Read in text form below or click on the arrow above to listen to the audio recording.
NARRATED BY DR. MOLLY EDWARDS
ESSAY WRITTEN BY PATRICE TODISCO, LANDSCAPE HISTORIAN
INTERVIEW WITH CECILY MILLER, ARTSARLINGTON PUBLIC ART CURATOR
Welcome to the Delight & Hollyhocks banner, which represents the medicinal use of hollyhock with a tincture bottle as well as the pleasure of its flowers.
What was the role of beauty and delight in decisions about what to plant in the gardens of colonial Menotomy? Historian Ann Leighton offers a comprehensive list of the many practical services provided by early New England gardens, from flavoring and preserving food to aiding in childbirth and laying out the dead. And yet, she observes “all of these plants, useful and dull though they may sound, were capable of bursting into fragrant bloom to make gardens gay and pleasant spots.” Some reliable self-sowing favorites, according to Sturbridge Village, were sweet William, pot marigold, blue bottle, alyssum, and sweet violets.
On July 26, 1631, John Winthrop, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and an avid gardener, placed an order to Robert Hill in London, requesting more than 50 varieties of seeds. Included in the bill, found in the records of the Massachusetts Historical Society, are the seeds of ‘hollihocks’, a popular plant in Europe with striking flower spikes full of hibiscus-like blooms. All parts of this plant are edible; the colonists made tea from its flowers and valued its roots for their multifaceted medicinal purposes. And hollyhocks had history and meaning as well as charm and utility.
Originating in Asia, hollyhocks are credited with being brought to England from the Middle East during the Crusades with its name, holihoc, a combination of ‘holy’ and hoc, the Anglo-Saxon word for a mallow, as they are part of the mallow family. Symbolizing growth and rebirth, the hollyhock is a fitting emblem for the aspirations of the Puritan settlers led by Winthrop. Fleeing religious persecution, they sought a way to live closer to their god in the new world of New England.
From 1880 to 1930, the popularity of the hollyhock reached its apex during a period known as Colonial Revival. Designers used its graceful form as a motif in the decorative arts. During the two hundred fifty years since its introduction into the New World, the hollyhock has been bred to produce larger flowers, a wide range of brilliant colors, and double blossoms. A prodigious self-seeder, it has become ubiquitous in the New England landscape as a poignant reminder of its early origins.
Now we’ll hear from Cecily Miller, ArtsArlington’s public art curator, who developed this project for the Town of Arlington. She’s going to talk about some of the ways that people experience the delight of plants today in our community.