Bartram's Garden (9/16/2023)

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Bartram's Garden was founded in 1728 by John Bartram, known as the father of American botany. Being the oldest botanical garden to survive in North America, it is now a public garden in the city of Philadelphia.

Bartram's Garden is located on the Schuylkill River,
on what was farmland in the time of Bartram;
now we have a view of the Philadelphia skyline

The sign states specifically not to dump brush,
yard waste or compost; however, it seemed that
Bartram's Garden itself left this brush and yard waste

Ricinus communis/Castor Bean (KSS)

Sankofa Community Farm grows more than 60
crops and wild foods of the African Diaspora

The Farm Education Center is an energy net-zero
classroom with a teaching kitchen

A ripe fig in the orchard that has 130 different fruit and nut trees

The Sankofa Community Garden is for residents of
Southwest Philadelphia who share the farm's
focus on the African Diaspora culture and foodways

Aesculus parviflora/Bottlebrush Buckeye fruit; the plant was
first collected by William Bartram, son of John, in the 1770s 

Dolichovespula maculata/Bald-faced Hornet
(which is actually a wasp) nest (KSS)

Gate into the Ann Bartram Carr Garden, planted
as a 19C exhibition garden; Ann Bartram (the daughter
of John Bartram, Jr and granddaughter of John Bartram)
was the third generation to manage the gardens

Bartram House (1728-1731, kitchen addition c 1740,
second story 1758-1770) is constructed with hand-
quarried Wissahickon schist; Ann Bartram added
the dormers and the two one-story additions

Greenhouse and seed house (1760)
was heated by a Franklin stove

Under the window of the seed house are stone tiles
carved by John Bartram with botanic designs

Coach House (c 1850 expansion of a barn for
Andrew Eastwick, who purchased the property from
Ann Bartram Carr, and decided to preserve the Bartram House
and build his own mansion eleswhere (now gone)

The Welcome Center is in the former Stables

The dovecote end of the stables from the stableyard

The Lath House (2000 for restrooms) and barn (1775),
which is the oldest barn in Philadelphia County

Native Medicinal Plant Display was inspired by a
1751 treatise written by John Bartram

Gingko biloba/Gingko Tree may be the oldest
living gingko in North America, and is one of
three sent from London in 1785 by William
Hamilton of The Woodlands, giving one to
the Bartrams (the two kept by Hamilton
were cut down in the 1980s

Vigna caracalla/Snail Flower (KSS)

Cladrastis kentukea/Yellowwood Tree is
a specimen sent to Bartram by André
Michaux, who found the species in 1796
in central Tennessee

Kitchen Garden that represents a family garden prior to 1830,
which included the introduced plants of tomatoes and
peppers, plus herbs for use in culinary, medicine,
cosmetics, household cleaners, and textile dyeing

Franklinia alatamaha/Franklinia Tree is
descended from specimens collected by
John and William Bartram, who first
observed the tree in 1769 in the land of the
Muskogee Nation (now south Georgia);
however, the Franklinia has not been
found in the wild since 1790

The flower of the Franklinia

1783 Plant Catalogue Display of the native trees and
shrubs offered for sale from the Bartram nursery

Taxodium distichum/Bald Cypress is a
replacement for one planted by John Bartram,
which was felled by a storm in 1920

Water Garden and Pond with native aquatic plants

Green seed pods of Hibiscus lasiocarpos/
Hairy-fruited Hibiscus (KSS)

Dried out seed pods of Hibiscus lasiocarpos/
Hairy-fruited Hibiscus (KSS)

Hibiscus coccineus/Scarlet Rosemallow (KSS)

Colchicum autumnale/Autumn Crocus is not a true crocus (KSS)

Asimina triloba/Pawpaw grove

A couple Pawpaw fruit

This cider mill or cider press was hand-carved (perhaps
by John Bartram himself) from bedrock; apples were
crushed in the circular trench by a wooden wheel,
then the pomace/pulpy matter would have been
pressed between wooden boards to extract juice

View of the Schuylkill River from the boardwalk

Bartram's Garden Dock was busy with kayakers

Bartram's Garden Community Boathouse!

Lonicera maackii/Amur Honeysuckle is
invasive and it was dominant in the natural
woods of Bartram's Gardens; also
the berries are toxic to humans

Although birds can eat the Amur honeysuckle berries, they do not contain the nutrition birds need.

Bartram's Garden Meadow is reclaimed land of a
cement factory that operated 1925-1977; the
neighborhood name of Kingsessing is Lenape
for "place where there is a meadow"

We found seven beehives in the meadow

Brynne and Kent on a "boat bow" bench

Brynne is fostering "Cheetah Girl"
who accompanied us today (KSS)