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A Passion for Plants: The Treseders of Truro
| Author: Suzanne Treseder |
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| ISBN: 0906720389 |
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| Description: |
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In 1857 three brothers left Cornwall for Australia in search of gold. One of them, John Garland Treseder, took with him vegetable seeds, and started a market garden. Soon there were nurseries, and a shop in Sydney, and John Treseder designed parks and gardens in New South Wales and Victoria. Returning to Cornwall, he imported some of the first in a long line of commercial introductions of Australasian plants, including the tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica, cordyline, phormium, eucalyptus, mimosa and pittosporum. Soon Treseders’ Nurseries were exporting these plants world-wide, to customers keen to acquire new, unusual plants.
For over 50 years Treseders’ Nurseries carried one of the largest collections of ornamental plants in the UK. In Cornwall, and beyond, they landscaped railway stations, hotel and private gardens, feeding the overwhelming appetite for acclimatized exotics. In the mid-twentieth century, Neil Garland Treseder was the first person to appreciate the commercial importance of camellias, and in the 1960s Treseders’ catalogue featured 250 different varieties. Neil Treseder wrote extensively and authoritatively on camellias and magnolias. He named over 60 plants – many of which received the RHS Award of Garden Merit – and reflected that ‘I wouldn’t change my vocation. It’s the most exciting and spiritually rewarding occupation in the world.’
You can use Google Book Search to look inside this book here.
Suzanne Treseder is the daughter of Neil Garland Treseder. Here she tells the story of her family’s passion for plants.
1st edition
Cased
120 pages
b/w photos
216 x 136mm
20.10.04
Foreword, by Sir Richard Carew Pole, President, Cornwall Gardens Trust
Acknowledgements
1 A Cornish Family's Passion for Plants
2 John Garland Treseder, 1841–1923
3 Ira Garland Treseder, 1877–1967
4 Neil Garland Treseder, 1913–1983
5 Andrew Garland Treseder, 1941–1983
Conclusion
Finis
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
‘This is a book that sets out to be the history of a business dynasty. It ends up as much more than that. As the Treseders zoom around the world collecting and exporting and designing, the reader's jaw drops. As they swap English acorns for tree ferns with Sir Philip Fysh, Governor of Tasmania, the jaw starts to swing. As they conspire with Cecil Nice, the Queen's tame magnolia fiend, the head begins to shake in wonderment. Of the fifteen books in print with this or a similar title, this is the one that best justifies its claim to passion. ... it hides the soul of a romantic novel.’ (Sam Llewellyn in The Eden Project Friends Magazine, no. 17, Winter 2004)
‘It's a fascinating tale, picking up dry old documents and turning them into an adventure story, charting journeys of discovery and a dedication to plantlife which has been passed on from generation to generation.’ (Western Morning News, 23.10.04)
‘An important and interesting horticultural history and a joy to read.’ (Cornish Gardener, November/December 2004)
‘It must be true to say that without their enterprise many of the excellent gardens we now have in Cornwall would not exist. A true tale of horticultural and high adventure, the story of John Garland Treseder's voyage to Australia in search of gold is an epic in itself.’ (The Cornishman, 02.12.04)
‘For more than two hundred years the most important provincial nurserymen have doubled as garden designers, and as a result have had a substantial impact not just on the choice of plants but on the choice of planting style. Yet few nursery firms have been studied in any detail ...
‘... it contains much fascinating historical information and considerable human interest ...’ (Hortus, no. 72, Winter 2004)
‘You don't have to be as passionate about plants as the Treseders to enjoy this illustrated book. It's a fascinating tale of a local family, and includes such gems as the account by ... John Garland Treseder ... early in a three-month voyage from Australia to Plymouth in 1866, when his ship struck an iceberg.’ (West Briton, 9.12.04)
‘This is a lovingly and meticulously researched account of the Truro branch of this ancient Cornish family who had such an impact on horticulture, in not only Cornwall but also elsewhere in Britain and overseas. ...
‘The production and layout of this very readable book is pleasing’ (Cornwall Gardens Trust Journal, 2005)
‘... the great nineteenth century diaspora took the Treseders to Australia, the source of so many plants which came to our shores as a result of that journey. At one time Treseders were one of the great suppliers of exotic plants in the United Kingdom, rivalling Veitch's of Exeter. Through generations they were leaders in their field ... theirs is no ordinary story.’ (Old Cornwall, vol. XIII, no. 4, Spring 2005)
‘This is an absorbing study of a family-run business which spread its influence all over the World. ...
‘Suzanne Treseder is an engaging writer who has produced an excellent, well-researched and polished narrative. The book itself is a fine volume’ (Cornish World, 41, Spring 2005)
‘Whilst a fascinating account of the rise and demise of a prominent Cornish nursery, it is the particular connection with Australia that garden historians in Australia will find of interest in this book.
‘... the Australian story ... is placed within the context of the career of a family with members that are to this day, gripped by a passion for plants.’ (Australian Garden History, vol. 17, no. 3, January 2006)
‘I found it most enlightening and although I had been familiar with the name TRESEDER I had no idea of the extent of their influence. I thoroughly recommend it.’ (Cornwall Family History Society, no. 115, March 2005)
A Passion for Plants: The Treseders of Truro received a Commendation in the 2005 Holyer an Gof Awards for the best Cornish publications of 2004. It was featured on BBC South West's Inside Out in September 2006. |
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