Restoring Heirloom Gardens

Overviews resources for planting heirloom gardens.

Restoring American Gardens
Item # 99684 		Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940

$39.95
  • Topic: Garden Design
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: heirloom, design, Garden Design
  • Date: January 2005

© All articles are copyrighted by High Country Gardens. Republication is prohibited without Permission.

I recently met a woman who bought an old hacienda in a small town in New Mexico. Besides restoring the inside, she wants to make the garden as authentic to the era of the house as possible.

“But where in the world do I begin?” she asked.

The best source I’ve seen is the book “Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940” by Denise Adams, a horticultural consultant and ornamental-plant historian. We don’t carry the book in our store, but you can easily order it through Timber Press at http://www.timberpress.com/books/isbn.cfm/0-88192-619-1.

One reviewer said, “An important resource that will be consulted for generations, ‘Restoring American Gardens’ is a vital link between gardeners and their predecessors throughout history.”

It used to be frustrating finding information about period gardens—until Adams’ book came along. She not only has plants divided into regions, but years. What must have been tedious research with lots of dead ends, she’s also compiled a list of sources for plants way back when. The list also tells when certain plants were introduced.

I’m writing a family memoir and my great grandmother liked to garden. “Restoring American Gardens” has proved a godsend. Not having all the precise information about my great grandmother’s garden, this book is letting me knowledgeably fill in a few of the gaps.

Old photos of houses are also way to get a feel for a time and place. I have several photos of the old family farms and homesteads and they do lend a sense of era as well as how the women in my family liked to garden. Not surprisingly, it’s how I like mine—a little ragged and not too trim.

Adams sees old houses themselves as resources and writes, “Whether a building is high style or of vernacular design provides information concerning the economic status of the owner—indication how much time and money might have been invested in a garden.”

So if you’re looking for a gardening challenge, designing an heirloom garden just might be the way to go. Even if your house is up-to-date modern, why not have a garden that reflects the year 1906. It could make for lots of contrast and be lots of fun.