Germantown old and new: Its rare and notable plants

"Germantown old and new" by Edwin C. Jellett is a historical and horticultural account written in the early 20th century. It documents the rare and notable plants of Germantown, Pennsylvania, interweaving botany with local history, notable estates, and the people who cultivated them. Framed as a guided tour, it highlights specimen trees, gardens, and horticultural achievements that helped shape the suburb’s identity.

The opening of the work explains that it began as a hurried talk for the Germantown Horticultural Society, followed by a list of illustrations and a clear purpose: to honor transplanted “rare and notable” plants and the culture that nurtured them. Jellett establishes Germantown’s reputation with travelers’ praise, then sketches the town’s founding, street plan, and evolution from a weavers’ village to landscaped estates. He contrasts observers’ accounts and quickly turns to a south-to-north tour, naming properties and specimens with Latin names and exact measurements—oaks, tulip poplars, hemlocks, pines, willows, buttonwoods, maples, magnolias, cryptomeria, and more. Along the way he threads in anecdotes of prominent residents and visitors (from Pastorius and William Penn to Franklin, Washington, and Fanny Kemble), notes introductions of plants and garden fashions, and ties trees to historic houses like Stenton, Wakefield, Fernhill, Grumblethorpe, Upsala, and Cliveden. The section balances celebration with realism, mentioning losses to time and weather while underscoring Germantown’s living botanical heritage.