I was hired by a living history museum site last year, to correct the period gardens that they have, and create new gardens. Lang Century Village is located in Keene, Ontario, a few short kilometers from the small city I live in, Peterborough. As you can tell from the names, this area was settled mostly by British, more Scots and Irish. The era I am recreating is 1825 to 1890, in Upper Canada. In the early 19th century, although the rest of the world was getting quite settled, this area was wild woods. Immigrants had to carve their fields out of thick boreal forest, braving severe winters and social isolation. The first period garden is called the Fife Cabin, circa 1825. David Fife bred the famous Red Fife Wheat from a handful of mixed types sent to him from Scotland. The next garden is 1840, with a house belonging to the Fitzpatrick family, representing a more established farm's kitchen and herbal garden.

I've done much research so far, but what I am looking for remains elusive. I've went through Thomas Etty Esquire's seed lists that state the first written entries about certain varieties. I have dug deeply into Canada's Seeds of Diversity, looking for exact names and descriptions for plants from each period, that originate or were in use in Britain.

I have all the Early Jersey Wakefield cabbages and Irish Cobbler spuds that I need, but these are widely available in heirloom seed catalogues, here. What I am wanting is the names of the plants your emigrants were leaving home with seeds of, going across the Atlantic with the hopes of growing them in their own fields, here. I can check the names against my current research and attempt to track down any that are missing, in Canada. I have very limited access with any American sources, and can't afford the exchange rate anyway!

If anyone can help me, or can tell me where to look for this information next, please let me know. I am more often on Rodale's Organic Gardening's website than here. I am known as "loamy" there. But I will check this thread often to see if there's any information. Thank you!

Sturbridge Village sells packages of quite a few old seed varieties for about $4 each; don't know if you would be allowed to import them or not.

The University of Massachusetts also published a three-volume set of books on plants of different periods in early gardening in the US; the author is Ann Leighton. She unfortunately died in 1985, but her books have good bibliographies. She covered the whole East coast, though, so not as much about the Northern states as you might hope for. Also, UMass has an excellent horticultural department, and there could be an old prof there who had an interest in such matters... Have you checked with the various agricultural schools in Britain?

I assume you've already culled whatever leads you could from Sturtevant.

It sounds as if it would be not that difficult, but when you start looking into the old books they are way too general....

Are there any British or Canadian horticulturists similar to Bartram in the US? (Showing my ignorance.)