When the door yard of every farm house is neatly fenced in, the fence whitewashed, and covered with vines; beds of flowers, and stands and rustic vases blooming with beauty; every old tree trunk covered with mosses and vines, hiding its unseemingly proportions; then shall we find neatness and order assuming its place in the interior of the house; the tired mother will find rest in the brightness around her; the young people will have something to interest them at home, and even the wee little ones in their play gardens can enjoy “loving flowers.”
MRS. D. C. AYERS, 18791
learing the land and building a home was just the first step in creating “home grounds.” In the opinion of the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, the homeowner then needed to carefully consider the form and placement of boundaries, trees, and lawns so as to create a canvas on which to paint the landscape elements considered necessary for a contented and successful existence. This idealistic goal was the base of the WSHS philosophy, although both the canvas and the picture it contained underwent several changes between 1869 and 1930.
Painting the canvas meant planting trees, shrubs, flowers, and vines. WSHS speakers enthusiastically addressed this topic during this sixty-year period, with approximately one hundred and fifty presentations on “what to plant” appearing in WSHS publications. As a result of this interest, beginning in 1886, annual recommended varieties lists for trees, shrubs, and flowers were added to the already extensive fruit tree lists that appeared in each issue of the Transactions of the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society and the society’s published annual reports. The lists are simply recommendations and as such cannot be used to document what was actually planted in individual gardens. However, they are a very useful supplementary research tool because their content mirrors the changing ideals for the Wisconsin garden and the availability and subsequent popularity of specific plants. Annual flowers and vegetables generally were not included as part of the lists, although in 1917 the WSHS published a separate pamphlet on recommended vegetables for war gardens.
These colorful nasturtiums grace the cover of the John A. Salzer Seed Company’s 1919 catalog. The La Crosse nursery operation was founded in 1868 and by 1892 had $1 million in annual sales.
WHI IMAGE ID 68361
By 1870 Wisconsin gardeners could purchase a wide variety of seeds and plants from itinerant peddlers, local nurseries, mail-order catalogs, or the general store. Garden historian Sharon D. Crawford traced the history of the developing market for regional suppliers of seeds and plants during the early and mid-nineteenth century and found that by 1850 approximately fifty nurseries were already established in Wisconsin.2 Of these, about thirty were still in existence in the late 1860s and most were located in the southern third of the state. By 1920 approximately fifty nurseries were advertising in the monthly issues of Wisconsin Horticulture, offering specialized varieties of numerous plants, shrubs, and trees. Advertisements for landscape needs began to appear in the journal after the turn of the twentieth century.
The national interest in gardening had created a strong market for garden equipment, with lawn mowers, watering systems, and an increasing array of chemicals easing everyday maintenance. Horticultural societies, garden clubs, and civic improvement projects had helped to turn gardening into a fashionable social activity. In Wisconsin, WSHS membership peaked at three thousand in 1930, with twenty-four active garden clubs reporting to Wisconsin Horticulture.
The Coe, Converse & Edwards Co. nursery was one of the first to include landscape design in its advertisements.
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, DECEMBER 1915
As would be expected based on the population distribution of Wisconsin residents, the primary emphasis in the early recommended varieties lists was on utility trees and shrubs that would serve as windbreaks, boundary elements, animal barriers, and timber for the farmstead. Ornamental plants were originally limited to a few suggested shrubs and roses, but the evolution of their importance in the home landscape can be traced in the lists as they received increasing amounts of space. There is a strong correlation between plants on the lists and those recommended by speakers at preceding annual meetings, raising the likelihood that member input influenced the contents. The WSHS also reported on ornamental plants grown on its test site at the College of Agriculture grounds at the University of Wisconsin.
