For the Founding Fathers, gardening, agriculture, and botany were elemental passions: a common interest as deeply ingrained in their characters as the battle for liberty and a belief in the greatness of their new nation.

Founding Gardeners is an exploration of that obsession, telling the story of the revolutionary generation from the unique perspective of their lives as gardeners, plant collectors, and farmers. Acclaimed historian Andrea Wulf describes how George Washington wrote letters to his estate manager even as British warships gathered off Staten Island; how a tour of English gardens renewed Thomas Jefferson's and John Adams's faith in their fledgling nation; and why James Madison is the forgotten father of environmentalism. Through these and other accounts, Wulf reveals a fresh, nuanced portrait of the men who created our nation.

By Andrea Wulf; ISBN 978-0-307-39068-4; copyright 2011.