![\"\"](\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/0711227675.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg\")
Anna Parkinson is possibly a descendant of John Parkinson (1567-1650), the apothecary and gardener noted for being the first to write in English about ornamental gardening.\u00a0 While the ancestral line is uncertain, Anna pursues John\u2019s story with the zeal of a descendant in \u201cNature\u2019s Alchemist: John Parkinson, Herbalist to Charles I\u201d.<\/p>\n
John Parkinson was born in Lancashire in northwest England.\u00a0 His family were farmers and he and his six siblings learn the importance of wild plants to supplement their diet and to provide for medicine and other needs.\u00a0 John was also precocious, as he learned to read, write, and speak Latin well.\u00a0 This was unusual for his social status, as Latin was the language of science and of most printed books.<\/p>\n
It is also remarkable his family afforded sending John Parkinson to London to make his career at age 15 \u2013 a ten-day journey at the time.\u00a0 Over the next 40 years, he steadily worked his way into being a skilled apothecary, eventually achieving his\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Paradisi-in-Sole-title-page-by-SM-329x528.jpg\")
royal position as noted in the Anna Parkinson\u2019s sub-title.<\/p>\n
As an apothecary, it was necessary for John Parkinson to have a garden.\u00a0 He developed a site known as the \u201cLong Acre\u201d in central London that became a tourist attraction.\u00a0 He was enthusiastic in his love of ornamental plants and always eager to try new things.\u00a0 His greatest passion was for tulips, of which he created 125 new varieties.<\/p>\n
This passion in part led to the publication of \u201cParadisi in Sole: Paradisus Terrestris\u201d, a book primarily of ornamental plants, and especially\u00a0bulbous plants including tulips.\u00a0 The Miller Library has a facsimile (titled \u201cA Garden of Pleasant Flowers<\/a>\u201d) of this work reproduces the 17th<\/sup> century English \u2013 quite readable with a little practice.\u00a0 The title page features a highly stylized image of the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 Anna Parkinson wrote about this book: \u201cThe most startling feature of the Paradisus<\/em> was that it was the first English book about plants to be devoted above all to their beauty, making this the key purpose of a garden.\u201d<\/p>\n Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024<\/p>\n Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anna Parkinson is possibly a descendant of John Parkinson (1567-1650), the apothecary and gardener noted for being the first to write in English about ornamental gardening.\u00a0 While the ancestral line is uncertain, Anna pursues John\u2019s story with the zeal of a descendant in \u201cNature\u2019s Alchemist: John Parkinson, Herbalist to Charles I\u201d. John Parkinson was born in Lancashire in northwest England.\u00a0 His family were farmers and he and his six siblings learn the importance of wild plants to supplement their diet…<\/p>\n