The lists were published annually from 1886 to 1928. Updates and revisions were made every few years to include new categories of plants that had been judged suitable for Wisconsin home grounds.3 By 1928 the original one-page list was a cumbersome ten-page pamphlet with numerous categories that, according to its editors, needed extensive revision.4 In April 1930 a rather different list appeared in Wisconsin Horticulture, under the title “Planning the Flower Garden: Varieties Recommended for Wisconsin by Special Committee.”5 Interestingly, this list is composed entirely of perennial flowers, categorized by size, color, time of bloom, and sun/shade requirements, with the stated goal of providing as long a season of color as possible. This new emphasis suggests that the journal’s readership now had the leisure time for serious ornamental gardening for pleasure rather than necessity.
The reasoning behind the publication of the recommended varieties lists (see appendix) was explained, either indirectly or directly, by speakers at annual meetings or in WSHS publications. The original articles make fascinating reading, mostly because of the detailed descriptions in which authors freely revealed their personal successes and failures in their gardens. They praised or condemned particular trees, shrubs, or flower varieties, advised on planting and maintenance techniques, and relayed national landscaping ideals to their audience. From a historical perspective, these writings are invaluable: Taken as a whole, their content traces the changing styles of the Wisconsin home landscape, thus providing the modern gardener with the context and tools to re-create or restore an accurate vintage garden. Individually, they reveal the everyday joys and frustrations of Wisconsin gardeners, both amateur and professional, as they endeavored to improve and beautify their home grounds, school yards, or city streets. The background for the recommended lists is described in the following sections.
Thirteen varieties of evergreens, including pine and spruce, were recommended for “general” or “ornamental” planting in 1886, and several varieties of low-growing juniper were added to the list in 1893. In 1894 the evergreen list was subdivided into four groups, based on suitability for each use: windbreaks, hedges and screens, lawns and cemeteries, and small lawns.
Windbreaks and hedges provided shelter, protection, and privacy on the rural farmstead. As early as 1872, George J. Kellogg of Janesville argued that the cost of planting one thousand Norway spruce to form a windbreak around a homestead was well worth the cost of a colt (which he priced at ninety-five dollars). “Just stop and think how the wind feels [through] your fluttering garments when there are no evergreens on these broad prairies of the west. … It needs no better argument than this to prove their ‘beauty and utility.’”6 And in 1878 the honorable A. A. Arnold criticized the comments made by farmers that evergreens were too expensive, too time-consuming, or too difficult to grow, stating that he had no patience with such excuses. “For me,” he noted, “I would have, if I could, a forest of them. … In a forest of evergreens, the cold winds could not penetrate, nor the hot sun invade.”7 Arnold recommended buying nursery trees rather than replanting forest ones, which he thought had a poor chance of survival out of their natural habitat. Like many other speakers, he recommended Norway, balsam, or black spruce for windbreaks, interspersed with juniper, cedar, and pine. White cedar (American arborvitae) was preferable for hedges but should be trimmed and sheared. (See page 55 for a view of windbreak rows of evergreens enclosing an entire farmstead.)
By 1898 the “stiff, regular rows” of a windbreak were considered “awkward and angular” by horticulturist W. D. Boynton of Shiocton. He suggested that a softer, more graceful appearance formed by grouping mixed evergreens in a “sort of oblong, half circle” would be more appealing.8
The 1894 addition of the “small lawn” category of evergreens to the recommended list correlates with the increased attention to the urban and suburban garden. Large evergreens on city lawns were discouraged because they hid the house from the street and became ungainly and difficult to prune. In 1898 W. D. Boynton suggested that an arborvitae hedge would make a suitable background for an urban lawn when comprised of “single specimens … selected from varieties that have a compact and symmetrical habit of growth, such as the Blue Spruce … the Red Cedar and other members of the Juniper family.”9 In 1920 several new varieties of small evergreens were added to the list, and categorization reverted to size rather than application in the landscape. The additional varieties of ornamental evergreens included dwarf juniper, globe arborvitae, and Hovey’s golden arborvitae—all popular additions to foundation plantings.
