February 18, 2009  

Congratulations, Sullivan County, on the upcoming celebration of your Bicentennial. Congratulations, also, to the Gerry Foundation and Sullivan Renaissance entering your ninth year partnering in your dedicated and tireless effort to promote community pride and awareness for the rest of the world to witness. Two hundred years of established history and nine years of making new history. What a Valentine to the county and its citizens. 

There are stories associated with them that include their historic role in almost every field: science, medicine, literature, folklore, geography, philosophy, archeology, state fairs, and garden competitions, and their genetic heritage is an object of study and fascination. 

Whether annual, perennial, bulb, shrub, tree or vine, they often exhibit special characteristics in addition to their extraordinary beauty and distinctive shape and color. Anyone wishing to reconnect with the past need only visit any of hundreds of seed sources of these amazing old world plants and flowers. 

Their vigor attests to their toughness, their ability to survive. They might possess drought resistance, pest resistance including the four legged kind, and unusual cold tolerance. They might possess unknown traits that make them so durable. They have been, after all, bred for gardens by gardeners, and saved by way of seed that will always breed true. Once wild or derived from wild species, they have evolved to be collected and treasured. Some even retain that "wild" look. 

Heritage plants often come with unusual and sometimes striking colors and forms. Modern hybridizers still cannot duplicate the old fashioned heirlooms. Their ruggedness challenges the perceptions of their beauty with the sensual dimension they add with fragrance. It's not very long ago that we heard quite frequently that today's roses just don't have the fragrance, the beautiful smell of the roses of yesteryear. It is so true. The perfume aroma has mostly been bred out of them in favor of longer cut life, pest tolerance, faster rate of growth and bloom, etc. 

Most if not all of the antique plants and seeds available today are regionally adapted and thrive in a variety of climates and challenging situations. They are pollinated the old fashioned way, by nature's enlisted assistants: the insects, birds, wind and rain. History has dictated to her admiring servants (us) to collect the seeds of those so good that they need to be saved and passed on so they are never lost. 

In other words, grow heirloom plants to save rare and endangered varieties from extinction. Some are living artifacts resulting from human intervention and possessing unique genetic material that might be lost forever, if you, or someone, doesn't grow them. 

Another consideration to the history-loving side of our nature is to plant a period garden: Arts-and-Crafts, Colonial, or Victorian. Choose plants popular and in use at the time. It's a marriage between gardening, architecture and history. All the additional hardscape (inanimate) elements will only enhance the garden/landscape, if they are tastefully employed. Pick a time frame. Southern plantation? Go to it. There's plenty to chose from and still be true to history. You might consider a fragrance garden, a color garden, a historic garden, or even a personal sentimental garden. It's not only fun, but it's educational, responsible, sustainable and good citizenship. 

In olden times they were called "passalong" flowers or seeds. These went from generation to generation, neighbor to neighbor, gardener to gardener. These were the "keepers". With 1951 came a widespread introduction of new hybrid varieties. Here seems to be the cut-off date for calling an heirloom an "heirloom", or "antique", or "heritage". We know some heirlooms are several hundred years old. All must be open pollinated and must produce plants like the parent from seed. These are the only restrictions. 

So, if you want to introduce some heirloom plants into your gardens, think first whether you want annuals, perennial, biennials, bulbs, shrubs, trees and vines. With thousands to choose from and recommend, I'll confine myself to some outstanding collections and make references accordingly. The sky is virtually the limit, however, and the number of reliable seed sources seems equally plentiful. 

From the heirloom display garden at the National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution, I suggest a few: 

	Buddleja davidii, Butterfly Bush, a summer blooming deciduous shrub.		Cercis canadensis, Redbud, a small deciduous tree with strong pink flowers in early spring.
	Magnolia x soulangiana, Saucer magnolia, a deciduous tree/shrub with white and pink large showy flowers.		Astilbe species, False goat's beard, perennial spirea, white or pink flower spikes in summer.
	Photinia pyrifolia, Red chokeberry, white flowers in spring, red berries in fall, attractive to birds.		Callicarpa japonica, Beautyberry, deciduous shrub, white spring flowers and bright pink berries in fall.
	Impatiens balsamina, Garden balsam, annual, single or double flowers June through most of the summer, from white to pink to purples.		Phlox paniculata, Garden phlox, perennial, very fragrant white, red, purple summer flowers.
	Antirrhinum majus, Snapdragon, annual flowers in very many colors.		Rudbeckia hirta, Black-eyed Susan, fast spreading perennial native, summer flowering yellow daisy-like flowers.
	Canna indica, Canna lily, tender perennial bulb, large banana-like foliage with spikes of lily-like flowers in a variety of colors.		Hydrangea quercifolia, Oak leaf hydrangea, deciduous, climbing shrub, white to pink flowers.
	Ageratum houstonianum, Mist flower, annual, white, pink, purple and blue flowers depending on variety in mid-summer.		Clethra alnifolia, Summersweet, deciduous shrub, white or pink fragrant summer flowers, and attractive seed pods.
	Lavendula augustifolia, English lavender, perennial herb, fragrant purple flowers early summer, fragrant foliage.

Having had the opportunity to visit Thomas Jefferson's extraordinary gardens at Monticello, Virginia several years ago, I have remained in a permanent state of awe over this world-class achievement. No study of heirloom plants in America could be conceived of without some inclusion of his plant collections. 

The Iris collection at the Center for Historic Plants at Tufton Farm alone embraces forty-nine prized irises, one as early as 1672, Iris swerti, white stitched purple, and nine others, pre-1900s. 

The Dianthus collection includes forty-five antique varieties including D. Queen of Sheba, and D. Essex Witch among the lot. 

The antique rose collection in the border at the Tufton Farm includes sixty-eight exquisite specimens including some pre 1600s such as Rosa cinnamomea 'Plena' