Saturday, March 07, 2009

American Gardens


Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940 by Denise Wiles Adams (copyright 2004)

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I seem to be stuck in garden history mode. I’m reading through the 419 pages of this fascinating encyclopedia. It’s full of wonderful photos and drawings of plants and old gardens. Remarkable facts and stories of gardening in America fill the pages.
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1851 Joseph Breck recommended double digging.

Watson 1859 and Robert Copeland 1867 suggested making compost for the garden and each had his own recipe.

1891 Liberty H Bailey wrote about the renewed interest of native plants. “The interest in native plants has never been so great as now. . .”

1893 “Ornamental Gardening for America”, Elias Long recommended wavy line edges for gardens instead of straight lines and mixing hardy perennials or annuals with woody plants.

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These comments could have been written yesterday. Pretty sharp those ancient gardeners.
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1 comment:

Chandramouli S said...

Wow! I'd love to get my hands on it!