BRITAIN’s first rockery was established in the Chelsea Physic Garden in 1774, with lumps of lava from Iceland, downland flint and chalk and 40 tons of stone from the site of the Tower of London. Its imaginative creator is not remembered for it. Neither is he celebrated as superintendent of George III’s gardens at Kensington Palace and St James’s Palace, nor as a member of the huddle of botanists who, in 1804, formed what would become the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), nor even as the central figure in a controversy involving a disputed treatment for diseased trees and a government grant of £1,500 (about £235,000 at today’s value) to ensure a supply of healthy oaks for the Navy during the Napoleonic war. The payment infuriated other botanists, who subjected his reputation to intense scrutiny.
Instead, we unwittingly commemorate William Forsyth when the forsythia bursts into bloom, the flowers proving so impatient that they cannot wait for the leaves, and we know our flavescent year is truly in its stride. Yet Forsyth, Scottish-born botanist and author, revered in his early years as an orchard expert, had nothing to do with the shrub that bears his name. It was an 18th-century import. First spotted in Japan and recorded by Carl Peter Thunberg in his Flora Japonica of 1784, it was misidentified as a lilac and classified as Syringa suspensa. A member of the olive family and widespread in the Far East, it was prized in China, where its flowers, lian qiao—‘golden bells’—were deemed anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing.
この記事は Country Life UK の March 29, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の March 29, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
