Vintage Wisconsin Gardens : a History of Home Gardening.

261 Pages·2011·13.955 MB·English

by  Lee Somerville

Published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Publishers since 1855
© 2011 by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
E-book edition 2013
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wisconsinhistory.org
Photographs identified with WHi or WHS are from the Society’s collections; address
requests to reproduce these photos to the Visual Materials Archivist at the Wisconsin
Historical Society, 816 State Street, Madison, WI 53706.
Back cover: WHi Image ID 27008
Frontmatter photo credits: page v: Cadwell & Jones, 1900 Catalogue of Seeds and
Agricultural Implements; page vi: Vick’s Monthly Magazine, November 1878; page viii:
Vick’s Monthly Magazine, February 1879; page xii: Vick’s Monthly Magazine, June 1882;
pages xiv–xx: illustrations adapted from Vick’s Monthly Magazine, June 1879; page xvi:
Vick’s Monthly Magazine, November 1879.
Designed by Steve Biel
15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Somerville, Lee.
Vintage Wisconsin gardens : a history of home gardening / Lee Somerville ; foreword by
Arnold R. Alanen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87020-475-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Gardening—Wisconsin—History. 2.
Gardens—Wisconsin—History. I. Title.
SB451.34.W6S66 2011
635.909775—dc22
2011001830
Dedicated to Wisconsin gardeners,
past, present, and future

Contents
FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
1 Changing Ideals in Nineteenth-Century American Vernacular Gardens
2 From Farmstead to Village
3 The Pleasures and Benefits of Amateur Horticulture
4 Beautifying the Home Grounds
5 Graceful Vines and Sweet Wild Roses: Recommended Plants
6 In the Wisconsin Garden—Yesterday and Today
APPENDIX: RECOMMENDED VARIETIES
NOTES
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Foreword
Any observant person who travels throughout present-day Wisconsin cannot
help but notice that well-tended, orderly, and often imaginative gardens,
yards, and lawns appear in abundance throughout the state. Whether in rural,
suburban, or urban areas, many Wisconsin residents take a strong interest in
creating, making, and maintaining the outdoor spaces that serve as settings
for their homes and farmsteads.
The origins of these present-day residential spaces, which collectively
form a major portion of the state’s overall cultural landscape, may be traced
back to the mid-nineteenth century—a time when some areas of Wisconsin
began to undergo the transition from frontier conditions to a more
domesticated and “civilized” environment. Granted, the changes did not
occur overnight, even as Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848 and its
population expanded from 31,000 in 1840 to 776,000 in 1860. During this
twenty-year period Wisconsin’s American- and foreign-born residents mined
ore, developed townsites, and cleared land for agricultural purposes.
Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, the foundation for Wisconsin’s
quintessential dairy farm landscape began to emerge, and its towns and cities
attracted increasing numbers of inhabitants. By 1920, when the population
total exceeded 2.6 million people, the state’s settlement framework was in
place, and Wisconsin was fully integrated into all facets of national life and
activity. It is the period described above, from the 1840s to 1930, that Lee
Somerville covers in Vintage Wisconsin Gardens: A History of Home
Gardening.
Unlike the majority of American garden history books, which focus on
formal and “high style” examples, this volume features vernacular gardens—
the outdoor spaces that Wisconsinites themselves created for their own use
and enjoyment. For the most part, these people did not have access to a
professional landscape designer, or the monetary resources to hire one;
however, there was an organization that could provide them with free garden-
related advice: the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, formed during the