Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an amazing piece of research and one of the few books whose appendices are a "must read".

The bok is about American ornamental plant history - the story of garden plants from their introduction, usually from Europe, or from the local fields and forests. It answers questions such as "Who first cultivated it in America?", "How was it used?", "Who propagated or sold it?" and "Why was it popular?".

The writer consulted over 300 seed and nursery catalogues from all over the US and ended up with a data base of over 25,000 different taxa.

The first chapter of the book looks at the historical detail of the garden landscape and it is illustrated with well-selected photographs, many taken from postcards. The second chapter links the gardens to the architectural styles from different time periods and the third chapter looks at the way garden styles evolved in different regions of the country. The largest part of the book is a catalogue of over 1000 heirloom plants - trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and roses that were offered for sale between 1719 - 1939. For each plant there is given common names, family, date of introduction, earliest American citation, zones and description, taken from the garden writers of history.

This book presents a vast amount of material and it's a treasure trove for the garden historian. Even the most casual reader will enjoy the historical and botanical illustrations. It really is a treat to find such a well-organized work of scholarship that is so readable and attractively presented.

Gardeners who enjoy a healthy dose of gardening history in their guides will find Denise Wiles Adams' Restoring American Gardens a treasure trove of information on heirloom ornamentals from 1640-1940. Small color photos of each plant abound, but it's the paragraphs of description for each, including garden design notes and special remarks, which sets this apart from competitors.

Would you like to know what seeds were available to the Midwest in the 1850's and which vendors had them? Or when exactly did Lilacs arrive in California? Then this book is a must have. Breaking the USA into chunk and then by date makes this book very well organized, with fascinating photographs, beautiful pen and ink botanical and plan illustrations and period advertisements . Not to mention the stupendous index of plants and cultivars. If you have a period house whose garden you would like to restore, this book is an invaluable resource. I am restoring a 1920's bungalow and it's been a delight with this book. It includes sources for plants and seeds and reference materials. Although I'm not sure how up to date this is as it is seven years later. Buy it!

I had a heritage garden to restore and needed some information on the types of plants grown around the 1800's. This book was the perfect answer to all my questions.

The format is perfect for getting the pertinent data without having to read through pages of trivia. Although at the end of each plant story there is a remark section that does give you something historically interesting. Among other things you are given the introduction date, zone, description, earliest american citation, design notes, and more. There are some modern pictures of the plants but they are not really necessary. I liked seeing the old drawings and photos. The book is divided by plant groupings: vines, annuals, tropicals, etc, which made it easy for me to find a plant for the area I was working on.

The one area of the book that didn't work for me was the Historic Commercial Plant Sources. The information may have been pertinent but it was laid out in such a way that I spent more time trying to figure out the "code" than I did in gaining any knowledge.

That aside, this is a wonderful book that I will be using a lot as I do more historic garden designs.