In seventeenth-century Britain, a new breed of ‘curious’ gardeners were pushing at the frontiers of knowledge and new plants were stealing into Europe from East and West. John Tradescant and his son were at the vanguard of this change – as gardeners, as collectors and above all as exemplars of an age that began in wonder and ended with the dawning of science. Jennifer Potter’s book vividly evokes the drama of their lives and takes its readers to the edge of an expanding universe. Strange Blooms is a magnificent pleasure for gardeners and non-gardeners alike.

I bought and read the book above as part of the research for my HisFic novel (amongst other reasons!)

It was mainly the link between the Tradescants – father and son – and George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham who became their patron.

From this book came a scene in the novel where Buckingham is in Paris, at a Masked Ball, and he lays a single tulip at the feet of Anne of Austria, the Queen of France.

Little did I know then that there would be so many connections between that scene and MY life.

Having spent so many years now on the Hidden History as opposed to the MS History, I have an idea or many (!!!) about the History of those famous Plant and Seed Collectors of yesteryear.

The bare bones of the research is right (imho) it’s just the dates, names, countries that need a bit more looking into. Especially by me with MY ancestors links to ……..

……In 1864, Greigia is a genus of the botanical family Bromeliaceae is named after him,^[5] by Eduard August von Regel (a director of the St Petersburg Botanical Garden).^[6] Then in 1873, Regel named a species of Tulip after him, Tulipa greigii.^[7] Due to Greig once being president of the Russian Horticultural Society.^[8]

Did my subconscious mind know this ALL Along?