Aglaé Adanson

Aglaé Adanson (1775–1852) was a French horticulturist, writer and creator of the Balaine Arboretum. She was the author of numerous works on gardening, rural life and home economics. She was a founding member of the Horticultural Society of Paris.

Biography

Family and education Aglaé Catherine Adanson was born on 27 May 1775 in Paris, the only daughter of a renowned naturalist, Michel Adanson, and his wife Jeanne Bénard. With her father she went on plant hunting expeditions and felt free to "cultivate her wild tastes."

Her parents separated in 1784. Aglaé and her mother then went to live in the townhouse of Jeanne's patron, Antoine Robert Nazaire Girard de Busson, a landowner in Paris and in Tresnay. At the age of 10, Aglaé was sent to boarding school at the Convent of the Ladies of Calvary in Paris, near the Luxembourg Gardens, where she would visit with her father once a month. She received a proper classical education: she learned to read Latin and Greek authors and she attended philosophy and drawing classes.

Creator of the Balaine Arboretum

In 1804, Girard de Busson (her mother's companion) acquired the Balaine estate in Villeneuve-sur-Allier and gifted it to Aglaé. The current owner of the Baleine Arboretum is one of those descendants, Louise Courteix Adanson.

Selected works The Country House (3 volumes), Paris, Audot, 1822 (BNF 30003481). Catalogue of trees, shrubs, bushes and perennial plants, cultivated in open ground at Baleine, near Moulins, department of Allier, Paris, Audot, 1825 (BNF 30003479). Thoughts and fleeting pieces on various subjects. Collection dedicated by Mrs. Aglaé Adanson to the readers of "La Maison de campagne", Paris, Audot, 1845 (BNF 30003488). Children's Book from the Countryside, Moulins, P. A. Desrosiers, 1852 (BNF 30003480).

Honors and distinctions Received the gold medal from the Royal and Central Society of Agriculture for her work (1824) Founding member of the Paris Society of Horticulture and Practical Agronomy (1827) Honorary member of the Lille Horticultural Society Member of the Montpellier Agricultural Society Namesake of a street in Montpellier, France