Flora of the greenhouses and gardens of Europe: art at the service of horticulture

Louis Van Houtte, in collaboration with other renowned horticulturists and botanists, sets out to describe in words but also through colour illustrations exotic or local plants, whether recently discovered or already well-known.

[...] the flora is destined to become with time a veritable PLANT ENCYCLOPEDIA; that it must therefore reproduce from time to time the beautiful and good plants, which, introduced into gardens more or less recently, have remained in the favour of amateurs, or have become rare in collections, or have even disappeared altogether. And that it shall always be at the same time the first to describe and include all the deserving novelties that come to its knowledge; and that to this end it will eagerly open its columns to anyone in possession of a GOOD unpublished plant. (Charles Lemaire, tome 3 p. 262)

In 1845, three men are responsible for writing the articles for the magazine: Charles Lemaire, Louis Van Houtte and Michael Scheidwieler. By 1876, the year Louis Van Houtte dies, thirty-three men -Belgian, French, English and German- are contributing to the flora.

Thousands of lithographs, including more than two thousand hand-coloured full-page illustrations, are produced on Mr Van Houtte's horticultural farm. The lithographers have an on-site workshop. The magazine is also printed there and sent to thousands of subscribers.

“One draughtsman, two engravers, seven pressmen and one hundred and fifty colourists work exclusively on the lithographic and xylographic part of the FLORA. Visitors to the Van Houtte establishment are allowed to visit its workshops”. (1851, note addressed to the subscribers of the magazine, which has fallen behind schedule)

The main lithographers working for the magazine are Belgian: F. Severeyns, L. Stroobant and P. de Pannemaker.

Georges Severeyns is a lithographer with the Ghent Horticultural Society and sets up his own workshop specialising in botanical plates in 1829. He takes part in the illustration of the Annales de Gand (Annals of Ghent), la Flore des serres(the flora of the greenhouses), la Belgique horticole (horticultural Belgium), Illustration horticole (horticultural illustraion) and la Nouvelle Iconographie des Camellias (the New Iconography of Camellias).

Louis Constantin Stroobant (1814-1873)  is a Belgian painter and lithographer who worked mainly in the first ten years of the magazine.

Pieter de Pannemaker (1832-1904), descendant of a family of Dutch upholsterers, learned the trade of lithographer and watercolour painter in Gentbrugge while working for the magazine.

From 1854 onwards, Charles Lemaire (co-editor of the magazine Flore des serres et jardins d'Europe) publishes the magazine « l’Illustration horticole, journal spécial des serres et des jardin » (horticultural illustration, special magazine for greenhouses and gardens). It is illustrated by the same artists as the Flora.

A large part of the magazine is devoted to flowers grown on Louis Van Houtte's horticultural estate from seeds sent from all over the world. Most of these plants (and their seeds) were offered for sale. Thematic catalogues were published regularly alongside the Flora.

Some exceptional plants were described in their natural environment, with illustrations that sought to do justice to nature. This is the case of Victoria Regia, a giant water lily, for which Van Houtte even had a special greenhouse built on his horticultural estate.

But La Flore also provides a wealth of growing advice and opens its columns to both professional and amateur horticulturists. It reprints articles published in other leading horticultural magazines of the day. It publishes reports on botanical voyages and horticultural competitions, and also gives advice on cooking, food preservation as well as floral decoration. Aquatic plants are not forgotten, with a long, illustrated article on marine aquarium plants in 1858.

The articles are sometimes scattered throughout a volume, or even across several volumes. The articles are often written in a lyrical style, and the whole is accessible even to the uninitiated.

The Flora has become a collector's item over the decades. The Villa Thuret library at INRAE is fortunate to have a collection in very good condition, digitised thanks to the BNF, with a view to making it accessible to as many people as possible.

Flore des serres et des jardins d’Europe, access to the collection

L’illustration des revues d’horticulture en Belgique au XIXe siècle (Illustrations in horticultural magazines in Belgium in the 19th century. In French), Anne-marie Bogaert-Damin, In Monte Artium, 2014, vol 7. P 155-176.

Text written by Pascale Hénaut (INRAE - DipSO)

How to cite: Focus Agate: Flora of the greenhouses and gardens of Europe: art at the service of horticulture, Pascale Hénaut (INRAE), december 2024. https://agate.inrae.fr/agate/fr/content/focus

The banner was made from two illustrations : Crocus Omer Pacha and Crocus Vernus, flore des serres et des jardins d’Europe, 1865

The thumbnail was made from an illustration: Gilia Dianthoides, flore des serres et des jardins d’Europe, 1856