Ah, Mount Vernon. Second in my affections to only Monticello for a little horticulture meets history sight-seeing. A recent visit to George's little place on the Potomac made me hungry for more specifics about our founding fathers' interest in gardening and just how hands-on these gentlemen really were in the horticultural affairs of their plantations.
(What a view! Pull up a rocker and have a seat, won't you?)
So when I heard Ira Flatow on NPR's Science Friday discussing a book about just this topic I about ran off the road. (Not really. I'm a nut, but not that much of a nut about the topic..I don't endanger lives or anything.)
You can listen to the show too by clicking here and if you are like me, it will whet your appetite for the book itself,
plus you will just enjoy listening to Ira. (I have kind of a crush on him, as well as Thomas Jefferson, so the show was kind of a two-fer, and I always like it when that happens.)
I'll be doing a little fact checking too. See if what the tour guides said about the gardens at Mount Vernon match up with the book, and if, indeed, George really did have a
hedge fetish ( or living fences as he called them) and if he really WAS
afraid of being buried alive (Who knew?!)
Anyhoo, enjoy the rest of this little tour of Mount Vernon. Oh, and no, they won't let you take any pictures inside. :(
Yes, they compost at Mt. Vernon...then and now.
Labels: Founding Gardeners, George Washington, Ira Flatowary, Linda's Library, Mount Vernon, NPR, Science Friday, Thomas Jefferson
