Garden History – Innovation of Gardening Publications

Our final garden landscape innovation in this series is the spread of gardening publications in the 1800s. Technical advances brought down the cost of printing and producing color illustrations, leading to an explosion of journals, periodicals, and books. Changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution had led to an emerging urban and educated middle class, with an interest in gardening on a smaller scale. They eagerly sought out the new gardening publications.

Two prolific publishers of the time were Joseph Paxton (we learned about him in Garden History Innovations – Glass Houses), and John Claudius Loudon (1783 – 1845). Loudon was born to a farming family in Scotland, and became an influential horticulturist. He visited many of the great gardens of England and Europe, and understood their historical context. He also built glass houses, helped develop the Victorian suburban garden, and was an advocate for large public parks for recreation and nature. (Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed New York’s Central Park and the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, was influenced by his ideas).

Loudon wrote prolifically about old and new plant species, and how to grow them successfully using innovative techniques. His audience included those with grand estate gardens as well as small suburban gardens. Loudon’s publications include (dates vary by various sources):

• Encyclopedia of Gardening (1822)
• The Green-House Companion (1824)
• Gardener’s Magazine (founded in 1826)
• Arboretum et Fruiticetum Britannicum (1830)
• Remarks on Laying Out Public Gardens and Promenades (1835)
• Suburban Gardener, and Villa Companion (1838)

Gardening publication by John C. Loudon (No copyright, distributed by Google)

In 1830 Loudon met and married Jane C. Webb Loudon (1807 – 1858), who was already a published author of an early work of science fiction (The Mummy!). She worked closely with Loudon, and soon became a prolific garden writer in her own right. After Loudon’s death Ms. Loudon had continued success publishing books for women gardeners. Ms. Loudon’s publications include (dates vary by various sources):

• Young Ladies Book of Botany (1838)
• Gardening for Ladies (1840)
• Botany for Ladies (1842)
• The Ladies Magazine of Gardening (1842)
• The Ladies Companion to the Flower Garden (1840 – 44, four volumes)
• My Own Garden (1855)
• Amateur Gardener’s Calendar

Gardening publication by Jane Loudon (Creative Commons)

Many other gardening journals, periodicals, and books were available in the 1800s, but the Loudon’s had a major impact. They educated and influenced gardeners across gender and socio-economic lines via their many garden publications.

Learn More:

• The Green-House Companion (John Loudon)
• The Ladies Companion to the Flower Garden (Jane Loudon)