The following is a entry from our Guest Book, posted here for others to contribute.

Dear Maggie: I appreciate the maggiesgarden website. Do you have any information on how Palms (both indoor and outdoor) become associated with Victorian architecture landscaping - specifically Queen Anne style? Carole R. Brown, Member Internation Palm Society Oakland, CA Phone 510 654-5355/Fax 510 654-5532
Carole R. Brown
Oakland, CA 94611 - Thursday, September 09, 1999 at 16:42:58 (CDT)

So glad to hear from you Carole! I have reposted your inquiry here for others to contribute and will get the coconut rolling with the following tidbits.

In the Victorian's quest for all things exotic and ornate, tropical plants were highly esteemed. Their availability in Britain was due to the early plant expeditions and extensive global trading from the preceding centuries. Establishments such as Kew Gardens, Chelsea Physics Garden, the Oxford Botanic Garden as well as private and royal estates maintained and continued to propagate the original imported specimens, leading to commercial availability for the affluent Victorian society. Prior to Madison Ave. venues and all things media, the monarchs led the fashions and fortunately for horticulture, many of them were as garden mad as we manics today!

I have found a possible reference source for your interest in the Queen Anne influence in the Victorian Era:

Girouard, Mark, Sweetness and Light, The 'Queen Anne' Movement 1860-1900, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977 and 1990.

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