![Arlington House - looking south at Flower Garden - 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Arlington_House_-_looking_south_at_Flower_Garden_-_2011.jpg)
A Colonial Revival garden is a
garden design
Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. ...
intended to evoke the garden design typical of the
Colonial period of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The Colonial Revival garden is typified by simple rectilinear beds, straight (rather than winding) pathways through the garden, and
perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
s from the fruit, ornamental flower, and vegetable groups.
[Tankard, p. 67.] The garden is usually enclosed, often by low walls, fences, or hedges.
The Colonial Revival gardening movement was an important development in the gardening movement in the United States.
The American colonial garden
Generalizing about the common house garden in the colonial period in the United States is difficult,
[Damrosch, p. 32.] as garden plantings and even design varied considerably depending on the time period, wealth, climate, colonial heritage (whether British, French, or Spanish), and the purpose to which the garden was to be put (vegetable, flower, herb, etc.). Because of the overwhelmingly strong British influence in colonial America, the "colonial garden" generally refers to the most common type of garden found in the 13 British colonies. Colonial-era gardens in the southern colonies often exhibited the same design as those in the north. Gardens of the wealthy, however, often employed newer gardening ideas, such as the
landscape garden
The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...
or
English garden
The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...
.
Colonial gardens tended to be small and close to the house.
[Emmet, p. 180-181.] A straight walkway generally extended on a line equal with the entrance to the house through the center of the garden.
(This layout was often abandoned in the north, where it was more important to site the garden so the building protected it from northwest winds.)
[Favretti and Favretti, p. 11.] Perpendicular straight paths often extended from this central path.
Planting beds were usually square or rectangular
although circular beds were also seen.
[Johnson, p. 74.] In almost all cases, beds were raised to provide good drainage.
[Kunst, p. 47.] Beds could sometimes be bordered with low-growing, neat plants such as
chive
Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and C ...
or
pinks.
In areas with a Spanish influence, orchards generally were attached to the garden.
The paths in the Colonial American garden were generally of brick, gravel, or stone.
Brick was more commonly used in the south, however.
Enclosure of the garden was common, often with
boxwood hedges or wooden fences.
[Phillips and Burrell, p. 27.] Picket fences were common, but boxwood was usually used only in the south and in the later colonial period.
[Damrosch, p. 38.]
Plantings in colonial gardens were generally not separated by type. Fruits, herbs, ornamental flowers, and vegetables were usually mixed together in the same planting bed.
[Damrosch, p. 33.] Ornamental flowers were often grown closer to the house, however, while vegetables which needed space to grow (such as
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
,
green bean
Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean ('' Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean (''Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedalis ...
s, or
pumpkin
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...
s) would often be grown in larger beds further away.
Fruit trees would sometimes line paths, to provide shade and produce,
but fruit bushes were as common as fruit trees and always planted in the interior of the garden.
[Favretti and Favretti, p. 12.] Fruit trees would also be planted along the external border of the garden (while wealthier people with more land planted them in orchards).
Ornamental shrubs were rare, but could include
azalea
Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Octob ...
,
lilac
''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...
, and
mock orange.
A stand-alone herb garden was uncommon in the United States. However, Colonial American herb gardens were generally of the same design as other gardens. They were usually less than across, and often consisted of four square plots separated by gravel paths.
More commonly, herbs were mixed in with flowers and other plants.
[Kowalchik, Hylton, and Carr, p. 201.] Commonly planted herbs included
angelica
''Angelica'' is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as Iceland, Lapland, and Greenland. They grow t ...
,
basil
Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also kno ...
,
burnet,
,
caraway
Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa.
Etymology
The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has been ...
,
chamomile
Chamomile (American English) or camomile (British English; see spelling differences) ( or ) is the common name for several plants of the family Asteraceae. Two of the species, ''Matricaria recutita'' and ''Anthemis nobilis'', are commonly us ...
,
chervil
Chervil (; ''Anthriscus cerefolium''), sometimes called French parsley or garden chervil (to distinguish it from similar plants also called chervil), is a delicate annual herb related to parsley. It was formerly called myrhis due to its volat ...
