Below is a note written by John Quitman describing produce and flowers in bloom. At Monmouth the azaleas are beginning to bloom and soon the grounds will be bursting with the colors of spring.
…On the table we had green peas, lettuce, radishes, artichokes, new potatoes, and spinach, grown in the open air, and roses, jessamines, jonquils, and pinks in profusion. What a delightful climate! The peach and plum are in full bloom, and the birds sing merrily in the honeysuckles around my bedchamber.
-John Anthony Quitman, 1822