“Kindergarten in a vegetable garden,” Washington, D.C., ca. 1899, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Before she became immersed in the work of photographing old houses and gardens, Johnston was a photojournalist and a portraitist. In 1899, she became interested in progressive education and made a photo survey of students at public schools in Washington, D.C.
Kaktusplanteringen (cactus planting) in Karl Johan Park in Norrköping, Sweden, 1942, a color slide by Fredrik Bruno, via Swedish National Heritage Board Commons on flickr.
Since 1926, there has been an annual cactus display in the park, with a different theme every year. In the photo above, the motif was the smaller version of Sweden’s national coat of arms.
Garden at Enniscorthy, the Cole-Morrill house, Albemarle County, Virginia, 1932, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The 1850 house still exists, and its 500 acres have been placed in a conservation easement. An earlier home on the plantation sheltered Thomas Jefferson’s family when the British raided Monticello in 1780.
Irises along the embankment, West Potomac Park, Washington, D.C., 1921, a hand-colored glass lantern slide by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth. . .–John Keats, from “A Thing of Beauty“
Iris garden beside water in Japan, probably Yokohama, ca. 1910, via University of Victoria Libraries Commons on flickr.
The hand-colored glass plate slide is from a collection of “Yokohama photographs,” sold to foreign tourists between about 1868 and 1912.
