Cedar of Lebanon
Common Name: Cedar of Lebanon
Scientific Name: Cedrus libani
Primary Source References[1]
1805 October 26. (Jefferson to Madame de Tesse). "Were it not for this [irregularities on the ocean by belligerent powers], I would ask you to send me by some occasion...some seeds of the Cedrus Lebani which you have in the Jardin des plantes...but I should only expose myself to the mortification of losing them."[2]
1807 April 11. "Nursery. begun in bed next the pales, on the lower side, where Gen. Jackson's peaches end to wit within 2. f. of the 4th. post from the S.E. corner...3. Decrus Libani. Cedar of Lebanon, 2. rows...seeds recd. from Doct Gouan at Montpelier."[3]
1808 March 2. "Pd. Holt for 4 cones of Cedar of Lebanon 1.D."[4]
1810 January 13. (Jefferson to Bernard McMahon). "The Cedar of Lebanon and Cork oak are two trees I have long wished to possess, but, even if you have them, they could only come by water, and in charge of a careful individual, of which opportunities rarely occur."[5]
1811 March 10. "Plants. Cedar of Lebanon."[6]
1812 February 16. (Jefferson to Bernard McMahon). "Never expecting so good an opportunity again, and so seasonable a one, I will still add a little to my former wants so as to put me in possession once for all of everything to which my views extend, and which I do not now posses...trees. Cedar of Lebanon."[7]
1821 March 21. "Nursery. 9th [terras]. [planted] Cedar of Lebanon...thro the whole...All these were sent me from Edinburgh by Mr. Ronaldson."[8]
1821 April 2. "Planted in the old boxes No...13. Cedar of Lebanon."[9]
1821 November 2. (James Ronaldson to Jefferson). "I am sorry at not having it in my power to give you some of the...cedar of Lebanon etc. having handed all that class over to Mr. McMahon. with him however they will be in good keeping; and have the best chance of being introduced into the Nation."[10]
1826 April 27. (Jefferson to P. Emmet). "The trees I should propose [for the University of Virginia botanical garden] would be exotics of distinguished usefulness, and accommodated to our climate; such as the Larch, Cedar of Libanus...Cones of the Cedar of Libanus are in most of our seed shops, but may be had fresh from the trees in the English gardens..."[11]
Footnotes
- ↑ Please note that this list should not be considered comprehensive
- ↑ Betts, Garden Book, 306.
- ↑ Gouan was a professor of botany at Montpellier France. Ibid, 333.
- ↑ MB, 2:1220.
- ↑ Letterpress Copy at the Library of Congress.
- ↑ Desiderata list of plants in Jefferson's hand on Bernard McMahon's letter of March 10. Letterpress Copy available at the Library of Congress.
- ↑ Letterpress Copy at the Library of Congress.
- ↑ Betts, Garden Book, 475.Manuscript and transcription at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
- ↑ Ibid, 476.
- ↑ Letterpress Copy at the Library of Congress.
- ↑ Letterpress Copy at the Library of Congress.
Further Sources
- Adams, Denise Wiles. Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, Inc., 2004
- Betts, Edwin M., Hazlehurst Bolton Perkins, and Peter J. Hatch. Thomas Jefferson's Flower Garden at Monticello, 3rd ed. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986
- Leighton, Ann. American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1986
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