Saunders
was a nurseryman, landscape gardener and
horticulturist.
He was born in Scotland and died in Washington,
D.C. He received practical horticultural training at
Kew Gardens and came to the United States about 1848.
He wrote many practical and timely articles for
Gardener's Monthly, The Horticulturist,
and other periodicals. In 1854 he entered into the
nursery business with Thomas Meehan. He also became a
landscape gardener of note and completed the plantings
of the National Capital's Park System started by
Andrew Downing. He planned many parks throughout
Eastern United States.
In 1862 he was appointed Botanist and
Superintendent of Horticulture of the newly created
United States Department of Agriculture. He became one
of the ablest and most influential men in the
department during a long period. He was one of the
founders of the National Grange and was Master during
its first six years.
His knowledge of the flora of the world was
extraordinary and he introduced in the United States
many fruits of economic importance, such as hardy
Russian apples for the extreme North in 1870. He
obtained the hardy stock for citrus Poncirus
trifoliata in 1869. He also introduced the
Japanese persimmon to this country and his greatest
success was the introduction of the Bahia or
Washington Navel Orange.