,
,
comfrey
''Symphytum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae, known by the common name comfrey (pronounced ). There are 59 recognized species.WFO (2022): Symphytum L. Published on the Internet; http://www.worldfloraonline.org/ ...
,
dill
Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food.
Growth ...
,
fennel
Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...
,
licorice
Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted.
The liq ...
,
mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES g ...
,
nasturtium,
parsley
Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...
,
sage
Sage or SAGE may refer to:
Plants
* ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb
** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family
** ''Salvia'', a large ...
, and
tarragon
Tarragon (''Artemisia dracunculus''), also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America and is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes.
...
.
Herbs to a Colonial American did not have the same meaning as the words does in modern America. To colonists, "herb" meant not only savory plants added to dishes to enhance flavor but included medicinal plants as well as greens (such as nasturtiums and calendulas) meant to be eaten raw or cooked as part of a
salad
A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...
.
History of the Colonial Revival garden movement
The Colonial Revival gardening movement traces its origins to the
Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official
World's Fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
held in the United States. The Centennial Exposition was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, and it celebrated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Although the Colonial Revival gardening movement had already begun a short time before, the Centennial Exposition created intense interest in all things colonial — including the colonial garden.
Colonial Revival gardens were widely popular from the late 1800s to the late 1930s.
The Colonial Revival gardening movement occurred primarily in the eastern United States (where colonial heritage was strongest), although the gardens were constructed across the country.
A number of writers published highly influential books about the Colonial Revival garden. Among these were
Alice Morse Earle's ''Old Time Gardens'' (1901), Alice Morse Earle's ''Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday'' (1902), and
Grace Tabor's ''Old-Fashioned Gardening'' (1913).
Colonial Revival gardens do not seek to imitate or replicate actual colonial gardens or colonial planting schemes. Rather, they are (as historical gardening expert Denise Wiles Adams notes) "romanticized" versions of colonial gardens.
[Adams, p. 38.] As Butler, Smalling, and Wilson put it: "Colonial Revival gardens were never intended to duplicate the gardens' historical appearance. They are twentieth-century gardens designed to meet contemporary needs, the artistic creations of very accomplished landscape architects that value aesthetic quality over historical accuracy." In terms of layout, the Colonial Revival garden still emphasizes straight lines and symmetry, and a central axis aligned with the house.
Although plants typical of the colonial era are emphasized, many Colonial Revival gardens also soften the line where the house foundation meets the soil through the use of "foundation plantings" such as low
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
shrubs.
Modern Colonial Revival gardens tend to emphasize boxwood hedges as edging rather than fences.
It is more common to see early 20th century favorites like
delphinium
''Delphinium'' is a genus of about 300 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family (biology), family Ranunculaceae, native plant, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. Th ...
s,
hollyhocks, and
violets
Violet identifies various plant taxa, particularly species in the genus ''Viola'', within which the common violet is the best known member in Eurasia and the common blue violet and common purple violet are the best known members in North America ...
used than historic plants.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Colonial Revival gardens were planted with brightly colored exotic plants which were not part of the colonial experience. These vibrantly colored plants were part of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
gardening legacy.
[Bennett, p. 19.] But in the late 1900s and early 2000s, many Colonial Revival gardens have removed these exotic plants in favor of a more authentic colonial garden.
Colonial Revival gardens also usually incorporate a "feature" like an arbor, bench, or fountain at the center of the garden where the paths intersect.
Such features were elements of the late colonial period only.
Examples
Several notable examples exist of Colonial Revival gardens, most of them located on the east coast of the United States. They include:
*
Arlington House Arlington House may refer to:
*Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
*Arlington House (London) a hostel for the homeless in London, England, and one of the Rowton Houses
*Arlington House, Margate, an eighteen-storey residential apartment bloc ...
, the Robert E. Lee Memorial, on the grounds of
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
in
Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington County is a County (United States), county in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the Washington, D.C., District of Co ...
*
Bassett Hall
Bassett Hall is an 18th-century farmhouse located in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was the home of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller during the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg.
Early history
The house was built by Ph ...
, a farmhouse located near
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula ...
*
William Blount Mansion
The Blount Mansion, also known as William Blount Mansion, located at 200 West Hill Avenue in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, was the home of the only territorial governor of the Southwest Territory, William Blount (1749–1800). Blount, a Fou ...
in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...
