Victorian Top 10 Plants

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:16 pm

It was interesting to find out that Victorians were the first ones to bring plants indoors. Clergy and writers thought that "the beauty of nature could effectively lead people toward moral goodness".

The top ten plants during that era were:

Aspidistra (Cast Iron Plant) - do we still have those?

Abutilon

Coleus

Clivia (Kaffir lily)

Citrus tree

Ferns

Fuschsias

Jasmine

Kentia Palm (Parlor Palm)

Rubber plant

(The list and the quoted material above are from: "Country Victorian Magazine", Winter 2005 (#67), page 74.)

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:32 pm

I knew what some of the plants mentioned were, but not all of them. So, while waitinf for dinner to cook...I looked them all up. There are some very nice plants in this list !

Tracy...

CAST IRON PLANT
http://www.monrovia.com/PlantInf.nsf/26 ... enDocument

ABUTILON
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropol ... tilon.html

COLEUS
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/cons ... ridus.html

CLIVIA / KAFFIR LILY
http://www.clivia.sa.cx/

Citrus tree - (Miniature ?)
http://www.michiganbulb.com/product.asp ... llection_E_

FERNS
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/houseplant ... ferns.html

FUSCHIA
http://kayjones.smugmug.com/keyword/fuschia

JASMINE
http://www.gardenguides.com/articles/jasmine.htm

Kentia Palm (Parlor Palm)
http://www.evergrowing.com/tips/kentiapalm.htm

Rubber plant
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/f ... ubbe87.htm

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:22 pm

Wow! Thanks for the lovely photos! I'm surprised you found all of them. Is the fuschia also called a 'bleeding heart'?

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:57 pm

Thanks Sherry and Tracy, beautiful plants. I guess I'm spoiled out here in California as I see alot of these wonderful plants outdoors everyday, though the only one I'm not sure about is the Abutilon?

Sherry, as far as I could find, a Fuschias latin name is Fuschia hybrida, whereas the Bleeding Hearts name is Dicentra. They do appear to be a similar type of plant, maybe they are the same phyllum or genus or something?

Bleeding Hearts:

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:06 pm

I love fuschia plants!

Thanks for the photos Trace!

I like these Victorian threads...

When I was younger I was mad for Victorian romance novels. especially Dorothy Eden.

Smudgeman · Post by **Smudgeman** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 5:05 pm

I am passionate for gardening, and have grown all the species mentioned except the rubber plant. Bleeding hearts like shaded, filtered sun, and Fuschias like full sun and humidity, coleus does best in partial sun, and I love the spikey flowers it produces. Ferns are very particular, and I find I have to mist mine almost daily or the leaves dry out.
I have always called the cast iron plant "Mother-In-Law-Tounges, unless that is another variety.
Anyway, thanks for the photos Tracy, I can't wait to buy a digital camera, and show some of my garden to you all. Everything is in bloom right now, and I would love to show off my Gardenias, Magnolias, Buttercups, Blanket flowers, etc.......I have an ornamental gardenia that is blooming blue flowers now, amazing.

I am surprised that the Victorians were able to grow alot of those species indoors though. Most of them do better outdoors, or on a patio, screened porch area, or a sunroom.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:45 am

I'm glad you can still see Tracy's photos because for me they are gone, leaving behind a little box and the dratted words "geocities."

Your garden sounds nice. Do butterflies come? On Home&GardenNetwork I notice *butterfly gardens* are "In."
I like those kind.

nbcatlover · Post by **nbcatlover** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:15 pm

Yeah, I don't know what happened to all the nice photos either. They were there when I first looked. Now, because I wanted to check them out again, POOF!, they're gone. C'est la vie.

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:37 pm

I will try to get them reposted...it is weird. They are gone for me too.

Tracy...

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:26 pm

"geocities" must refresh their server or whatever it's called.
Their pics never stay too long.
That's why I called it "dratted."

Those were great examples of plants!

Edit here: Ooops. Only one was a "geocities!"
If you click on the link it goes to the plant! That's A-OK!

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:12 am

Good idea...clicking on the link ! Duh...why didn't I think of that...silly me. I took on a part-time job and I think it is taking it's toll...

Tracy...

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:58 am

Tracy, are the photos still on your Photobucket site?

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:49 am

Smudgeman - Wish you could have posted your garden photos, too. It sounds lovely!

I used to enjoy doing flowers and a vegetable garden. But when we moved here, there are too many critters around. Tomatoes I grew from seed and transplanted outdoors had groundhog holes hidden in the rows. It was like walking thru a mine field. The rest of the stuff, bunnies and deer ate everything as soon as it started coming up.

I did flowers for quite a few years and loved it. I dug up a crawdad once. I still went back ... after a while. But when we found a huge snake living in the flower bed that was really it. It was an Eastern Fox snake - brrrrrr! They are considered an endangered species, but, um, we made sure it never came back again. We have this special Snake Remover that actually got rid of it pretty quickly.

The next summer, its mother or something came into our back yard. It slithered onto my back porch and up a folded lawn chair and hid inside. My husband approached it, and it bit at him. Got the old Snake Remover. Once again it came thru for us.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:51 pm

I have black snakes who seem to return to my yard to mate.
I asked around and was told snakes don't go too far from where they were born, as long as there is food and water.

Some communities who have overdeveloped and driven their snakes out, now find they have a mouse problem and complain when the have to put out poison.

I like your snake remover story!

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:43 pm

Harry @ Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:58 am wrote:Tracy, are the photos still on your Photobucket site?

Oh Harry...you are very wise ! I forgot I cleared them off of the photobucket site. What a dork I am ! I still have them in my Lizzie file if the link doesn't work for someone. There are some beautiful plants in that list.

Tracy...

SallyG · Post by **SallyG** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:10 pm

I'm not sure how it was in the rest of the country during the Victorian era, but here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland one very popular outdoor plant was the Hydrangea. I've seen them in lavender, purple, pink, rose colored, etc. Every Victorian house around here will have tons of old Hydrangea bushes around it. That and boxwood. Everytime I see either one, it brings back memories of my grandmothers old Victorian house and the huge Hydrangea bushes around it.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:00 pm

Fascinating info. Sally- you are on the Shore? I was born in Cambridge and grew up in Vienna and Mardela . With 34 years in New England, I am still not a Yankee! Although I am picking up some of that Fall Riverese.

For paintings and painting on china in Victorian times, roses, forget-me-nots and pansies take first prize.