Throughout the time period, pine, spruce, and arborvitae continued to be favorite choices, probably because of their known reliability in the climate and soils of Wisconsin.
In 1886 the recommended list included a wide variety of deciduous trees. Weeping varieties of birch and willow, as well as ash and poplar trees, were strongly favored for lawn planting, while larger trees such as elm, maple, basswood, and linden were preferred for street shade. During the first few years the recommendations were published, deciduous trees suitable for timber were listed, but in 1894 this category was removed, leaving two groups of deciduous trees, classified as suitable for either cemeteries or lawns. Lawn plantings by this time included most trees previously suggested for timber, such as maple and oak, and newly listed varieties like the Kentucky coffee tree and Catalpa spicrosa.
In 1904 the most desirable large deciduous trees were designated with double stars; American elm, green ash, linden, and some maples were the most highly recommended, though their specific use was not mentioned. Box elder was listed as a desirable deciduous lawn tree rather than as a timber tree for the first time. A new category of “deciduous Ornamental trees” still included most of the previously listed weeping varieties, with the addition of Russian mulberry. Six years later two varieties of crab apples were added, but, apart from this, the list remained the same until 1920, when it was revised and reordered into three categories: “Large Deciduous Trees,” “For Streets and Highways,” and “Small Deciduous Trees.” The last group was considered ornamental rather than useful either for “shade or defense.”
The size of a mature Norway maple made it a popular choice for a street tree.
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, APRIL 1917
At that time, twenty-four deciduous trees were listed in the first category, and four of these—American elm, Norway maple, linden, and pin oak—were recommended for street and highway planting. The area between the sidewalk and the road, sometimes known as the terrace or parkway, was a popular location for these favorites because of their ease of maintenance, quality of shade, and beauty at maturity. Municipalities eventually took over street tree planning and planting, but the variety and placement of trees in street scenes from the late 1800s indicate that individual homeowners had free rein over the variety and number of trees planted in this area.10
By 1920 the “Small Deciduous Trees” list no longer included weeping varieties of willow and birch, which had been popular in the late 1800s; additions included native plants such as juneberry, hawthorn, and buckeye. This correlates with the declining interest in formal geometric layouts, which in the Victorian era had included specimen trees in the lawn, and the increasing use of native species.
Latin terminology was added in 1920, probably to match the style used in national publications and to reinforce the focus on professionalism in WSHS. The deciduous tree list remained unchanged between 1920 and 1930.
This circa 1890 photograph illustrates street planting along a very wide terrace or parkway in Madison. Notice the double row of trees—probably American elm—on the terrace. Homes are built close to the street, with boardwalks leading to the front door. Most of the small lawns are unfenced with an occasional shrub or small tree in the yard. Most city streets lost their wide terraces and large shade trees to road-widening projects and Dutch elm disease that transformed the residential landscape during the mid-twentieth century.
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Between 1886 and 1925 the shrub category showed the largest increase in size. In 1886 the hardy shrub list included lilac (Syringa), upright strawberry tree (Euonymus), smoke tree, and a few others. Half-hardy shrubs suitable for home planting included weigela and hydrangea. By 1894 shrubs were specifically designated for cemetery planting as well, and further subdivided into those suitable for lawns, screens, or hedges. Varieties of barberry were added in 1886, but the overall number of shrubs in the category was still quite small.
In 1893 Milwaukee nurseryman James Currie presented an enthusiastic report on varieties of hardy shrubs for the Wisconsin garden, including old favorites and new additions.11 He encouraged grouping mixed varieties of shrubs under trees, as hedges, and to divide various parts of the garden, but he strongly advised against indiscriminate pruning into balls or cones. “When pruning is done,” he noted, “see that the shrub still preserves its … looseness and grace of form, which with care and judgment may easily be done.”12
In 1904 the list was revised to include new varieties of dogwood, hydrangea, weigela, and honeysuckle, bringing the total number of recommended shrubs to thirty. Latin nomenclature was added at this time and a new category—shrub height—was incorporated. It is likely that this sudden increased focus was a result of the growing national interest in shrubs as part of small garden design, the use of shrubs for foundation plantings, and a corresponding increase in availability from local and regional nurseries. The appointment of Frederic Cranefield as executive secretary of the WSHS in 1904 initiated a greater emphasis on ornamental planting in the home grounds and likely also played a role in the increased popularity of shrubs.
