Many of my
ancestors lived quietly doing good works in small ways, and a lot of the
articles I write here are intended to rescue their memory and example from
obscurity. It’s as if by naming the dead and remembering their deeds I am
keeping them alive.
Others had more
illustrious careers, were even celebrated in their day, but are now forgotten.
John Salter for example, a half cousin of my 2x great grandfather, was a
successful horticulturalist, prominent enough in his sphere to be consulted
about fixity of variegation by Charles Darwin when the naturalist was
researching his second book.
John’s annual
floral displays were a feature of London life, and the flowers which he
created, especially varieties of chrysanthemum, remained popular in the garden
catalogues for 120 years. It was his chrysanthemums that first caught my eye,
because he named some of them after family members. Later someone drew my
attention to his fascination with variegated varieties of many other plants.
And more recently I stumbled across a beautiful iris which he introduced, Gypsy
Queen.
