Andrea Wulf

US Review Philadelphia Tribune: The Brother Gardeners

In what is a fascinating and beautifully researched story, “The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of An Obsession (Knopf, $35)” by acclaimed garden historian Andrea Wulf, is sure to appeal to regional history buffs. It’s the story of a garden revolution that began in America in 1733, when the farmer John Bartram dispatched two wooden boxes of plants and seeds from Philadelphia, addressed to London cloth merchant Peter Collinson. That correspondence was the beginning of the most important horticultural friendship of the 18th century. For the next 40 years, Bartram and Collinson transported America’s evergreens, magnificent trees and colorful shrubs to England, transforming the English garden and parkland into a new multicolored landscape. In other words, the seeds for the English love affair with gardens were literally sowed in Philly. “The story begins in January 1734, when Collinson receives a box of seeds and cuttings that Bartram sent from Philadelphia — the first of many hundreds that would cross the ocean over the next decades,” explained Wulf. “Together they introduced more than 200 new species to Britain, but their greatest achievement was the scale of the plant enterprise — the sheer quantities of seeds. By the end of the 18th century, plants that had only been grown as choice rarities in a few botanic collections at the beginning of the century had become so common that they were available cheaply in nurseries from London to Yorkshire."

Andrea Wulf’s U.S. tour begins next week in Philadelphia at the Academy of Natural Sciences, 19th StreetBen Franklin Parkway on Wednesday, April 29, at 2 p.m., followed by book signing on Sunday, May 3, at 1 p.m. at Bartram's Garden, 54th St. and Lindbergh Blvd. in Philadelphia.

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Radio Interview: The Brother Gardeners on WHYY Radio Times

27 April 2009

Interview about The Brother Gardeners on WHYY - Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane.

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Review The Brother Gardeners, Boston Globe

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Radio Interview: The Brother Gardeners on WAMC FM Roundtable

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Article Wall Street Journal: The Roots of a Gardening Obsession

25 April 2009

How an 18th century American farmer transformed England's approach to horticulture.

At this moment a dozen tomato plants are "listening" to taped voices through headphones that are clamped to their pots. They are part of a trial run by the British Royal Horticultural Society in their garden Wisley in Surrey, England. On April 1, the RHS invited the public to audition for the nation's most plant-friendly voice -- a sort of "American Idol" for plants. Forty-five competitors, including Sarah Darwin (Charles Darwin's great-great-granddaughter), read Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," recited poetry and talked to the plants. Then the judges whittled the list down to 10 contestants -- the voices the tomato plants are currently hearing. After 30 days the plants will be measured and the voice that "produced" the most flourishing specimen will be announced as the final winner of the Voice of Wisley.

Colin Crosbie, the superintendent of the trial, says the RHS is quite serious about discovering "how plants respond to voices."

The British are obsessed with gardens. Each year they spend almost $6 billion on their gardens, close to what the country spent last year on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ten-year waiting lists to rent a tiny plot in inner-city community gardens are nothing unusual, and for some Brits, gardening has become so important that they speed date with a horticultural theme -- so-called "speed gardening" during which potential dates are judged by their green-fingered talents.

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Click here for accompanying slide show of 'Six English Gardens'

US Review San Francisco Chronicle: The Brother Gardeners

Here is another review from 17 April

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US Review New York Times: The Brother Gardeners

'Splendid new book ... Throughout "The Brother Gardeners,"Wulf’s flair for storytelling is combined with scholarship, brio and a charmingly airy style. (It’s hard to resist her comparison of the soft needles and dangling cones of an Eastern hemlock to “feather boas carelessly slung around a woman’s neck.”) She has written a delightful book — and you don’t need to be a gardener to enjoy it.'

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US Review Booklist: The Brother Gardeners

The Booklist (March 2009):

"With the deft insight of a seasoned biographer, Wulf illuminates their singular and combined efforts in a dazzling narrative that reveals the personal appreciation and professional animosity that fueled this halcyon period in horticultural history"

Essay The Brother Gardeners

Here is a little essay called "A Very English Affair ... Or Maybe Not?" that I wrote on The Brother Gardeners and the British obsession with gardens on Powell's Books website.

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Talk at the English Speaking Union, Washington DC Branch, 1 May 2009 @ 6.45pm

I will be giving a talk at the English Speaking Union in Washington DC. Billed as a 'Special Program for Gardeners' the event will be a talk and dinner in the restaurant 'Old Europe'.

 For details and reservations click here