Like many garden writers of the early twentieth century, Eben Rexford recommended Spiraea x vanhouttei for its graceful shape.
THE MAKING OF A HOME, 1916
Spireas of all varieties have retained their appeal to this day. Here, Spiraea x vanhouttei is in bloom in Door County.
LEE SOMERVILLE
Beginning in 1906, the WSHS published a “Black List” that contained shrubs thought to be unsuitable for the Wisconsin climate. According to the accompanying explanation, these shrubs had been “tested on the grounds of the Experiment Station at Madison and found unsatisfactory.”13 An additional note stated that although some grew well, they would not blossom without winter protection.14 In 1920 the list was amended to read “Shrubs needing winter protection.” The list included azaleas, privet, daphne, and some flowering fruit shrubs. That such a list was kept shows that the WSHS was actively trying to grow and maintain ornamental shrubs as well as fruit trees at its test site. It also underlines the growing interest in small ornamental shrubs at the beginning of the twentieth century.
In 1915 a separate “List of Native Shrubs Desirable for Planting on the Home Grounds” was included in the section. This is a notable addition because it documents the rising interest in native species in early-twentieth-century Wisconsin. The thirty-five varieties were apparently chosen for their ease of transplanting and maintenance. A much larger list is given in Warren H. Manning’s 1899 A Handbook for Planning and Planting Small Home Grounds and in William Toole’s Native Plants of Wisconsin Suitable for Cultivation, a collection of articles published by the WSHS in 1922.15 Varieties included sumac, wild roses, dogwood, and other species.
Flowers, both annual and perennial, were a popular topic at WSHS meetings; with the exception of the rose, however, this interest was not translated into inclusion on the recommended lists until 1915, when two new categories of plants were added. “Six Hardy Herbaceous Perennials” recommended phlox, peony, larkspur, bleeding heart, lily of the valley, and daylily, with iris and poppy added the following year; “Spring Flowering Bulbs” included varieties of tulips, narcissus, and crocus. From this date onward, varieties of perennials and bulbs were listed; recommended native perennials were included beginning in 1915.
No official recommended lists were ever produced for annual flowers, although their use in the home landscape was often discussed at meetings between 1870 and 1890. Favorite varieties included pansies, verbenas, nasturtiums, annual phlox, coleus, sweet peas, stocks, and balsam. Tall exotics such as amaranth, ricinus, caladiums, and geraniums were popularly used in tropical beds cut into the lawn. (See illustration on page 6.) Typically, speakers would list their favorite annuals along with the reasons why they planted them in their gardens, as in this example from 1875:
This circa 1910 image shows the home and garden of Martin M. Secor, mayor of Racine between 1884 and 1888, and founder of the Northwestern Trunk and Traveling Bag Manufactory. The neat edging, wide pathways, and geometrically shaped beds contain a mass of well-maintained rose bushes and other flowers that contrast with the softer foundation plantings and porch vines framing the large Italianate home.
WHI IMAGE ID 40002
Of course we will have our Annuals, Sweet Alyssum, Candy-Tuft, Phlox, Mignonette, the modest Browallia, and Nemophilia.16 … The new varieties of Tropaeolums [nasturtium] are showy and handsome. … The new Double-Balsams are perfect, and the white, almost as beautiful as a Rose. The Convolvulus Minor must not be neglected on account of its old-fashioned relative, the Morning-Glory, which a place should be provided for, if only to please the children. … [And] do not forget the Sweet Pea.
