1786 May 4.  (Jefferson to John Page).  "The gardening in that country [England] is the article in which it surpasses all the earth. I mean their pleasure gardening. This indeed went far beyond my ideas."[1]

1788 June 19.  (Jefferson's Hints to Americans Travelling in Europe).  "Gardens. Peculiarly worth the attention of an American, because it is the country of all others where the noblest gardens may be made without expence. We have only to cut out the superabundant plants."[2]

1791 February 9.  (Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph).  "I hope you are getting well, towards which great care of yourself is necessary: for however adviseable it is for those in health to expose themselves freely, it is not so for the sick. You will be out in time to begin your garden, and that will tempt you to be out a great deal, than which nothing will tend more to give you health and strength."[3]

1811 August 20.  (Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale). "I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position & calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden.  "no occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, & no culture comparable to that of the garden. such a variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, & instead of one harvest a continued one thro’ the year. under a total want of demand except for our family table I am still devoted to the garden. but tho’ an old man, I am but a young gardener."[4]

Further Sources

Footnotes

• 1. PTJ, 9:445.
• 2. PTJ, 13:269.
• 3. PTJ, 19:264.  Martha had just given birth to her first child Anne on January 23.
• 4. PTJ:RS, 4:93. Polygraph copy at the Library of Congress.