The Heirloom Orchardist

An Heirloom Rose for Valentine's Day

Cupid's making a delivery to some lucky lover.  Just look at this huge cart of roses!  It's pretty impressive, even to this old practical (and cheap) Heirloom Orchardist.  Does Cupid have any idea that these gorgeous cut roses will look like compost an a few days?

I have no idea what your sweetheart likes.  But I'll go out on a limb, and suggest that on Valentine's day, instead of cut roses, consider giving a living one.  There's plenty of time to order.  I suggest a perfectly pure white heirloom variety:  Blanc Double de Coubert.  Here's what Gertrude Jekyll said about it in her 1902 book, Roses for English Gardens:

"The beautiful white Blanc Double de Coubert - whitest Rose of any known - has for purity of colour eclipsed the older, duller white Madame Georges Bruant, though this is still indispensable.  Blanc Double de Coubert is one of the best Roses, for it blooms the whole summer through and well into autumn.  Its rich, deep green foliage, highly polished though heavily reticulated, persisting till late in the year, gives it that look of perfect health and vigour that the leafage of so many Roses lacks late in the summer."

Of course, the reality is that this new rose will not be in full fragrant bloom on February 14.  I understand that.  You're sweetheart will also understand.

But here's another idea: Next year, force the rose into blossom.  This is, apparently, "a very pleasing occupation."  Mr. Podbury (a somewhat unpleasing name) gave these instructions in the April 1, 1871 issue of The Small Fruit Recorder and Cottage Gardener:

"To grow roses in pots for window culture is a very pleasing occupation.  To grow them successfully, choose young, vigorous plants, say in April or May, either on own roots or on Manetti stock.  Repot them in six inch pots and plunge them in the ground to the rim of the pot.  Keep them well supplied with water and occasionally a little manure water.  Keep all the flowers pinched off until the middle or the end of September.  You will then have a plant with six to eight well ripened shoots."

"Prune them back, and shake them clear out of the old soil and repot them, using a compost of good loam and well rotted manure – about two thirds of the former to one of the latter - with sufficient sand to keep from packing hard.  Soak the newly potted plant well with water, and plunge it again in a sunny spot.  By the end of October you will have the pot full of young and vigorous roots.  Introduce (it) to the window, and by the time the frost has killed the roses out of doors, this will be ready to succeed them, and give you a supply of roses without a great expense of fire heat."

You won't need the fire.  This Valentine's day,there'll be plenty heat in the bedroom.

 

 

Purchase an heirloom

Blanc Double de Coubert Rose

The Christmas Tree; Preparations for a Victorian Christmas (Part 2)

Last week, we read Edward Luckhurt's suggestions on how to decorate the house for Christmas.  Now lets learn something on the craft of Christmas tree decorating.  Mr. Lockhurst was a member of England's Royal Horticultural Society.  His comments are taken from his 1878 essay on Christmas Preparations, published in the Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener:

"For a Christmas tree, there is nothing better than a Spruce (or) Fir planted in a tub or barrel with the head knocked out and filled with moist sand.  Let the tub be large, so as to avoid all risk of an upset; let the lower branches of the tree be well fastened to it with cords to keep all steady, and cover both tub and cords with green baize.  If there is a large party, say about fifty children, and a lofty room can be had, the tree should be quite 15 feet high, to afford space on the branches for presents and the usual accompaniments of flags, Chinese lanterns, and other candle holders and ornaments."

"Have plenty of flags near the top of the tree and on the ends of the branches, and take care there is nothing inflammable immediately over the candles.  Three or four tapers on long sticks will be wanted for lighting, and there should be a few pieces of damp sponge also on long sticks at hand for extinguishers in case of anything taking fire."

Wow.  Is Lockhurst serious?  Did he really suggest that a tree fire could be controlled with "a few pieces of damp sponge"?  Look, we've all heard that victorians used candles to decorate their Christmas trees.  But I've never really thought that much about it.  I just shake my head, and think "that was kinda dangerous."

But to state that a few pieces of damp sponge strapped on the end of a stick would extinguish a dry, resinous, burning Christmas tree?  That's just stupid.

Amazingly, candles were still being used on Christmas trees, well into the 20th century.  A December 1923 Popular Mechanics magazine stated that the "manufacture of Christmas-tree candles begins the day after the holiday, and continues throughout the year."  Despite the obvious danger, the practice remained popular.  I'm amazed by the casual nature of the following comment, published in an 1913 article about Christmas tree decorating:

"The element of danger associated with Christmas-tree candles makes us hesitate to include them in these suggestions. On the other hand, twenty little candle-lights glimmering through the dark masses of the evergreen make an illumination soft and kindly; a candle is the most beautiful light-giver ever yet devised by man."

Yeah, and a burning Christmas tree in the parlor is pretty spectacular too!

 

Preparations for a Victorian Christmas (Part 1)

In 1878, Mr. Edward Luckhurt, a member of England's Royal Horticultural Society, wrote an essay on Christmas Preparations for the Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener.  Nowadays, it's not uncommon to find descriptions of Victorian Christmas decorating.  But it's another thing altogether to read suggestions on how to decorate for Christmas, written during the Victorian Era.

