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Jacarandas Journeyed Across Continents

Jacarandas journeyed across continents throughout the 19th century. Natives to South America, gardeners and horticulturists found them finicky and fragile. But once they took root in their new homes, the exotic beauties became known for their profusion of luminescent bluish purple, trumpet-shaped blossoms and lacy foliage. Landscapers in warm cities around the world coveted their thick canopies as centerpieces for urban designs.

Nineteenth-Century Developments Helped Jacarandas And Other Exotics Traveled The Globe

Growing numbers of exotic ornamental plants were being transported from all over the world back to Europe and the United States through the 1800s. While plants had been cultivated since the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Victorian Era brought a new level of excitement to horticulture.

In 1829- Wardian Cases were simple devices that shifted human history. Constructed from wooden frames with airtight glass panels, these small movable greenhouses provided vehicles in which plants could travel safely between continents.  While the technology was familiar, its application was groundbreaking.

From their first launch in 1829, Wardian Cases revolutionized commercial shipping of plants and flowers.  Giant Victoriana Water Lilies and other exotics were grown in England. Seeds from the Giant Victoria Water Lily spread. Horticulturists around the world vied for their chance to coax a blossom out of the regia Amazonica.

Fresh fruits became available year round. China’s hold on the tea industry was broken. Quinine provided an anti-malarial drug, thereby enabling the global spread of empires. The vulcanization of rubber brought us everything from tires to early Victorian tennis shoes.

In 1859-Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species was published. Darwin’s work with plants and artificial selection opened new doors to experimentation. Plant lovers–from aristocratic collectors to hard-working gardeners–were enthralled with the possibilities.

What if a particular type of flower could be brighter in color? Could it have larger blooms? Could it be made more fragrant? Victor Lemoine (1823-1911) was one such plant lover. He came from a long line of gardeners, with grand visions. 

It was  also a time when jacarandas journeyed around the world. Following are the stories of three cities that embraced them.

Sydney Found Its Dream Trees

Jacarandas journeyed to Sydney Australia over a few decades. But once they finally started blooming, Sydney and other cities in Australia became known for the violet crowns.

The species most commonly planted in Sydney is Jacaranda mimosifolia. It was collected in South America and brought to the Royal Gardens at Kew, England, in about 1818.

According to the Museums of History in New South Wales

“One early source gives the credit to plant hunter Allan Cunningham, who was sent on from Rio de Janeiro to NSW, where he would later serve, briefly, as colonial botanist.” 

Cunningham was a prolific collector of plants who given the title of “King’s Collector for the Royal Garden at Kew”.

Jacarandas were grown in private gardens from the 1850s. But most people were familiar only with the specimen in the botanic gardens. Even though Sydney’s climate was similar to that of Rio, the trees proved difficult to propagate from the saplings that sprouted near the parent tree.

“Colonial horticulturists were likely working with cuttings from established trees that hadn’t yet flowered, or old seeds that had deteriorated on the high seas en route from England or Brazil.”

Although the Jacarandas journeyed half way around the world, they were not yet flourishing. People coveted the still-rare trees.

“That changed in 1868, when landscape designer Michael Guilfoyle solved the riddle of propagation. Enthusiastic reports of his success neglect to mention how, but a paper read at the Horticultural Society in the same year gives some idea of the lengths he might have gone to. The method involves cuttings and cold pits, bell jars and bottom heat – enough to daunt even the most passionate of green thumbs.”

Horticulturists had not yet learned that jacarandas grow readily from freshly fallen seedpods.

Guilfoyle’s Exotic Nursery at Double Bay supplied the most fashionable gardens in town with jacarandas.

“… many of the eastern suburbs’ stately old giants are his legacy. One, which adorned the magnificent garden at Clarens, in Potts Point, was known by the Martin children as ‘the dream tree’.

By the early 20th century jacarandas journeyed throughout Australia, with seedpods and saplings gifted between neighbors and towns.

Godfrey River’s 1903 painting Under The Jacaranda portrays early twentieth-century life in Brisbane, with the artist and his wife, Selina, taking tea under the shade of a blooming jacaranda tree in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

According to QAG Gallery, the jacaranda depicted was planted by the Gardens’ Superintendent in 1864.

