Garden Insights

Wulf describes the summer of 1796 as a calm before the storm. This was the summer before Washington announced his resignation and the first election containing two political parties for president was to take place. Wulf describes how Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison all returned to their respective homes that summer and how all four dove quickly into the agricultural aspects of their farms. Although all four men had many similarities when it came to agricultural ideas, they also had many differences that were exemplified by how different each one ran and maintained his farm. These differences within their farms was also an indication of the political views each man held.

         The similarities seen among the four men is shown by their love for sharing knowledge and seeds with one another, the great importance they held for keeping up-to-date on the latest innovated methods, and their fascination with new agricultural technology. For example, all four men put high importance on the rotation of crops in order to protect and nurture the land. They also were fascinated by new technology and were always eager to share any new information they found. One can see an example of this when both Washington and Jefferson both tried new varieties of threshing machines and quickly shared any information they procured from their use. The similarities among these four men show that they all shared the idea of agriculture being the right direction for the new nation to strive toward. They may have had different ideas on how far agriculture could take the new nation, but it is apparent that they believed that in order for the new nation to get a thriving start it would need to rely heavily on agriculture.

           Although the men had many similarities when it came to their agricultural habits, they also had many differences that were reflective of their personal lifestyle. Adams, who had a much smaller piece of property and less money than the others, favored the vision of a farm that would be useful over beautiful. This accurately fits with his personality because he was known to dress and behave in a much simpler fashion when compared to the others. Adams was more concerned with his work, and the effectiveness of the work, than he was about his appearance and this translated to his gardening habits. When planting a garden Adams concentrated on the agricultural benefits he could receive from the garden. He did this because he felt that a garden shaped for producing something could provide more useful yields than a garden that was planted only for beauty. Adams appreciated beautiful gardens, and enjoyed touring them, but for his own personal garden he wanted to produce a garden that could produce something of value.  

Like Adams, Jefferson’s gardens also were an accurate portrayal of his personality. Jefferson was a quiet, educated, well-dressed man who had considerably more money when compared to Adams. Jefferson loved both the beautiful as well as the useful aspects of gardens; however, when it came time to begin his own, his garden took on the beautiful aspect over the useful aspect. This accurately reflects Jefferson because he was known for liking the finer and more beautiful things in life (an example of this is his clothes). This does not mean that Jefferson ignored the aspect of a useful garden. Jefferson conducted many experiments with different crops that he hoped would be productive and useful to him and the nation, but his major concern was on the beauty a garden could provide. One can see that beauty was Jefferson’s first concern when constructing his farm by noticing where he built his house. Instead of building his house on the flat, fertile, and well watered land within his property, he decided to build his house on a hill that ensured him to have a magnificent view of the surrounding land. This meant that in order to grow his gardens Jefferson would have to work much harder to provide the gardens with the water and space they would need to effectively grow. Jefferson felt that this extra work was worth it because of the beauty that he found from the hill top view.

Like the previous two men, Madison’s garden provides accurate insight into the personality and lifestyle of the founding father. Wulf describes Madison as being a frail man. Although he was physically frail, Madison was tough and hardworking, and this is seen in his gardening habits. As Wulf points out in her book, Madison built his own mill, studied crop rotation, and enjoyed physical work like chopping wood. These gardening activities are reflective of the personality and lifestyle of the hardworking Madison. Madison enjoyed the tough physical labor that came with creating a garden and he used this same work ethic when it came to the founding and running of the new nation.

The final founding father that Wulf writes about is Washington, and like the others his garden was a reflection of the war hero. Washington’s garden was big, a mixture of a beautiful and useful garden, and ran with strict discipline. This is reflective of Washington in many different ways; one is by Washington’s love of beauty but also his love of useful things. Washington enjoyed studying and owning beautiful things, but he also wanted them to be helpful and useful in some way. When designing his garden Washington made sure both of these aspects were present. He had many beautiful gardens with flowers, trees, and shrubs but he also had many practical gardens, like kitchen gardens where crops were produced. As previously stated, Washington’s garden was also run with much discipline. This is reflective of Washington’s time as a soldier and his personality of liking things in order.

As one can see, gardening can play a huge role in helping one learn more about the personality and lifestyle of these four men. All four men were very different, and these differences were reflected in their gardens and gardening habits they displayed when creating and running their gardens.