56 Arnoldia 78/5-6 « October 2021 
Horticultural Writer and Editor 
Meehan was a prolific author throughout his 
career. He served as editor of the Garden- 
er’s Monthly until 1888, when its publisher, 
Charles Marot, died. A few years later, Mee- 
han’s Monthly was born and continued until 
1902. Over his forty years as the editor of 
monthly publications, Meehan generated a vast 
amount of material to read. His prodigious out- 
put is hard to encapsulate or even anthologize. 
The tone of the publications was conversational 
and newsy, and his personal writing style was 
both informative and approachable. In a period 
before easy (not to mention instant) commu- 
nication, these journals regularly shared infor- 
mation and current trends, mixed with a bit of 
human interest.”° 
In the initial issue of Garden and Forest, in 
1888, an unsigned editorial (perhaps written by 
Charles Sargent, who “conducted” the maga- 
zine) commented on the loss of the Gardener’s 
Monthly: “Ever since we have been interested 
in the cultivation of flowers we have looked to 
the Monthly for inspiration and advice, and its 
pages have rarely been turned without finding 
the assistance we stood in need of.” The edito- 
rial continued by celebrating Meehan’s imprint 
on the publication. “Fortunately, the Garden- 
er’s Monthly, and its modest and accomplished 
editor, Mr. Thomas Meehan, were one and the 
same thing. It is Mr. Meehan’s long editorial 
experience, high character, great learning and 
varied practical knowledge, which made the 
Gardener’s Monthly what it was. These, we are 
happy to know, are not lost to us, as Mr. Mee- 
han will ... continue to delight and instruct the 
horticultural public.’”””° 
In the late 1870s, Meehan had also begun a 
multivolume work titled The Native Flowers 
and Ferns of the United States. The project is 
another testament to his long-standing love of 
North American plants. In the preface to the 
first volume, Meehan described how the proj- 
ect emerged from his desire to write a scien- 
tific treatment on the North American flora. 
Although he pitched this idea to a publisher, 
he ultimately decided, once again, to focus on 
engaging a more general audience. “A purely 
scientific and systematic treatise ... must neces- 
sarily be limited to a small circle of readers,” he 
explained, “and even in this small circle there 
would be but a few who would care to subscribe 
to a work, the end of which they might never 
live to see.” Four volumes were produced, and 
Mecehan’s voice shines through them. He lushly 
described almost fifty species in each volume, 
often incorporating history, poetry, and horti- 
cultural information. The entry for each species 
included a lavish color illustration.’ 
The project was revived in 1891 when Mee- 
han’s Monthly was launched. While Meehan’s 
Monthly was a newsy horticultural periodi- 
cal, in keeping with the style and tone of the 
Gardener’s Monthly, each issue began with a 
description of a native species and was accom- 
panied with illustrations prepared for unpub- 
lished volumes of the Native Flowers and 
Ferns project. Garden and Forest celebrated 
the arrival of this new periodical: “Mr. Mee- 
han’s return to horticultural journalism will be 
welcomed by many readers of the Gardeners’ 
Monthly who felt something like a personal 
bereavement at the discontinuance of that 
excellent magazine.””® 
Along with these horticultural pursuits, Mee- 
han maintained a long-running correspondence 
with many notable botanists of his time, includ- 
ing George Engelmann, Asa Gray, and Charles 
Darwin. Much of this correspondence concerns 
specific observations or botanical questions, 
often relating to articles that Meehan would 
eventually publish in the Proceedings of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 
where he long served as the vice president. 
Advocate for Urban Green Space 
In the later years of his life, Meehan became 
actively involved in urban improvement. In 
1883, he accepted a role on the Philadelphia 
Common Council in order to ensure the cre- 
ation of city parks and preservation of Bar- 
tram’s Garden.*? Meehan was instrumental 
in forming the City Parks Association, creat- 
ing lasting green space in the most urbanized 
neighborhoods. He is credited with introducing 
nature study and kindergarten to Philadelphia 
public schools, and he strived to improve the 
educational system for working-class families 
throughout the city.°° 
Among these accomplishments, it is the pres- 
ervation of Bartram’s Garden that is the most 
noteworthy. In 1879, Andrew Eastwick died, 