If one has a large lawn, a few beds cut in it can be made very effective … Caladium Esculentum is a good plant for such purposes. … One bed filled with Coleus Verschaffeltii or Achyranthus, and another with any of the varieties of white-leaf plants, will be quite attractive.17
The peony has stood the test of time in Wisconsin gardens. Even though they were considered old-fashioned in 1911, peonies were still recommended as something that “ought to be in every Garden.”
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, MAY 1911
Sisson’s Peony Gardens was the highlight of the tiny village of Rosendale from 1929 until the 1980s. The garden, originally part of a nursery operation, has recently been restored. Although it is no longer a nursery, old varieties of peonies are still available to view.
EMAJEAN WESTPHAL
Large annuals such as the castor bean plant were a Victorian favorite because of their quick growth and dramatic leaves. During the late 1800s they were often used in tropical beds, or, as in this example, trained over supports to create a shady bower.
HOME FLORICULTURE, 1903
This color illustration of bedding plants included coleus and Pyrethrum aurea.
VICK’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE, NOVEMBER 1881
Mrs. D. C. Ayers suggested the following annuals for a beginner’s garden in 1877:
If four friends purchase together, twenty kinds of seeds can be procured for one dollar and divided, giving a large supply to each one. We would recommend to beginners to select Candytuft, Petunia, Phlox-Drummondi, Mignonette, Pinks, Pansies and Asters. … If you have old kegs, pails and pans, set them around the ground in the front of the house, cover them with bark from the wood pile, old grape vines and moss, fill them with earth. … [In the woods] you may find vines; bitter sweet, woodbines, perennial peas, and many a one unnamed save in Indian lore. Gather them in with ferns and grasses, and you will have what many in the cities pay large prices for.18
Dr. H. Allen, whose ornate design for a flower garden was discussed in the preceding chapter, suggested filling the beds with a wide variety of annuals:
The centre bed we will fill entirely with verbenas, or if you choose a variegated canna may be put in the centre, and around this a circle of dark colored verbenas; next a circle of pure white, alternated with pink. The outer circle will be composed of a tastefully arranged variety of colors, all comprising from 20 to 24 plants. … You will next have a bed of Geraniums and Lantanas with a double white Fever few in the centre. A bed of Pelargoniums, silver-leaved and “horse shoe,” with double scarlet and pink and a Lady Washington. The first bed you will have supplied from the green-house each spring, or from the conservatory, or plant window of your own dwelling. … You want an entire bed of Double Portulaca. This is best grown in a mass; another of Phlox Drummondi; a third of petunias, dark shades, a fourth of Mirabilis (or 4 o’clock). … Sweet Peas and Zinnias and Euphorbia and Datura, you will plant in the border. … You will, of course, have a place for the Pansies, those intelligent, half-speaking faces, which always look at you so wishfully. Everybody also has Asters and Balsams, and Dahlias and Tulips; but the Gladiolus and Tuberose are not so common, yet are easily raised, and a bed of them will please you well.19
This amount of detail and order was not typical of speakers’ recommendations.
Rexford encouraged readers to plant whatever was left over in a special bed—the “odds and ends corner.”
AMATEUR GARDENCRAFT, 1912
The ‘Wisconsin Red’ dahlia, formerly known as ‘Catherine Becker’. The origin of this vintage dahlia was researched by Victoria Dirst and the growers at Old House Gardens in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who identified it as one that had been grown in the Wausaukee and Marinette areas since the 1940s.
