Pacific Northwest
Garden History

Cultivating Eden:
200 Years in Northwest Gardens
Or
Gardening from the Days of Tall Ships, Voyageurs, Oregon Trail Emigrants, Pioneer Mothers, Black Robes, Empire Builders, Victorian Ladies, Early Horticulturists, and Other Settlers

People that Made Gardening History   |    Plants from the Past   UPDATED   |  Historic Gardens and Landscapes     | 

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.

People
Dr. John McLoughlin, seen on a vintage postcard.
John McLoughlin, fur-trader and uber-gardener

The Olmsteds in the Pacific Northwest    

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.

Famous People You Never Heard Of

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.

What Did They Grow and When Did They Grow It?

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?"

Edward Otto Schwagerl and the Golden Age of Seattle Park Planning

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.

Plants
Bing cherry
'Bing' Cherry
Developed at Milwaukie, OR, circa 1875.

Weigh-Off Winners from Way Back When   UPDATED  

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.

Local Plant Makes Good

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.

Rogues Gallery

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?

The Heirloom Vegetable Gardener's Assistant

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.

Historic Gardens and Landscapes
Old Apple Tree
Old Apple Tree, Vancouver, Washington, circa 1940

Survivor, Cascadia     NEW!

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.

Historic Gardens to Visit

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.



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.

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Last updated: August 15, 2005
URL: http://www.halcyon.com/tmend/nwgardenhistory.htm

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Copyright © 2001-2005 Kathy Mendelson, All Rights Reserved