Garden History...

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"...our flowers are all up in the garden, and the trees are almost ready to Bloom, we have had a fence put up all round, and an arbour got the Honeysuckle to run on, and made it much larger than it was before, so that thee will see many alterraisons (sic) when thee visit us. a fifth day thy Father received from New York one hundred fifty trees - Apples - Peaches - Pears and Plums, so that if we should live a few years we shall have plenty of fruit - - I expect also a large crop of rasberrys but hope by the time our fruit is ripe, we shall have thee to help us eat it..."

 
 
 
 

The Garden at Wyck

Information taken from the article Three centuries of Earthly Delights, a History of the Wyck Garden by Sandra Mackenzie Loyde which appears in Germantown Green; A Living Legacy of Gardens, Orchards and Pleasure Grounds, published in 1982, by The Wyck Association, The Germantown Historical Society and Maxwell Mansion.

1689-1760
We have no written documentation of the garden under the first owner, Hans Millan, a Swiss Quaker, who purchased the land in 1689. We do know that his daughter, Margaret and her husband, Dirk Janson, lived on the property full time and we can expect that they had gardens for their own use. Judging by contemporary home gardens they probably grew vegetables and fruit trees, herbs for cooking and medicinal use and even a few flowers.

1760 - 1794
The property was rented to tenant farmers during this time. There are no known records.

1794 - 1814
Casper Wistar Haines (1762-1801), great, great-grandson of Hans Millan, moved his wife, Hannah Marshal Haines, (1765-1828), and their family to Germantown. His mother, Margaret Wistar Haines, had died in Philadelphia, of Yellow Fever during the epidemic the year before and he wished to remove his family to a healthier climate. He made quite a few improvements to the property including building a brewhouse, barn, and updating the house with stucco.

The first reference to the garden at Wyck is in letters written by the fifth owner, Hannah to her son, Reuben. Over a period of four months, beginning in January 1797, she describes a "productive garden filled with vegetables and fruit trees". Her letters also document Casper's purchase of 100 fruit trees, using cold frames for seedlings and laying tan bark on the garden paths.

1814 - 1843, Reuben Haines III and Jane Bowne Haines
After Casper's death in 1801, his son Reuben dedicated himself to " ...self education particularly in the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture; to public service, notably in the implementation of school reform; to the financial sponsorship of struggling artists and philosophers including Rembrandt Peale and Bronson Alcott; and to the creation of a healthy, happy and stimulating home for his family".

He married Jane Bowne (1790-1843) and they began summering at Wyck in 1814. Once again we have letters as documentation. Jane describes the vegetable gardens and fruit trees, the shady yard where her daughter could play but laments the lack of an ornamental garden.

1821-1827, Jane's notebook
During these years Jane kept a small notebook in which she recorded details of the garden including the sketch above and lists of rose plantings begun in 1818 at the latest. Several of these roses are still evident at Wyck today. Reuben added notes to the notebook and created a Catalogue of Plants at Wyck, 5 mo. 9 1825.

Their children:
•Three daughters, Elizabeth, Hannah and Margaret, married, taking slips of Wyck's roses to their new homes
•Son, Robert founded his own commercial nursery in Cheltenham, PA. Named Cheltenham Nurseries it remained in business until 1935.
•Son John S. Haines, lived at and created gardens in what is now "Awbury", a public arboretum in Philadelphia.
•Daughter, Jane Reuben Haines lived at Wyck, maintaining the gardens until her death in 1911

1875- early 1911
Jane Reuben Haines was an invalid and relied on gardeners to care for the grounds at Wyck. She made little written reference to the gardens and our information comes from photographs taken during this time. Among other things they show the change from elaborate Victorian fashion to the simpler garden style of Colonial Revival.

1911-1935
As Jane became older her nephew Casper Wistar Haines II (1835-1935) and his sister Jane Bowne Haines II took over responsibility for Wyck. Casper lived here from 1912 to 1935, keeping a detailed diary. We know that he planted vegetables and fruit trees and created the grape arbor and the tulips beds in the front yard. He built a new green house and won horticulture prizes. He was involved with various historic houses in Germantown and traded cuttings with them. He maintained the rose garden, adding new hybrids.

Jane helped her brother with Wyck and also founded the School of Horticulture for Women, which is now part of the Ambler Campus of Temple University.

1935 - 1973
After the death of Casper, his nephew, Robert Bowne Haines and wife, Mary, became the ninth generation to own Wyck. Robert was a professional nurseryman who wintered at Wyck leaving the maintenance to various gardeners. As a result the gardens declined and when Mary left the property in trust it was a tangle of roses and vines. The boxwood was 6 feet tall.

1973 - today
Ann Newlin Thompson, a horticulturist and tenth Generation descendant of the Wyck families began a program to reclaim the gardens. She pruned the boxwood, removed the vines, and supervised students and graduates of the Temple University School of Horticulture in caring for the rose garden, lawns, wood lot and vegetable garden. This work continues today as this living link to our past still delights and educates us.