The Garden Diary of Martha Turnbull, Mistress of Rosedown Plantation

The Political Dimension

Martha Turnbull, Suzanne Turner, Suzanne Turner

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780807144138
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Horticulture
• Index: Biological Sciences

Recovered in the mid-1990s from the attic of a Turnbull family descendant, Martha Turnbull's garden diary offers the most extensive surviving first-hand account of nineteenth-century plantation life and gardening in the Deep South.
Landscape architecture professor and preservationist Suzanne Turner spent fifteen years transcribing and annotating the original manuscript, making it accessible to twenty-first-century gardening enthusiasts. The resulting dialogue between Turnbull's diary entries and Turner's illuminating notes demonstrates the pivotal role that kitchen and pleasure gardens held in the lives of planter families. In addition, the diary documents the relationship between the mistress and the enslaved whose labor made her vast gardens possible.
Turner's exquisite interpretation reveals not only an energetic gardener but also a well-read one, eager to experiment with the newest gardening trends. Illustrated with engravings from period books, journals, and nursery catalogs, Turner's annotations provide the reader with a deeper understanding of American horticultural history.
The diary, spanning the years 1836 through 1894, reveals the portrait of a courageous and resilient woman. After the tragic loss of her two sons and husband prior to the Civil War, Martha assumed full responsibility for her family and the plantation. She endured living under siege during the war and persevered during Reconstruction by growing and selling food as a truck farmer. By working daily in her ornamental garden and faithfully maintaining her diary for nearly sixty years, she found the solace and peace to look forward to the future.

INDEX

Note: Page references in italics indicate illustrations. The initials MT refer to Martha Turnbull.

Abercrombie, John, 37

Acorus gramineus, 167

acreages noted, 150, 188, 215, 225, 227, 228, 235

Aesculus parviflora (dwarf horse chestnut, bottlebrush buckeye), 211, 253–54

aesthetics, Downing on, 8

Affleck, Thomas, 10, 16

on laurels, 109

as Nurseryman, 16, 49, 60, 157, 246. See also Southern Rural Almanac

African food plants, 147, 163

African pepper, 237

Agapanthus umbellatus, 119

“Agriculture of the County of Suffolk,” 133–34

Aime, Valcour, 246

Alcea rosea chinensis, 57

Alexander Creek, 41. See also creeks

Allamanda, 146

allées. See avenues; live oak avenue

Allium ascalonicum. See shallots

All the Year Round, 87

Almanac and Garden Manual (Buist), 93

almanacs, 16, 28

almanac-format diary entries, 166–71. See also Southern Rural Almanac

Alvarado, Pedro de, 149

amaryllis, 94, 251

American Agriculturist, 172, 182, 187, 200, 219, 226, 259

American Cotton Planter and Soil of the South, 61, 155–56

American Farmer, 98, 195, 231

The American Farmer’s Encyclopedia (Emerson), 99, 139, 140, 172

The American Florist (Eley), 120

American Florist (magazine), 257, 260, 271

The American Flower Garden Companion (Sayers), 103–4, 106, 125, 138

The American Flower-Garden Directory (Buist), 104, 108, 111, 115

on ardisias, 116–17

on bird of paradise, 108

on callas and agapanthus, 119

on dahlias, 25, 121–22

on geraniums, 111

on hydrangeas, 244

on hypericums, 139

on mignonette, 146

notations in Turn-bulls’ copy, 105, 243

on roses, 129, 243

on salvia, 116

on verbenas, 104

on wisteria, 138–39. See also Buist, Robert

American Fruit Culturist, 198

The American Fruit Garden Companion (Sayers), 60, 110, 142

The American Gardener (Cobbett), 34, 62, 69, 73, 104

The American Gardener’s Calendar (M’Mahon), 6, 23, 26

ammonia, 98, 99

Andropogon sorghum, 30

anemones, 94, 119–20

animal manures, 45, 99

guano, 98–99, 123, 194, 195. See also manure

animals. See livestock; specific types

Annals of Horticulture, 222

annual flowers, 36, 92, 94, 117, 134, 138, 141–42. See also specific types

Anthoxanthem odoratum, 134

ants, 172–73

aphids, 172–73, 272

apples, 49, 95, 157, 203, 208

budding, 103

theft noted, 191, 207

“Aquatics as Window Plants,” 281

Arachis hypogaeea. See peanuts

arborvitae, 54

ardisia, 116–17, 285

Aron, 160

The Art of Beautifying Suburban Home Grounds of Small Extent (Scott), 254

artichokes, 32–33, 51

cold damage, 126

harvests, 49, 62, 70, 138, 143, 165, 194

horticultural advice, 87

last mention, 240

Paris variety, 87, 95, 127, 138, 176

sales of, 124

from seed, 87, 95, 176

ashes: as fertilizer/soil amendment, 45, 72, 81, 99, 195, 224

for pest control, 40, 77, 135, 173, 177

asparagus, 26, 31

burning off, 34, 79

harvests, 46, 49, 54, 127, 142, 205

horticultural advice, 37, 73, 80, 144, 199

last mention, 240

new beds, 37, 73, 80, 172, 173, 177

other care notes, 26, 127, 167, 201

salt applications, 34, 199

Audubon, John James, 4

Audubon Plantation Country Cookbook (Butler), 28

augers, 198

Augustus, 84, 124, 235, 238, 240, 242

death of, 242, 281

wages and workdays noted (1888), 244–45, 248

avenues/allées, 8–9, 84, 111

poplar avenue, 110–11

road construction and maintenance, 142–43, 146. See also live oak avenue

azaleas, xiv, 61, 285

inventories, 95, 108, 138, 242, 243, 245

last mention, 272

Nursery orders, 21, 47, 61

Bailey, L. H., 30

balm, 236

balsam, 166

balsam apple, 162

Baltimore, MT’s stay in, 14, 131, 165–66

banana shrub, 222

Barrow, Bennet, 194

Barrow, Etta, 279

Barrow, Mary, 197, 207

Barrow, Mrs., 176–77

Barrow, Robert Hilliard, 197

Barrow, Rosina, 221

Barry, B., 120, 135

bartering, for gar...

Table of contents

• COVER
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• DEDICATION
• CONTENTS
• FOREWORD: The Turnbulls and West Feliciana
• PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION: A View into a Life and the Landscape That Shaped It
• EDITOR’S NOTE: How to Read the Diary
• I: The Garden Is Begun 1836–1851
• II: The Mature Garden 1852–1860
• III: War and Recovery, and Life (and Gardening) Goes On 1861–1871
• IV: In the Cycles of the Garden Are Solace and Renewal 1872–1895
• AFTERWORD
• A PHOTO ALBUM OF ROSEDOWN TODAY
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• PERIOD ILLUSTRATIONS AND THEIR SOURCES
• INDEX