*
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location and ...
, located near Williamsburg, Virginia
*
Hamilton House in
South Berwick, Maine
South Berwick is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,467 at the 2020 census. South Berwick is home to Berwick Academy, a private, co-educational university-preparatory day school founded in 1791.
The town was s ...
["Colonial Revival Gardens." ''Early Homes.'' Spring 2004, p. 40.]
*
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
, plantation home of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
located near
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
*
Old Stone House in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
*
The Stevens-Coolidge Place in
North Andover, Massachusetts
North Andover is an affluent town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 30,915.
History
Native Americans inhabited what is now northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European c ...
[Forsyth, p. 131-132.]
See also
*
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...
*
Revivalism (architecture)
Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a Architectural style, previous architectural era. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture (a revival of Classical architecture), and Gothi ...
References
Bibliography
*Adams, Denise Wiles. "Garden Designs for Historic Homes." ''Old-House Journal.'' September–October 2005, p. 35-38.
*Bennett, Paul. ''Garden Lover's Guide to the South.'' New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000.
*Brinkley, M. Kent and Chappell, Gordon W. ''The Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg.'' Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1996.
*Butler, Sara A.; Smalling, Jr., Walter; and Wilson, Richard Guy. ''The Campus Guide: University of Virginia.'' New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999.
*Cheek, Richard and Favretti, Rudy J. ''Gardens & Landscapes of Virginia.'' Little Compton, R.I.: Fort Church Publishers, 1993.
*Clayton, Virginia Tuttle. ''The Once and Future Gardener: Garden Writing From the Golden Age of Magazines, 1900-1940.'' Boston, Mass.: David R. Godine, 2000.
*Damrosch, Barbara. ''Theme Gardens.'' New York: Workman Pub., 2001.
*Emmet, Alan. ''So Fine a Prospect: Historic New England Gardens.'' Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1997.
*Favretti, Rudy J. and Favretti, Joy P. ''Landscapes and Gardens for Historic Buildings.'' Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 1997.
*Forsyth, Holly Kerr. ''Gardens of Eden: Among the World's Most Beautiful Gardens.'' Carlton, Vic.: Miegunyah Press, 2009.
*Griswold, Mac and Foley, Roger. ''Washington's Gardens at Mount Vernon: Landscape of the Inner Man.'' Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
*Johnson, Vicki. "Symmetry in the Garden." ''Old House Interiors.'' May 2002, p. 72-75.
*Karson, Robin S. ''Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect: An Account of the Gardenmaker's Life, 1885-1971.'' Amherst, Mass.:
University of Massachusetts Press
The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...
, 2003.
*Kowalchik, Claire; Hylton, William H.; and Carr, Anna. ''Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.'' Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, 1998.
*Kunst, Scott G. "Victorian Vegetables." ''Old-House Journal.'' April 1987, p. 46-51.
*McGuire, Diane Kostial. ''Gardens of America: Three Centuries of Design.'' Charlottesville, Va.: Thomasson-Grant, 1989.
*Phillips, Ellen and Burrell, C. Colston. ''Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials.'' Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, 1993.
*Seeber, Barbara H. ''A City of Gardens: Glorious Public Gardens In and Around the Nation's Capital.'' Sterling, Va.: Capital Books, 2004.
*Tankard, Judith B. "Ellen Biddle Shipman's Colonial Revival Garden Style." In ''Re-Creating the American Past: Essays on the Colonial Revival.'' Richard Guy Wilson, Shaun Eyring, and Kenny Marotta, eds. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 2006.
*Taylor, Patrick. ''The Oxford Companion to the Garden.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
*Thalimer, Carol and Thalimer, Dan. ''Quick Escapes, Atlanta: 27 Weekend Getaways From the Gateway to the South.'' Guilford, Con..: Globe Pequot Press, 2005.
*Wright, Renee. ''Virginia Beach, Richmond & Tidewater Virginia including Williamsburg, Norfolk and Jamestown: A Great Destination.'' Woodstock, Vt.: Countryman Press, 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonial Revival garden
Landscape architecture
Colonial Revival architecture