VICTORIA DIRST
Annuals were often used in various types of containers, such as garden vases, baskets, window boxes, and old tree stumps. Suitable plants depended on the location of the container, as noted in this excerpt from an 1877 presentation:
For the shady spots there are so many beautiful things that come within the reach of all—Ferns, Ivys, Lobelia, Maurandya, Smilax, Fuchsia, Vinca, Begonia, Cocolobia, Artillery Plant, and Coleus,—it is really hard to know where to stop. It is much more difficult to find plants to do well fully exposed to the sun. Brasella Rubra, or variegated Madeira vine (this is of shrubby nature), stands the heat admirably, growing handsomer as the heat increases; also any of the Centaurea, Artemesia, Gnaphalium, Geranium, Alternanthera, and Tritoma. For a trailing plant, the old Moneywort must not be overlooked. … Kenilworth Ivy also fills a basket well. It is light and graceful. Those who are so fortunate as to live in easy access to the woods can or should have no excuse for not beautifying their grounds, for certainly nature has filled Wisconsin’s woods with living wealth of loveliness in vines, flowers and ferns.20
At the annual state fairs, premiums were awarded to nonprofessional growers of varieties such as verbena, annual phlox, petunia, and pansies, as well as dahlias and gladioli. As the fashion for massed annual bedding declined, there appears to have been a corresponding increase in the use of perennials, especially in borders around the front lawn or interspersed with shrubs. Several speakers suggested that annuals could be intermixed with vegetables if no other planting space was available or placed in cutting beds behind the house.21
Annuals and perennials were usually discussed in talks with titles such as “What Flowers to Plant”—a popular topic between 1869 and 1930. In 1915 two groups of perennials were listed separately, the first being a general list and the second devoted to native perennials suitable for home planting. Most of the plants on the first list had been discussed or recommended to members in previous talks or articles. New varieties were added at times, but the list remained essentially unchanged throughout the decade. The herbaceous border, consisting entirely of perennials, continued to be a popular landscape choice between 1900 and 1930.
Speakers weren’t the only ones to put forth their opinions on what to plant. The informal character of Wisconsin Horticulture encouraged reader interaction, as illustrated by the following 1914 response to a Milwaukee reader’s request for a border planting that would furnish constant color:
An attractive perennial border. The caption that originally accompanied this image noted that “both perennials and biennials help make possible this attractive feature of the home.”
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, FEBRUARY 1928
A modern example of a prairie garden with native Wisconsin plants at Heritage Flower Farm in Mukwonago
BETTY ADELMAN
If this was my border, here is what I would set:
10 Delphinium Formosum Hybridum
20 Hardy Phlox assorted colors
20 Pyrethrum Roseum assorted colors
5 Single Hollyhocks assorted colors
5 Aster, Nova anglea
5 Oriental Poppies
5 Boltonia Latisquama
5 Lemon Lilies
5 German Iris assorted colors
5 Achillea the Pearl
5 Tiger Lilies
5 Shasta Daisies
5 Dicentra Spectabilis
10 Aquilegia assorted colors
10 Double Russian Violets
10 Platycodon blue and white
5 Ranunculus, Acris, Fl. Pl.
5 Primula Officinalis
5 Dianthus Plumaris, Fl. Pl.
5 Iris Nudicale
Set the Delphinium, Hollyhocks, Boltonia, Oriental Poppies, Tiger Lillies and New England Asters in the center of the border and around the edge of the border plant the Violets, Pyrtheum, Platycodon, Dwarf Iris, Shasta Daisies, Pinks and Primroses running the Phlox, German Iris, Lemon Lilies, Bleeding Heart, Bachelor Buttons, Columbine and Achille just back of the border row.
The Mendota Beach bulb garden of Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Roloff in Madison
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, MAY 1930
This curved border of “old breeder” tulips, including ‘Cri de Coeur,’ graces the side garden of the Yawkey House Museum in Wausau.
LYNN BUHMANN
A lovely herbaceous border with lupines in the foreground surrounds a neatly manicured lawn. Note the rustic trellises.