"Christmas is coming, and special preparations must be made in the garden, the house, the market.  A busy time it is, therefore, especially for the gardener; for does not he wish to make the surroundings of the house as trim and ornamental as possible, so as to be in keeping with its interior decorations?  To this end, miniature shrubs, many of them gay with berries, are planted in the flower beds; shrubbery borders are forked over, the shrubs pruned, and the trimmings turned to account for household decoration.

"This is frequently an elaborate affair involving much time and painstaking, the greatest difficulty often being to hit upon some new design, something different to the efforts of former years.  Good taste will, of course, lead to satisfactory results.  Without it there should be no ambitious flights, no aiming at novel effect, but rather a quiet tone should prevail with plenty of warmth about it.  Spiral wreaths to pillars, festoons along walls between pictures, Ivy along cornices and architraves, neat wreaths of Box, berried and variegated Holly, Laurustinus, and Cotoneaster around pictures, mirrors, and doorways."

Well, one thing's for sure.  Mr. Luckhurt's account on what to use for Christmas decoration was not very engaging.  He was no Martha Stewart. His marketing skills leave something to be desired.

The 1881 Census for Buxted, Sussex, England identifies Edward Luckhurst as the male head of the household, married, age 42, born Kent; "occupation Land Steward and Gardener."  So regarding plants, he knew his stuff.  Of course, it's not very surprising that "Boxwood, berried and variegated Holly" are on his list.  In large victorian cities, holly was frequently sold door-to-door during the holiday season.  And those plants are still being used. 

But, Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) and Cotoneaster?  The Heirloom Orchardist never considered using them to decorate.  Hmm...perhaps even Martha Stewart could learn something from Mr. Luckhurst.

A Day of Public Praise and Thanksgiving

The following was published in the October 16, 1856 issue of the Maine Farmer, Vol.24, Issue 43:

STATE OF MAINE
BY THE GOVERNOR
A PROCLAMATION

For A Day of Public Praise and Thanksgiving

In accordance with a venerated usage, established in the first settlement of the country, by our virtuous and pious ancestors, and subsequently continued by their descendants, I do, with the advice and consent of the Council, appoint Thursday, the twentieth day of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving; and Praise, and recommend to the people of this State to assemble on that day in their usual places of public worship, and return their sincere and unfeigned thanks to Almighty God for the innumerable favors and blessings which He has bestowed upon them, not only during the past year, but for the whole period of their existence. Given at the Council Chamber, in Augusta, this second day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-first.

Samuel Wells

Biographical Information on Governor Samuel Wells

Heirloom Blossoms for Valentines Day; Forget-Me-Not

Valentines Day is only two weeks away.  As we know, The Heirloom Orchardist is just as sentimental as any other lover of old fashioned blossoms.  This image of a Victorian valentine displays a mass of delicate Forget-Me-Not blossoms. 

The wood Forget-Me-Not is a spring flowering perennial.  Greatly loved by wildflower enthusiasts, it tends to grow in shady, damp areas such as woodlands and stream beds.  While on a woodland jaunt, if you are lucky enough to stumble upon a flowering colony of native forget-me-nots, you will not forget the moment.  There are few flowers with such a combination of tenderness and clear sky-blue color.
There are many legends attached to this blossom.  One of my favorites was mentioned by Peter Folkard, in his book Plant Lore Legends and Lyrics, published in 1884:

“It is said that after the Battle of Waterloo, an immense quantity of Forget-me-nots sprung up upon different parts of that sanguinary field, the soil of which had been enriched by the blood of heroes.”

But the origin of this flower’s name seems to have come from a work published by the English scholar Charles Mills (1788-1826), who wrote The History of Chivalry or Knighthood.  This was brought to my attention in an article published in 1846:

“The bright-eyed Forget-Me-Not has been more renowned in story and song, probably, than any other flower, at least, more than any other of its size.  It has long been a darling of the poets, having been known in England since the time of Edward the Fourth.  It was first be-rhymed, we suppose, on account of its bearing so prominent a part in the incident related by Mills, in a note in his work on Chivalry.  The story runs thus:  "Two lovers were loitering along the margin of a lake on a fine summer's evening, when the maiden discovered some flowers growing in the water close to the bank of an island at some distance from the shore.  She expressed a desire to possess them, when her knight, in the true spirit of chivalry, plunged into the water, and swimming to the spot, cropped the wished-for plant, but his strength was unable to fulfill the object of his ambition; and feeling that he could not regain the shore, although very near it, he threw the flowers on the bank, and casting a last affectionate look on his lady-love, said, 'Forget-me-not,' and was buried in the water." - Christian Parlor Magazine, 1846, E.G. Wheeler, MD

If you love someone with a partly shady garden area, a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds would be a perfect valentine gift.  Today, you can get a pink strain as well as the original blue.  (The previous links will bring you to our sponsor’s site)