“…by 1875 about 50 000 seeds and cuttings had been distributed in Queensland. Many of the jacarandas now growing in Brisbane suburbs are the progeny of this first tree.”

Pretoria Caught Jacaranda Fever

It wasn’t until 1888 that Jacarandas journeyed to Pretoria, South Africa. As it happened in Sydney, many of the trees came from two parent trees.

According to the Heritage Portal,

“A traveling nurseryman called Tempelman sold two jacaranda seedlings to Jacob Daniël (Japie) Celliers, who resided at Myrtle Lodge, 146 Celliers Street, Sunnyside.”

Ten years later, Celliers got permission from the government to plant trees in Groenkloof.

“He ordered the seeds, which included jacaranda seeds, through a Pretoria businessman, James D Clark. Clark also donated 200 jacaranda trees for the 51st anniversary of the founding of Pretoria on 16 November 1906.”

Jacaranda fever spread.

Among the first planted were on Bosman street (then known as Koch Street) that ran along Arcadia park. Although many of the original trees died, Clark replaced them.

For his contribution, Clark was nicknamed “Jacaranda Jim…He died on 2 January 1956 at the age of 92 and is buried under a jacaranda tree in the Heroes’ Acre in Pretoria.

Frank Walter Jameson also became known for planting the most jacaranda trees in Pretoria. He also planted them in Kimberley and Nairobi.

“Jameson planted 40 miles of jacarandas in the city in 1911. During this time the City Council even donated two jacaranda trees to all residents who allowed them to remove large trees with roots that became a threat to the sewage system in the town.”

When he left Pretoria, approximately 6,000 jacarandas thrived.

Some 37,000 now line many miles of streets throughout Pretoria. Including outlying areas, that number could be as high as 65 000.

Kate Sessions Brought Purple Canopies To San Diego

While we don’t have a transaction to pinpoint when Jacarandas journeyed to San Diego we do know that Kate Sessions (November, 1857-March, 1940) was a legendary horticulturist with a passion for all plants including exotic Jacarandas.

In 1892 Sessions leased City Park which was renamed Balboa Park in 1910) a 32-acre scrub-filled mesa from San Diego to develop her commercial nursery. This was just two years after fellow trailblazers Elizabeth Bisland and Nellie Bly raced around the world.

In exchange, she agreed to plant 100 trees in the park annually for ten years. She also gave 300 trees to the city for public landscaping.

“With Kate Sessions’ vision, brushwood and rocky dirt were transformed into tree shaded lawns, flower gardens, and hillside nature paths.” (S.D. Park and Rec)

She avidly supported the movement to preserve native plants and wildflowers. But with her international network of botanists, gardeners and growers, she was able to cultivate her passion for exotics. Among the many trees she donated were Jacarandas. Many people believe that Jacarandas journeyed throughout southern California because of her.

Given her profound influence on landscape design in San Diego, she became known as the Mother of Balboa Park.

Sessions was one of the first women to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in natural science. She moved to San Diego to teach, but that career ended when she started her nursery one year later.

According to the San Diego Natural History Museum:

“… the plants and trees she introduced to the area are now found all over San Diego and beyond. Although San Diego’s parks, streets, and gardens are now lush with many shrubs, trees, vines, and succulents from all over the world, at the time Kate moved here, much of San Diego remained very starkly bare—basically empty land. She was instrumental in procuring many new plants from growers worldwide and introducing them to the area.”

Sessions also developed nurseries in Coronado, Pacific Beach, Mission Hills, and other locations in greater San Diego. She is said to have introduced the jacaranda, poinsettia, orchid tree, bougainvillea, bird of paradise, and many other exotic plants now common in local gardens and streets.

Jacarandas Are No Longer Welcomed In Some Cities

Jacarandas journeyed around the world. While they became “naturalized” in a number of countries they are now considered invasive in a number of locations. Among those are Queensland, Australia, Hawaii, Chile’s Juan Fernandez Islands and in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia. 

According to the CABI Digital Library:

“Jacaranda mimosifoliais a fast growing tree that re-sprouts easily if damaged. It is deep-rooted and competitive and few plants or crops can grow beneath it once it has established. It can form thickets of seedlings beneath planted trees from which the species may expand and exclude other vegetation thereby decreasing biodiversity in an area.”

Most of the areas mentioned are protecting existing trees, but not allowing new plantings. 

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