Heirloom Plants and Authentic Gardens

Most gardens have at least one plant passed along from a friend or relative. Maybe it is a rose from a dear old neighbor, or Aunt Mary's 'Old German tomato'. These tag-a-long plants contain the memories of gardens from our childhood. Heirloom plants become the threads that weave our modern day gardens to the past.

Many of our heirloom plants came to America with our European relatives. So important were these plants to the immigrants, that they would sew the seeds into hems of dresses or linings of suitcases to avoid the inevitable confiscation by the customs officer. This practice continues with many recent newcomers such as the Hmong, where gardening skills and heirloom plants hitchhike right through customs. Many immigrants wrote back to Europe, asking relatives to bring seeds for plants unavailable to them in their new country. Today, we save the seeds or take cuttings from heirlooms not only for a sense of nostalgia, but because many of these plants have superior qualities to today's hybrid garden plants.

When a plant breeder succeeds in producing a larger flower for instance, often it is at the expense of fragrance. Most heirloom flowers are more intensely fragrant than their hybrid replacements. Many gardeners want to grow these heirlooms today because they feel the qualities lost in breeding are not worth the qualities gained. Dianthus, (Carnations and "Pinks") were bred for longer stems so they would work better as a cut flower. In doing this, much of the heady clove fragrance disappeared. In tomatoes, what the breeders gained in size and productivity, they often lost in taste. In the case of tomatoes, it seems a great loss indeed, since we rate tomatoes primarily on how they taste.

Thankfully, there is renewed interest in heirlooms. Many catalogues specialize in old-fashioned, heirloom varieties. We can again enjoy the fragrance of Fr. Cupani's Sweet Pea from 1697, or taste the fine-grained, deliciously sweet 'Moon and Stars' Watermelon. The Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit educational center for heirloom varieties located in Decorah, Iowa, offers a wide selection of old-fashioned plants in their mail order catalogue. What started 25 years ago to preserve a family heirloom Morning Glory, has grown to become one of the largest repositories for heirloom plants in the country. Diane Whealy, one of the founders, is custodian of more than twenty-two thousand heirloom varieties. "Each year we choose around two thousand varieties from our collection at Heritage Farm to offer in our catalogue. Each heirloom is hand selected for productivity and disease resistance." Whealy says enthusiasm has never been greater for heirloom plants, with vegetables leading slightly in popularity over flowers. She says people are interested in both flowers and vegetables, but with vegetables, people are looking to replicate the taste they remember from their grandmother's garden. With flowers, people are looking for the old-fashioned, subtle colors and fragrance lacking in modern day substitutes. "Fragrance seems to trigger a lot of memories," says Whealy. Gardeners seek varieties with a fragrance capable of transporting them back to their childhood.

Whealy thinks the renewed interest in heirlooms relates to people's desire to feel connected to gardening. "You have this plant connected to the past, surviving on its own and exhibiting wonderful traits," she says. Whealy feels that planting heirlooms will make more people aware of the importance of saving the genetic diversity of our garden plants.

Today, it is easy to create an authentic vegetable garden using historically correct heirloom plants. This is especially true for named vegetable varieties because there is often documentation of the date of introduction for that heirloom. The Seed Savers Exchange, for example, has vegetable seeds dating back to the first quarter of the nineteenth century, specifically a Lettuce with an introduction date of 1820. Today's heirloom catalogues often include the year the plant first entered the market. When evaluating the historical appropriateness of a particular plant, one must use caution, as a plant introduced on the East Coast may not have made it to the Midwest for several more years.

Using heirlooms to create authentic annual and perennial gardens is often challenging if a particular historical period is chosen. This is because many heirlooms were never available commercially, or did not become commercially available until late in the 19th century or in the early years of the 20th century. Often heirloom seed remained available for only a few seasons, after that, the plants survived only in scattered gardens across the country.

Creating an entire landscape including heirloom trees and shrubs might be even more challenging. Heirloom woody plants are somewhat difficult to find, and modern day cultivars are often superior to earlier species. Many nurseries only stock these newer cultivars. It is often possible to order the older species through the nursery, however. Also, many North American native plants are heirlooms, and will always work in historic garden recreations since they were immediately available to the population in every historical period.

