Circles cut into the lawn contain roses and annuals or a single balsam fir. The kitchen garden is separated from the large flower bed by a vine-covered trellis. As America’s premier landscape designer, Downing also featured the plan of an ideal Italianate garden in Cottage Residences(1844), illustrating a service area at the rear of the property with rectangular beds for fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Italianate residential architecture style was widely promoted in the 19th century through the books of Andrew Jackson Downing. In a final decorative touch, blossoming trees, like crepe myrtle and southern magnolia, and red cedars would line the imposing entrance driveways in allees. Boundary-defining hedges made from privet, hemlock, boxwood, or roses or other flowering shrubs were used ornamentally, and to provide protection from the wind. In the centers of these beds, flowering shrubs, lilies, hyacinths or larkspur burst forth. A common feature was an elaborate parterre garden consisting of beds lined with dwarf boxwood. Large examples, such as southern antebellum plantation homes, were often surrounded by gardens designed in an updated version of the ancient style. Greek Revival, the first indigenous American style, was so popular that it was also known as the National Style. Because this naturalistic style required large properties and wealthy owners, it was not widespread in early America. Natural-looking water features grottoes, bridges, and other lavish structures were also popular, along with sweeping views. Essential design details of the English landscape style included clumps of trees, shrubs, and perennials around the perimeter of the property, and a few trees advantageously placed throughout the lawn. Owners of high-style classical homes built during the pre-industrial period faced competing garden patterns: the ancient style and the English naturalistic style, then newly-fashionable. Georgian, Federal & Adam Styles (1700-1830)Īn English landscape garden in Cincinnati, Ohio, displays the manicured greenery and sweeping views that made the style so popular. Finally, an old-fashioned rose might have been found at the corner of the house, where its fragrance could waft to greet visitors. Blooming shrubs like lilac, and vines perhaps morning glory or perennial sweet pea often graced the gate or doorway. ![]() The beds primarily held vegetables and herbs, and might have had a few flowers lining the path. ![]() Many a 19th-century farmhouse had gardens with simple, square or rectangular beds set between straight walkways. Many of these early gardens where laid out in the ancient style, a plan based on European examples that emphasizes geometric shapes. As time went on and communities grew, the primary focus on food gardens gave way to an increase in gardening for beauty. While the form and construction of the earliest houses in North America varied according to their location, all were simple, and ornamental plantings typically weren’t a priority. While the gardens outlined here can’t hit all the bases of historic house styles, they do give a sense of how greenery designs have changed through the generations, and which styles can be the basis of a complimentary and beautiful garden for your old house. With its emphasis on geometric shapes, an ancient-style garden accents a Federal-style house in this cover from a 1938 seed catalog.
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