James Forbes: A Picturesque Pause in Baden
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
September 13, 1835
Dearest readers,
On this day in 1835, British artist, botanist, and indefatigable explorer James Forbes paused in Baden during his grand horticultural tour across Germany, Belgium, and France—a journey so dutifully documented in his “Journal of a Horticultural Tour.”
Known for his botanical writings and his stewardship at Woburn Abbey, Forbes traversed the continent at the behest of the Duke of Bedford to study Europe’s most celebrated gardens and catalog rare species, especially the prickly delights of the Cacteæ.
Upon arriving in Baden, Forbes was captivated by “the tremendous precipices of rock, and plantations” he found there, calling the locale the most picturesque he’d encountered on his travels. Among Baden’s treasures was the elegant English garden, arranged with meticulous lawns, neat promenades, and an abundance of orange trees, adding a flourish of the exotic.
Before the stately “Conversation House,” orange trees stood like sentinels, nodding gently to passersby and hinting at the mingling of British restraint and continental flamboyance.
Inside this grand building, Forbes found a very different scene—a splendid, spacious hall bustling with a large concourse of ladies and gentlemen, all absorbed in the drama of the gambling tables.
He recorded in his journal, “the ladies appeared to be fully as expert gamblers as the gentlemen,” offering a piquant observation that blends both the botanical and the social: amid all the garden’s grandeur, the real blossoms could be found draped in velvet and lace, their fortunes rising and falling on the turn of a card.
James Forbes continued from Baden with a notebook brimming with botanical sketches, garden layouts, and sharp-eyed tales of culture and horticultural rivalry. His careful chronicles and appetite for adventure—published for posterity in 1837—remain a treasure for both garden historians and inveterate armchair travelers.