"The authentic garden should follow the architectural style and period of the property," says Dennis Buettner, of Dennis Buettner and Associates. His well-respected landscaping firm has worked on many high profile garden restorations including Villa Terrace in Milwaukee, and Ten Chimneys in Genesee Depot. Buettner will often substitute a modern tree or shrub with similar characteristics to the historically appropriate heirloom if the heirloom is susceptible to diseases, or requires additional maintenance. He explains that woody plants require a large investment of time and money, and that they become long-term tenants of the property. If plant breeding has improved the original plant and it has the same historical form, it is often advisable to make a substitution, thus ensuring the future health and aesthetic capabilities of the plant.

"Make sure fences, gates and lighting are of the period," he says. Plants should have the right period look, but do not necessarily have to be of the period. On the other hand, if an heirloom has admirable qualities (and many do), Buettner is eager to propose including that plant in the landscape. This allows for genetic diversity and historical accuracy in recreating a garden. For example, the Father Hugo Rose (Rosa hugonis) is an heirloom rose introduced in 1899 with several enduring qualities, and still suitable for today's gardens. Other plants favored by Buettner include heirloom Lilacs, weeping forms of plants such as weeping Mulberry, (Morus alba 'Chaparral') and old varieties or species of intensely fragrant woody ornamentals such as the Judd Viburnam (Viburnum x juddii) introduced in 1920.

When addressing the hardiness and disease resistance of heirloom flower and vegetable seeds, Diane Whealy takes a slightly more purist approach. "Heirloom varieties have adapted to different conditions and are stronger when the seed is saved from the same location from year to year. Heirloom flowers from old seed sources are extremely hardy, tough and self-reliant, and seldom suffer from disease," she points out. When buying from a reliable source, one can depend on the success of an heirloom.

Whether you plant just one heirloom, or try to recreate a period garden using historic plants, you will form an indelible link to the past. The joy of passing by an heirloom Amaranthus, or inhaling the delectable spiciness of an old-fashioned rose is impossible to duplicate. These plants are the legacy of our ancestors. The seeds of their future are now in our hands.

Sources for Heirloom Seeds and Plants

The Seed Saver's Exchange
3076 North Winn Road
Decorah, Iowa 52101
(563) 382-5990
www.seedsavers.org

The Seed Saver's Garden Store
1919 Monroe Street
Madison, WI 53711
(608) 280-8149
www.seedsavers.org

The Garden Room
2107 East Capitol Drive
Shorewood, WI 53211
(414) 963-1657

Select Seeds
180 Stickney Hill Road
Union, CT 06076-4617
(860) 684-9310
www.selectseeds.com

R. H. Shumway Seedsman
334 West Stroud Street
Randolph, WI 53956
1-800-342-9461
www.rhshumway.com

Some Garden Worthy Heirloom Varieties with Dates of Introduction:

Vegetables

'Early Fortune' Cucumber (1906)
'Moon and Stars' Watermelon (Unknown)
'Old German' Tomato (19th Century)
'Rose Gold' Potato (Unknown)
Five Color Silverbeet (Rainbow Chard) (Before 1970)
Oxheart Carrot (1884)

Flowers

Agastache (Anise Hyssop) (Native)
'Court Jester' Chrysanthemum (Unknown)
Gloriosa Daisy (Rudbeckia) (20th Century)
'Grandpa Ott's' Morning Glory (19th Century, Bavaria)
Nicotiana sylvestris (Flowering Tobacco) (Before 1904)
Outhouse Hollyhock (19th Century)
Princes' Feather (Amaranthus) (17th Century, Europe)

Trees and Shrubs

Cotoneaster apiculatus (Cranberry Cotoneaster) (1910)
Morus alba 'Chapparal' (Weeping Mulberry) (Late 19th Century)
Rosa hugonis (Father Hugo Rose) (1899)
Rosa rugosa 'Mrs. Anthony Waterer' (Mrs. Anthony Waterer Rose) (1898)
Syringa oblata (Early Lilac) (1856)
Viburnum x Juddii (Judd Viburnum) (1920)