Veitch Nurseries 4655870 214858012 2008-05-25T16:38:03Z GavinTing 3832631 [[Image:Veitch Nepenthes house.jpg|thumb|250px|Messrs Veitch's ''[[Nepenthes]]'' house as illustrated in ''[[The Gardeners' Chronicle]]'', 1872.]] The '''Veitch Nurseries''' were the largest group of family-run [[Nursery (horticulture)|plant nurseries]] in [[Europe]] during the 19th century. Started by John Veitch sometime before 1808, the original nursery grew substantially over several decades and was eventually split into two separate businesses - based at [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] and [[Exeter]] - as it became unfeasible to run the whole operation from one location. The firm had, by the outbreak of the [[First World War]], introduced 1281 plants into [[cultivation]], which were either previously unknown or newly bred varieties (see [[cultivars]]). These included 498 [[greenhouse]] plants, 232 [[orchids]], 153 [[deciduous]] trees, [[shrubs]] and [[climbing plant]]s, 122 [[herbaceous]] plants, 118 exotic [[fern]]s, 72 [[evergreen]] and climbing plants, 49 [[conifers]] and 37 bulbous plants. In the years to come, more plants followed. The nurseries were most famous for their orchids, although they also introduced several famous plants from other families, such as ''[[Nepenthes rajah]]'' and ''[[Nepenthes northiana]]''. The [[pitcher plant]] species ''[[Nepenthes veitchii|N. veitchii]]'' is named in honour of the Veitch dynasty. The Chelsea business ceased to trade in 1914, whilst the Exeter business continued under [[Peter C.M. Veitch]] and later his daughter Mildred. She in turn sold the firm in 1969, when it was bought by [[St. Bridget Nurseries]]. The business was run as a separate business for a further 20 years, but is now a non-functioning subsidiary of St. Bridget’s. ==External links== *{{PDFlink|[http://www.tobymusgrave.com/pdf/Veitch_Nursery.pdf Family Fortunes: Veitch Nursery]|722&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 739366 bytes -->}} {{horticulture-stub}} [[de:Veitch and Sons]]