The General in the Garden

To me figuring this question out was one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition and book.  For many years, scholars have attributed Washington’s inspiration for his landscape design to a pattern book or two, but it was much more complicated than that.  George Washington had just spent 8 years away from home during the American Revolution, and while he probably wasn’t constantly thinking about landscape design, he certainly saw the gardens of many elite Americans.  These were experiences that would later shape his own landscape design.  Unfortunately, Washington didn’t systematically write down what he saw and whether he liked something or not, so it is difficult to say exactly which landscapes influenced him.  We do know that he was influenced by Margaret Tilghman Carroll’s greenhouse, because Washington wrote to her nephew, his former aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman for notes and drawings of her greenhouse.  Washington based his greenhouse on hers outside of Baltimore.  And Washington did use books.  I would say the one he used most frequently was Philip Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary.  Written by the head of the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, this dictionary provided practical advice on caring for different plants.  This is the only book that we can say for sure that Washington used as we have notes he took from it on transplanting trees.

Adam T. Erby

George Washington always seems to have had both a hired gardener and two or three enslaved gardeners working at Mount Vernon.  The earliest gardeners likely grew up in the colonies and did not participate in any sort of formal apprenticeship system.  They were fruit and vegetable gardeners who were able to learn their trade here in Virginia.  When Washington installed the greenhouse, all of that changed.  There were few greenhouses here in the United States and even fewer gardeners who knew how to operate one.  So Washington hired a gardener from Bremen in modern day Germany to come over and run his garden.  The man’s name was Johan Christian Ehlers, and when he arrived in 1789, he spoke no English.  Washington’s farm manager sent him a letter in New York explaining the situation and requesting a German to English dictionary to help Mr. Ehlers.  His wife Catharine came over several years later and she oversaw the work of the enslaved spinners and weavers at Mount Vernon.  But Johan Ehlers had a little bit of a drinking problem that he never could kick, and Washington thought this hampered his productivity.  By the end of the presidency, George Washington was fed up and he fired Ehlers.  Washington wrote to a friend in Scotland requesting that he find him a Scotch gardener because he believed that “generally speaking, they are more orderly & industrious than those of other nations.”  Washington hired William Spence on the recommendation of his friend, and Spence served at Mount Vernon for the remainder of the General’s life.

Adam T. Erby

All four of the principal gardens on the estate have been researched and restored/replanted:

• the upper or pleasure garden
• the lower or kitchen garden
• the botanical garden
• the fruit garden and nursery

The lower garden was the first outdoor space that the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association researched and recreated in 1937.  It was accomplished during what was called the Colonial Revival period.  Colonial Revival gardens are known for being based as much on beauty as historical accuracy.  The lower garden at Mount Vernon is an excellent example of a formal English kitchen garden, but it is doubtful that Washington would have had such an ornamental garden that would not have better utilized the space for more efficient and maximum yield of vegetables, fruits, and berries.  At this writing the garden will continue to be represented as the Colonial Revival garden created in 1937.  As it stands it represents an important moment in the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association history and a significant landscape movement within the country.  The other three gardens are so accurately represented that if George and Martha Washington were to return they would feel right at home.  

Dean Norton

Director of Horticulture at George Washington's Mount Vernon

Washington was very interested in vistas and being able to show the command and control that he exercised on his landscape. We can see these results in the expansive bowling green, the view to the west gate and the regularity and order of the plantation's core. Unfortunately, Washington did not physically shape any landscape himself. He used the strength of Mount Vernon's large enslaved workforce to fill and level the grounds and clear trees to ensure the views were maintained.

I love the ha-ha wall and am continually amazed by the simplicity and effectiveness of this device in keeping animals away from the Mansion while maintaining the beautiful view down the south lawn or west front.

Esther C. White

Director of Historic Preservation at George Washington's Mount Vernon

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