The Veitch Nurseries were the largest group of family-run

plant nurseries A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

in Europe during the 19th century. Started by John Veitch sometime before 1808, the original nursery grew substantially over several decades and was eventually split into two separate businesses—based at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

—as it became unfeasible to run the whole operation from one location. Famous plant hunters in the Victorian period employed by the Veitch family include the brothers

Thomas Lobb Thomas Lobb (1817–1894) was a British botanist and, along with his older brother, William Lobb, collected plants for the plant nursery Veitch. Lobb worked in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. In 1845 he discovered the first orchid species ...

and

William Lobb William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

from Cornwall and David Bowman. The Veitch's ability to grow exotic plants is noted in

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew he ...

's description of ''

Verticordia nitens ''Verticordia nitens'', commonly known as Christmas Morrison and other names, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The Noongar peoples know the plant as kotyeningara. It i ...

'', and they were able to supply a specimen for its illustration. The firm had, by the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, introduced 1281 plants into cultivation, which were either previously unknown or newly-bred varieties (see

cultivars A cultivar is a type of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and when Plant propagation, propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and st ...

). These included 498

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

plants, 232

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

, 153

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

trees,

shrubs A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

and

climbing plant A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselve ...

s, 122

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

plants, 118 exotic

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s, 72

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

and climbing plants, 49

conifers Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...

, and 37

ornamental bulbous plant Ornamental bulbous plants, often called ornamental bulbs or just bulbs in gardening and horticulture, are herbaceous perennials grown for ornamental purposes, which have underground or near ground storage organs. Botanists distinguish betwe ...

s. In the years to come, more plants followed. The nurseries were most famous for their orchids, although they also introduced several famous plants from other families, such as ''

Nepenthes rajah ''Nepenthes rajah'' is a carnivorous pitcher plant species of the family Nepenthaceae. It is endemic to Mount Kinabalu and neighbouring Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.Clarke 1997, p. 123. ''Nepenthes rajah'' grows exclusively on ...

'' and ''

Nepenthes northiana ''Nepenthes northiana'' , or Miss North's pitcher-plant,Phillipps, A. & A. Lamb 1996. ''Pitcher-Plants of Borneo''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo, where it grows at elevations ...

''. The

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...

species '' N. veitchii'' is named in honour of the Veitch dynasty. The Chelsea business ceased to trade in 1914, whilst the Exeter business continued under

Peter Veitch Peter Christian Massyn Veitch (February 1850 – 1929) was a member of the family of horticulturists who established the renowned family business Veitch Nurseries. Early days Veitch was the son of Robert Veitch and was born in the Cape of Good Ho ...

and later his daughter Mildred. She in turn sold the firm in 1969, when it was bought by St Bridget Nurseries. The business was run as a separate business for a further 20 years, but is now a subsidiary of St Bridget. John Veitch,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

footballer, was a member of the Veitch family and joined the family firm as company secretary.

Veitch collectors

The house of Veitch employed twenty-two recognised plant hunters, including three members of the Veitch family. Most prominent of these were brothers

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

, Ernest Wilson and

Charles Maries Charles Maries (18 December 1851 – 11 October 1902) was an English botanist and plant collector who was sent by James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea, London to search for new hardy plants in Japan, China and Taiwan between 1877 and 1879; there he dis ...

. The others were: * Richard Pearce: Visited Chile, Peru and Bolivia from 1859 to 1866 *

John Gould Veitch John Gould Veitch (April 1839 – 13 August 1870) was a British horticulturist and traveller, one of the first Victorian plant hunters to visit Japan. A great-grandson of John Veitch, the founder of the Veitch horticulture dynasty, he also v ...

: Visited Japan, South Sea Islands and Australia from 1860 to 1870 * David Bowman: Visited Brazil in 1866 * Henry Hutton: Visited Java and the Malay Archipelago from 1866 to 1868 * Carl Kramer: Visited Japan and Costa Rica from 1867 to 1868 * Gottlieb Zahn: Visited Central America from 1869 to 1870 *George Downton: Visited Central and South America from 1870 to 1873 *

Henry Chesterton Joseph Henry Chesterton (1837 – 26 January 1883) was a British plant collector who was sent by James Veitch & Sons to search for orchids in South America with much success. James Veitch & Sons Chesterton was born in Sandy, Bedfordshire in 18 ...

: Visited South America from 1870 to 1878 * A. R. Endres: Visited Costa Rica from 1871 to 1873 *

Gustav Wallis Gustav Wallis (1 May 1830 – 20 June 1878) was a German plant collector who introduced over 1,000 plant species to Europe, many of which were named after him. He was particularly focused on orchid hunting during the Victorian orchid craze, but ...

: Visited Brazil, New Granada, South America from 1872 to 1874 * Walter Davis: Visited South America from 1873 to 1876 *

: Visited Australia, South Sea Islands and Borneo from 1875 to 1878 *

Guillermo Kalbreyer Wilhelm (Guillermo) Kalbreyer (1847–1912) was a German plant collector who was sent by James Veitch & Sons of Chelsea, London to collect new plants in West Africa and South America. According to Hortus Veitchii, the Veitch family history: Guille ...

: Visited West Coast of Africa and Colombia from 1876 to 1881 * Christopher Mudd: Visited South Africa in 1877 * F. W. Burbridge: Visited Borneo from 1877 to 1878 *

Charles Curtis Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was an American attorney and Republican politician from Kansas who served as the 31st vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 under Herbert Hoover. He had served as the Sena ...

: Visited Madagascar, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the Moluccas from 1878 to 1884 * David Burke: Visited East Indies, Burma and Columbia from 1881 to 1897 * James H. Veitch: Visited India, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand from 1891 to 1893

Notes

References

External links

Veitch Heritage (Garden) in Exeter

Veitch Nurseries on www.caradocdoy.co.uk

The House of Veitch
{{Veitch family Horticultural companies of the United Kingdom Landscape design history Plant collectors

Veitch collectors

See also

Notes

References

External links