Rosedale Nursery

Duane's take

The official marker's the word on this one, and here's how I tell it. Now, if you've ever planted a peach tree in Texas soil, or coaxed a grape vine up a fence post on a hot July afternoon, there's a good chance the roots of that tradition reach back further than you'd think. All the way back to a patch of ground outside Brenham, in Washington County, where an English immigrant named William H.

Watson set something in motion around 1860. He established what the marker calls the state's first commercial nursery, and he called it Rosedale. Started on three acres.

Just three. But Watson had ambitions that didn't fit on three acres, and by 1897 Rosedale had grown to two hundred acres southeast of Brenham. That's not growth, friend.

That's a transformation. Watson's specialty was peach and grape cultivars, which tells you something about the man. He wasn't just selling plants.

He was thinking about what Texas land could produce, what flavors it could put on a table. And when he put out his catalog for the 1869 to 1870 season, all thirty-one pages of it, it turned out Watson stocked far more than fruit trees and grape vines. Ornamental plants too.

Numerous ornamental plants. So beauty was part of the business from the start. Then came 1874.

Watson produced something he called the Rosedale Hybrid arbor vitae. A cultivar that bore the nursery's own name. Over the years, Rosedale employed several professional gardeners who had trained at England's Royal Botanic Kew Gardens.

Think about that. Gardens of Kew, all the way to the Washington County soil. Watson's sons carried the whole thing forward into the twentieth century, keeping the name and the work alive.

Three acres to two hundred. A catalog to a cultivar. One English immigrant, and a nursery that quietly shaped what grows in Texas to this day.

What the marker says

Established around 1860 by English immigrant William H. Watson as the state's first commercial nursery, Rosedale grew from three acres in Brenham to 200 acres southeast of the town by 1897. At Rosedale, Watson specialized in peach and grape cultivars. The nursery's 31-page catalog for the 1869-70 season revealed that Watson stocked not only fruit trees and grape vines, but also numerous ornamental plants. In 1874, he produced the "Rosedale Hybrid" arbor vitae. Over the years, Rosedale employed several professional gardeners who trained at England's Royal Botanic Kew Gardens. Watson's sons continued the business into the 20th century. (2014)