There is a wonderful garden in Philadelphia, Bartram’s Garden. It is listed as the Pre-revolutionary Home of John Bartram, Botanist, Naturalist, Explorer—The oldest living botanic garden in America. John Bartram (1699-1777) traveled the eastern North America from Florida to Lake Ontario, collecting plants for his garden. He identified over 200 native plants and was appointed King’s Botanist by King George III.

Saturday Jane and I attended a Botanical Illustration Meet Up at the garden. Artists, mostly botanical illustrators (which I am not—but I was welcomed) come together to draw/paint specimens from the garden. Many worked on cut samples inside where they could study their plants in a more controlled setting.

Jane and I spent most of our time outside—sketching and photographing. It was a most beautiful day, unbelievable for July in Phila. Jane worked on Franklin altamaha, a plant Bartram identified in Georgia in 1765. It now exists only under cultivation—no longer in the wild. I worked on a bed of onions with their wonderful greens twisting every which way and on Oak leaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, another of Bartram’s discoveries.

Towards the end of the session we joined the group where we worked on Bee Balm, Monarda didyma, which is reported to have been used to make tea by the colonists after the Boston Tea Party. Other supplied blossoms were Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistolosum), Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata, also collected by Bartram), Love-In-A-Mist (Nigella damascena) and Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro).

Globe Thistle in the garden—the bees were very happy