The Nemesias in Liz’s picture now in the Edinburgh Cancer Centre were painted from specimens collected at Bokbaai on the coast about 60 km north of Cape Town. This is the place where, in 1880s, seeds were collected by Hildagonda Duckitt of the farm Groote Post. She sent the seeds to Sutton and Sons, “The Queen’s Nurserymen”, in Reading, Berkshire. In the wild, nemesias occur in a wide variety of colours, so Suttons didn’t need to do much to develop an attractive, easily-grown annual from Hildagonda’s seeds. In 1892 they released ‘Nemesia suttonii’ on to the market, branding it “The sensation of the year” and “The flower of the future”. Even at 2s 6d a packet, it was an instant success with gardeners and, in one form or another, nemesias have remained a colourful feature of beds and borders ever since. According to her biographer, Mary Melk Kuttel, Hildagonda was disappointed that she got no recognition at all for her contribution and had hoped that Suttons might name them Nemesia duckittii or Nemesia hildasiensis. She can be assured that we appreciate her efforts.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 12:07:23 +0000
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