As naturalist, gardener, farmer, and scientist, Jefferson kept meticulous notes in his Garden Book. The first entry was in 1766, when, at the age of twenty-three, he noted "the Purple hyacinth begins to bloom." His last entry, at the age of eighty-one, was a kitchen garden calendar of planting times, locations, and harvest dates. Jefferson's interests ranged from the amount of seasonal rainfall, to the best tasting bean, to the preferred method of grafting peach trees. Following his own belief that "the greatest service which can be rendered by any country is to add a useful plant to its culture," Jefferson cultivated plants from England, France, and the Lewis and Clark American exploration, as well as from expeditions to Africa and China. He bought two Egyptian Acacias (Mimosa nilotica), which he called "the most delicious flowering shrub in the world." He also collected and encouraged the cultivation of Virginia's native plants. "Not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me," he said. Jeffersonia diphylla, or twinleaf, was named after Thomas Jefferson in honor of his extensive knowledge of botany.
At Monticello, his home, Jefferson developed his extensive landscape into a series of spaces, each defined by its primary purpose, each reflecting his scientific mind and aesthetic sensibilities. The flower roundabout seems an informal garden, with a serpentine walk edged by colorful flowers, yet the flowers were planted in ten-foot, numbered beds allowing Jefferson to keep notes on each. The 1,000-foot-long vegetable and herb garden is both eminently practical and wonderfully enjoyable, especially when viewed from under the bean arbor or from within the garden pavilion.
While living in Paris, Jefferson visited and studied the gardens and buildings of the area. During a 1786 trip to England, he and John Adams followed Thomas Whately's guide to English gardens, Observations on Modern Gardening. Jefferson wrote that "my inquiries were directed chiefly to such practical things as might enable me to estimate the expense of making and maintaining a garden in that style." It can be seen among the wild flowers growing in the lower garden of Pavilion VI. His passion for gardens and their particulars was an integral part of the development of his academical village.
