-like flowers bloom from summer until frost. They are some of the best flowers you can grow for dried arrangements, so we use it in many of Colonial Williamsburg’s Christmas decorations. We know from historic documents that colonists also used globe amaranth in dried arrangements.

Globe AmaranthIn 1742, English botanist Peter Collinson wrote to Williamsburg garden enthusiast John Custis that the globe amaranth “. . . is a Real and I may say perpetual Beauty. If the flowers are gather’d in perfection and hung up with their Heads Downwards in a Dry shady Room, they will keep thear Colours for years and will make a pleasant Ornament to Adorn the Windows of your parlor or study all the Winter. I Dry great quantities for that purpose and putt them in flower potts and China basons and they make a fine show all the Winter.”