Horticulturist. Logan was born on December 29, 1704, in Charleston, the daughter of the landgrave Robert Daniell and Martha Wainwright. Logan\u2019s father owned 48,000 acres and was appointed to two terms as the colony\u2019s lieutenant governor. Receiving a traditional girl\u2019s education, Logan was most influenced by her father\u2019s nursery business and learned how to cultivate plants.<\/p>\n
When her father died in 1718, thirteen-year-old Logan inherited his vast Wando River property, probably including his nursery. She married George Logan, Jr., in 1719. The couple had eight children. Perhaps due to financial setbacks, Logan tutored and boarded students at her Wando River house. She placed advertisements describing her services in the South-Carolina Gazette, <\/em>and a 1749 advertisement featured Logan\u2019s house and properties for sale. In the early 1750s Logan\u2019s family moved to town, and she secured employment at a Charleston boarding school. Her husband died in 1764.<\/p>\n Gardening preoccupied Logan\u2019s life. Her acquaintance with Elizabeth Lamboll enhanced her awareness of effective methods to cultivate indigenous plants. Sources are unclear whether Logan studied with Lamboll or appropriated her techniques from observation. Other Charleston gardeners gave Logan seeds and roots, although she was disappointed when Dr. Alexander Garden, a gifted gardener, ignored her requests for specimens of unusual plants from his garden.<\/p>\n Because gardening, especially landscaping with rare plants, had become a favored pastime among wealthy Charlestonians, Logan realized that amateur gardeners needed advice. She published the \u201cGardener\u2019s Kalendar,\u201d which became a standard text for colonial South Carolina gardeners, and contributed a gardening guide for John Tobler\u2019s South Carolina Almanack <\/em>(1752).<\/p>\n Logan exchanged seeds with other botanical enthusiasts, including the naturalist John Bartram. He visited her garden in 1760, initiating a correspondence and trade of specimens. They used a silk bag to send seeds and lists of available plants, along with lists of plants that each desired from the other\u2019s geographical area. Logan shipped and received tubs of cuttings and roots on ships traveling between Charleston and Philadelphia, where Bartram lived. Bartram praised her in a letter to a London friend and wrote, \u201cMrs. Logan\u2019s garden is her delight.\u201d<\/p>\n As a professional horticulturist, Logan sold roots, cuttings, and seeds at her nursery. She advertised her plants and related products in the South-Carolina Gazette. <\/em>A 1753 advertisement told customers that Logan had \u201cA parcel of very good seed, flower roots, and fruit stones to be sold on the Green near Trott\u2019s Point.\u201d She offered plant products \u201cjust imported from London\u201d and \u201cflouring [sic<\/em>] shrubs and box edging beds.\u201d Logan died in Charleston on June 28, 1779, and was buried in St. Philip\u2019s Churchyard.<\/p>\n Bodie, Idella. South Carolina Women. <\/em>Orangeburg, S.C.: Sandlapper, 1991. Hollingsworth, Buckner. Her Garden Was Her Delight. <\/em>New York: Macmillan, 1962.<\/p>\n Prior, Mary B., ed. \u201cLetters of Martha Logan to John Bartram, 1760\u20131763.\u201d South Carolina Historical Magazine <\/em>59 (January 1958): 38\u201346.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Horticulturist. Logan was born on December 29, 1704, in Charleston, the daughter of the landgrave Robert Daniell and Martha Wainwright. Logan\u2019s father owned 48,000 acres and was appointed to two terms as the colony\u2019s lieutenant governor. Receiving a traditional girl\u2019s education, Logan was most influenced by her father\u2019s nursery business and learned how to cultivate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","class_list":["post-8695","entry","type-entry","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ecms-a-z","ecms-agriculture","ecms-charleston-county","ecms-colonial-period-1670-1764","ecms-colonial-unrest-american-revolution-and-new-republic-1765-1789","ecms-encyclopedia","ecms-environment-and-geography","ecms-l","ecms-lowcountry","ecms-recreation-and-leisure","ecms-women"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n