The Garden and Farm Books of Thomas Jefferson

For almost sixty years, Thomas Jefferson kept a journal of his garden and his farms, recording his horticultural successes and failures, the progression of the seasons and his thoughts on gardening and agriculture. Jefferson was, at heart, a gardener. He observed nature in detail and continually experimented with new varieties of flowers, shrubs, trees, fruits, and vegetables. He shared ideas, experiences and plants with gardeners around the world. Perhaps nowhere else is the human side of Jefferson more apparent than when he is thinking and writing about gardening and the details of daily living at Monticello. Seldom has agriculture had a more eloquent spokesman. This volume contains relevant letters from Jefferson to contemporaries such as Washington, John Adams and James Madison, as well as to family and friends, a horticultural bibliography to assist gardeners interested in creating their own version of Monticello, and beautiful illustrations in Jefferson's handwriting with drawings of his gardens, and Robert Llewellyn's photographs of Monticello.