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Gardening is more than 200 years old in the
Pacific Northwest. The region's first gardeners were Native
Americans, who cultivated a local tobacco. Europeans, who arrived
on the coast in the eighteenth-century in search of the legendary
northwest passage, brought seeds with them. They planted region's
first vegetable gardens, hoping that however meager the return from
these plots might be it would still be enough to stave off the
scurvy that ravaged their crews.
However modest these beginnings, the region (now British
Columbia, Oregon, and Washington) would soon make a name for itself
in gardening. In just a few years, botanists from Europe were
studying the region's flora, sending home plants that would find a
place in royal gardens. By the middle of the nineteenth-century,
the Pacific Northwest had become known as an horticultural Eden.
Gardeners and farmers, even those with little skill, were almost
certain of good crops, thanks to the mild climate, rich soil, and
nearly pest-free growing conditions.
Subsequent generations of gardeners explored different ideas,
styles, plants, fads, and fancies. Hard times motivated gardeners.
Science and the hope of building a better lilac, lily, cherry,
rhododendron, pansy, or improving another species spurred some to
action. Others sought beauty, tranquility, and aesthetic pleasures
in the garden. More than a few just enjoyed watching things grow.
It is these and dozens of other stories about outstanding plantsmen
and women, prize-winning plants, and world-class gardens that make
up the region's gardening past. I hope to explore some of them on
this website.
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John McLoughlin, fur-trader and
uber-gardener
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In 1903, Seattle and Portland, both prosperous, up-and-coming
cities with a taste for civic amenities, hired the nation's premier
landscape architects, the Olmsted Bros., to plan their park
systems. Soon, Walla Walla, Spokane, and other cities were hiring
the Olmsteds, as were many other public agencies, private
businesses, and wealthy homeowners. This page explores the region's
Olmsted parks and public gardens, which are widely regarded as
nothing less than a national treasure.
John McLoughlin, who once had the largest garden west of the
Mississippi and north of California, was one of these notables.
There were plenty of others. This page profiles a few of the
gardeners, horticulturists, botanists, landscape gardeners (as
landscape architects were once known), and the occasional gadfly
who made gardening in the Pacific Northwest what it is today.
A timeline of the milestones in the region's gardening past,
starting in the late 1700s when Europeans began visiting the coast
and ending about 1900. This page is strong on "firsts" -- the first
gardens, first vegetables and fruit, first ornamentals, first
gardeners, first parks, and more. It also notes a few of the smart
moves and good decisions of early gardeners, as well as a few of
those less inspired choices about which later gardeners would ask
"What could they have been thinking?"
In 1892, Seattle hired nationally-recognized landscape gardener
Edward Schwagerl to design its parks. At the time, the city had
three hugely popular private parks, but public parks were still in
their infancy. Schwagerl would soon prepare a grand (some might say
visionary) scheme for the city's parks. It went nowhere. Ten years
later, a boom-town, prosperous Seattle with a new taste for civic
amenities took another run at public parks. Civic leaders imported
the nation's biggest landscape design talent --The Olmsted Bros.
Their plan, which was reminiscent of Schwagerl's in a number of
ways, would change Seattle forever.
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'Bing' Cherry
Developed at Milwaukie, OR, circa 1875.
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Gardening has always had a competitive side, and early gardeners
were immensely proud of the giant vegetables they grew. Records
from local newspapers, fairs, and first-person accounts reveal just
what it took to be a contender. Some of these are big enough to win
competitions today.
The 'Bing' cherry hails from the Northwest. So do plenty of
other first-rate plants. Several of them are biggies —an
International Rose of the Year, prize-winning rhododendrons, giant
green beans, awesome lilies, and other cool plants.
The slimy underbelly of Northwest gardening—slugs,
blackberries, dandelions, scotch broom, and other big mistakes of
gardeners past. Who can we blame for inflicting these invasive,
non-native species on us?
Since Europeans introduced vegetables to the Pacific Northwest,
countless other gardeners have followed in their footsteps,
planting subsistence gardens, Victory gardens, P-Patches, and plain
old backyard gardens throughout the region. So what were vegetables
like back then? Some of them have survived, and are popular again.
This website explores these heirloom vegetables, suggesting which
ones to grow and where to find seeds.
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Historic Gardens and Landscapes
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Old Apple Tree, Vancouver, Washington, circa
1940
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Say hello to some living, photosynthesizing survivors! The
trees, shrubs, roses, and vines on this page were all planted by
pioneers or early gardeners, or are native trees with special ties
to their communities. The oldest plants here date back more than
150 years old, and even the youngsters in the group are pushing the
century mark. This page profiles about two dozen of the oldies but
goodies scattered in gardens, parks, and historic sites around the region.
Step into the way-back machine and see what the region's gardens
and parks, such as Victoria's Butchart Gardens, used to look like.
The public gardens here are restorations or recreations of the
region's past, including kitchen gardens planted by the Hudson's
Bay Company during the fur trade, pioneer rose gardens, Victorian
showplaces, historic conservatories, lavish estate gardens of the
twentieth century, and more.
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Kathy Mendelson prepared this Website. A
botanist by training, she has worked in public gardens, taught
plant science at the community college level, and served as a
consultant and speaker on garden history. She is particularly
interested in the early gardens of the Pacific Northwest.
Last updated: August 15, 2005
URL: http://www.halcyon.com/tmend/nwgardenhistory.htm
Comments?
Send me an e-mail:
tmend@halcyon.com
Copyright © 2001-2005 Kathy Mendelson, All
Rights Reserved
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