March 10th 2014 - Silver Spring Garden Club - OLD SEED HOUSES AND PLANT NURSERIES IN THE MID-ATLANTIC

I am giving a talk to the Silver Spring Garden Club on March 10th on the nursery industry of 18th and 19th century America. I will show examples of nursery catalogs, the originals of which are located in the National Agricultural Library  in Beltsville, Maryland. I shalll discuss some of the local nurseries such as William Booth's nursery in Baltimore and Joshua Pearce's nursery in Rock Creek, Washington, DC. 

I shall also show examples of nursery catalogs from the Golden Age of ornamental gardening, 1870 to 1910, discussing the intersection between horticulture and agriculture in the 18th century and the divergence of horticulture into commercial crops, such as vineyards and orchards, and ornamental landscaping as we currently understand it.

Please contact Club President: Kathy Jentz  Laserblast 'at' aol.com for details