Since then a Tradescant Garden has been established at Agecroft Hall in Virginia a 15th-century house from Lancashire shipped there, beam by beam, early in this century.

ECONOMIST: The curious history of herbaceous borders

Mr Rushby's account of the saintly John Tradescant's museum in 17th-century London, with its collection of natural wonders and curiosities from the newly discovered worlds of East and West, is gripping.

ECONOMIST: Heaven on earth

Tradescant the Elder, especially, devoted much of his life to bringing new species of plants and trees to England, from all over the known world, and to cultivating new varieties from existing species.

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