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE, MARCH 1919
A field of lupines in an abandoned Door County meadow
LEE SOMERVILLE
The one hundred and fifty plants properly grown in a forty foot border will give the owner the greatest of pleasure as no matter what time he may look upon it he will find some flower in bloom that will interest him from the earliest days in spring until late in the fall.22
Very little information is given on varieties of bulbs or tuberous plants, although talks on their growth habits and beauty were occasional topics. For choices on suitable varieties for the heirloom garden, we must go to period bulb catalogs or texts such as Denise Wiles Adams’s Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640–1940.23
Roses were popular ornamentals for American gardens from earliest settlement days. Wisconsin gardeners were no less enthusiastic according to WSHS records. Numerous talks extolled the beauty of this “exquisite combination of perfume, form and color.”24 The 1886 list included a category for roses; this list continued in expanded form until 1925. Despite the national interest in introducing new varieties to the American public, early WSHS favorites persisted. The 1886 recommended list consisted of climbers, moss roses, and hybrid perpetuals. Briar roses and hardy garden roses were added as separate categories in 1894 and 1915, respectively.
The tremendous national interest in roses led to the formation of the American Rose Society in 1892. Thanks to the growth and development of the rose industry in the United States and Europe, members of the WSHS had plenty of options among the roses recommended by the organization’s horticulturists. The total number of recommended roses during the six decades covered in this book is forty-five; however, not all of these remained on the lists for the entire period. Persistent varieties in the climber category were ‘Gem of the Prairies’, ‘Prairie Queen’, ‘Seven Sisters’, and ‘Russell’s Cottage’. The enduring moss rose variety favorites were ‘Salet’, ‘Perpetual White Moss’, ‘Deuil de Paul Fontaine’, and ‘Henri Martin’. Hybrid perpetuals formed the largest group of recommended varieties, in spite of their need for winter protection. Some of the long-standing fragrant roses in this group include the delicate pink ‘Mrs. John Laing’, the crimson ‘American Beauty’, the deep pink ‘Magna Charta’, and ‘Vick’s Caprice’, a pink-and-white-striped sport (a genetic mutation) discovered by the James Vick Seed Company in 1881. Modern gardeners can still find most of these old roses at specialty nurseries.25
These hardy rambler roses were offered for sale in 1919 by the John A. Salzer Seed Company, which claimed that these three varieties—‘Dorothy Perkins’, ‘Crimson Rambler’, and ‘Yellow Rambler’—would grow up to fifteen feet in a year and be unsurpassed for brilliance of color and amount of blooms.
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The ‘Apothecary Rose’ (Rosa gallica officinalis) next to the Victorian bandstand at Heritage Hill State Historical Park in Green Bay.
JIM DOCKENDORFF
Climbing vines were a ubiquitous decorative element in the Wisconsin vernacular garden throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They provided needed shade for porches and verandas but were also considered to be highly attractive and ornamental. Numerous presentations praised their use, and archival photographs illustrate their popularity.
The WSHS annual lists of recommended trees and shrubs included vines from the start. For the first few years they were listed as “climbers” under the shrub list, but they were later listed separately. The most popular hardy vines were two varieties of the fast-growing Parthenocissus, known as Ampelopsis to early horticulturists: American ivy (Parthenocissus quinquefolia or Ampelopsis quinquefolia) is a native vine, also known as Virginia creeper or Engelmann ivy; Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata or Ampelopsis tricuspidata) was introduced into America from Japan in the 1860s and quickly became a favorite. Early speakers did not always differentiate between the two ivy varieties, as they showed similar growth habits, hardiness, and vibrant fall color.
Other popular recommendations were various forms of clematis, grape ivy, and honeysuckle. Annual vines mentioned by speakers included nasturtiums and morning glories.
Eben Rexford loved all kinds of vines including some, such as kudzu, that are now known to be highly invasive. In his books are numerous photographs and sketches of vines climbing exuberantly along fences, up porch supports and roofs, or on trellises. He recommended several varieties of clematis, honeysuckle, and Ampelopsis for perennial vines, and, for fillers, annuals such as sweet peas, nasturtiums, and morning glories.
