The Garden Bug: John Parkinson

By Brenda Weaver

John Parkinson began his apprenticeship to a London apothecary in 1585. He went on to have a distinguished career as a medical practitioner. In 1622, he gave up this career to concentrate on his garden in London's Long Acre. He started researching and writing his first book, Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris. The book included descriptions and illustrations of hundreds of plants, their origins, alternative names and medicinal properties. Parkinson was given the title "First Botanist to the King" by King Charles I.

Sources: www.parksandgardens.org, wikipedia.org