Poplar Forest Planting Memorandum 1812

In 1812 at Poplar Forest, a planting memorandum called for a clump of Athenian and balsam poplars at each corner of the house, intermixed with common and Kentucky locusts, redbuds, dogwoods, calycanthus, and liriodendron. Archaeologists discovered the remains of a Jeffersonian tree clump and an oval planting bed. The clump consisted of a densely planted circle of ornamental trees and shrubs. Adjacent to the clump, Jefferson instructed his overseer to plant an oval bed of robinia hispida, or prickly locust. Two other oval beds containing roses were planted in front of the house, but their precise locations have not yet been discovered.

Forest, Virginia · United States