AMATEUR GARDENCRAFT, 1912
Honeysuckle and nasturtiums abound, offering shade, color, and beauty on this wide front porch.
AMATEUR GARDENCRAFT, 1912
This bouquet of summer radishes that graced the March 1881 frontispiece of Vick’s Monthly Magazine differs from the periodical’s usual cover art of colorful flower arrangements—perhaps hinting that vegetables had then become an accepted addition to the home garden.
Although the topic of vegetable varieties, especially those grown for home use, was much less popular than that of ornamental plants, speakers occasionally reported on the best varieties to be grown at home. In 1892 Mrs. J. Montgomery Smith of Mineral Point spoke about growing lettuce, peas, beans, and corn in her garden, and the use of a hotbed to start warm-weather plants such as tomatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, and okra.26 Her paper gave rise to an observation, by a J. S. Harris, that he had traveled “around a good deal, and the only fruit [he had] found on the table among farmers was cabbage and all the fruit many of them grew was cabbage and pumpkins.”27
Occasional letters and articles in The Wisconsin Horticulturist and Wisconsin Horticulture suggested favorite varieties of vegetables and fruits, but it was not until the threat of war and a perceived food shortage that the WSHS seriously began to encourage home vegetable gardens, known as war gardens and, later, victory gardens. In 1919 several “War Garden Circulars” issued jointly by the WSHS and the Extension Office of the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture and aimed at the beginning gardener, covered such topics as “Getting Ready for the Garden,” “Garden Soils and Garden Making,” and “Protect Your Garden.”28 A list of recommended varieties of beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, onions, parsnip, peas, radishes, rutabaga, spinach, tomatoes, and turnips for the home garden appeared in the February 1919 edition of Wisconsin Horticulture. Among the “best” were Crosby’s Egyptian beet, the Chantenay carrot, and Bloomsdale Savoy spinach.
Evergreen and deciduous trees had the most longevity on the recommended lists. There was little change in suggested varieties, although their location on the home lot underwent modification, possibly as a result of their unexpected size at maturity.
The varieties of shrubs increased dramatically after the turn of the century, as their use was recommended for foundation planting in front of the house and in lieu of fencing along the sides of the lot. In 1870 shrubs were primarily recommended only for cemetery planting, but photographs from WSHS publications, especially Wisconsin Horticulture, and the Eben Rexford books indicate that old favorites like the spireas and lilacs retained their popularity well into the twentieth century.
Striking companions at Heritage Flower Farm include ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum, which was introduced to American gardeners prior to the 1920s by Germany’s George Arends Nursery, and blue mistflower.
BETTY ADELMAN
The varieties of perennial flowers, vines, and roses did not change much between 1869 and 1930. Perennial plants were massed in borders along walks and driveways to create season-long color and texture. As the fashion for carpet bedding waned, WSHS members usually recommended annuals be placed in separate cutting beds behind the house or in containers and window boxes rather than in ornamental beds.
In general, however, the varieties of plants in the Wisconsin vernacular garden changed less than did the patterns in which they were planted. The exception is in the marked increase of native shrubs and plants after 1900, the advantages of which were widely touted by such proponents as Warren H. Manning, WSHS executive board members Frederic Cranefield and William Toole, and other regional landscape architects, environmentalists, and ecologists from the academic community.
While reading the literature of the period it’s easy to sense the excitement of these amateur and professional gardeners and horticulturists as they explored the possibilities of gardening—in new surroundings or on familiar ground—shared their experiences, and traded their knowledge. As they planted trees, shrubs, flowers, and vines around their homes they were also putting down roots in their communities. Like today, their membership in state, regional, or local horticultural societies no doubt fueled their interest and increased their desire to create more beautiful surroundings. Many of the plants they grew are available today, providing the historical gardener with a vast array of wonderful choices.
