Eight chapters in Andrea Wulf's
Founding Gardeners depict the spectacular horticulturists America's founding fathers were. Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison each cherished the countryside and the plant life it came with.
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| Typical landscape of the colonial era. |
Today, America's culture has managed to destroy much of our natural world and have come to admire an abundance of synthesized spectacles.
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| Dust Bowl in United Staes. |
We have all been taught in middle or high school about the great dust bowl of the plain states around the time of the Great Depression. What I did not realize is that even as far back as the early 1800's, Virginia soil had been overused and abused.
Madison's own family members moved away from Virginia because of the poor soil quality, "his sister and husband moved to Alabama, his nephew went to New Orleans, a cousin moved to Kentucky, and his former secretary Edward Coles had left for Illinois."
In years to come, even these lands would be stripped of fertile soils after being over-worked. This is an issue our nation faces today and especially seen in developing countries.
This book shares with us history on many levels: leadership, passion, history of America, but most importantly, about our agrarian culture.
Heed the lessons our founding fathers encountered; lets keep this nation a great, natural frontier and lets strive to teach others how to keep this while earth pure.
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| James Madison's Montpelier. |
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| George Washington's Mt. Vernon. |
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| John Adams' Boston home and garden. |
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| Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. |
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