Peter Henderson

1822 - 1890

Seed merchant and author. Born in Pathhead (Midlothian), Henderson emigrated for the USA in 1843, where he began a market garden and, in 1871, founded the New York seed merchant of Peter Henderson & Co. This company was noted for developing a number of new varieties of flowers and vegetables, including beans, lettuce, tomatoes and watermelon. His company was one of the first to produce colourful seed catalogues in the 1880s.

Henderson was also a prodigious author, writing several books on horticulture, including the best-selling Gardening for Profit (1868), which was the first American book devoted entirely to market gardening, Practical Floriculture (1868) and Gardening for Pleasure (1875), as well as to contributing to horticultural magazines. He is said to have written or dictated 175,000 letters in his lifetime.

He died in Jersey City (New Jersey).

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