Tuberose
Polyanthus tuberosa
Grown at Monticello as early as 1807 and native to Mexico, Tuberose is noted for its intensely sweet scent and is a key ingredient in perfumes. They easily naturalize and are now found around the globe.
Thomas Jefferson wrote to his favorite nurseryman, Philadelphia's Bernard McMahon, "I have an extensive flower garden, in which I am fond of placing handsome plants or fragrant. Those of mere curiosity I do not aim at . . ." Tuberose was popular in the early Nineteenth Century for the almost cloying sweetness of its flowers, and McMahon sent double Tuberoses to Monticello in 1807. They flowered on August 12, and on November 9, one of Jefferson's granddaughters reported that "we shall have plenty of them for the next year." Tuberoses were so common that they were noted as being naturalized in eastern Virginia by Williamsburg's John Custis in 1735.
In Bloom at Monticello is made possible by support from The Richard D. and Carolyn W. Jacques Foundation.
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Heirloom Seeds and Plants from the Monticello collection
Plant history in your gardens with seeds and plants from Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
