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| Photo Credit: Felder Rushing |
| Look for the beautiful blooms in the heat of summer. |
When I think about the events and people who’ve shaped our nation’s history, I have to wonder how much the American environment shaped them in turn. Much of Colonial American wealth arose from the plants that were cultivated here – on lands taken from Native Americans and often through the blood, sweat and toil of slaves and indentured servants. It’s a history we have yet to fully acknowledge.
There were great men (and women!), no doubt, who struggled with the ideals of liberty and justice for all Americans in the perilous times of our early history. I admire what was best in them, while recognizing their all-too-human faults. Many of them had a passion for nature and gardening. Anyone who visits Jefferson’s Monticello, Washington’s Mount Vernon and River Farm or the Adams homestead in Braintree, MA, gets a sense of our former leaders’ feelings about the land that they – and we – call home. Another prominent figure in those times of trouble and change was Benjamin Franklin. Inventor, scientist, humanist, statesman – Franklin embodies much of what was right in the actions of our founding fathers and mothers. He was a good friend to fellow Philadelphian, John Bartram. John and William Bartram (father and son) were early naturalists and explorers of our country. They found and collected numerous native plants in their travels and brought those discoveries back with them to their wonderful Philadelphia garden. One such discovery was the lovely Franklinia alatamaha, named for their good friend Ben and (mispronunciation and subsequent misspelling notwithstanding) for the river by which they found it – the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia.
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