Horticulture was a significant component of the economy of Middlesex from the 17th century into the 20th. Most local histories remark upon the substantial amount of market gardening which supported London’s growing population at this period but say little of the nursery gardeners. While both forms of gardening took place at the same time, the nursery gardens evolved to meet changing markets and some became market gardens in their turn.
Garden historians have tended to concentrate on garden design, mentioning only a few of the major nurseries. The remarkable work of John H Harvey, in Early Gardening Catalogues (1972) and Early Nurserymen (1974), is the exception that proves the rule.
I hope this site will become a Nursery Gardeners Archive, designed to give the gardeners back a significant place in history of the area, especially in the parishes along the Thames.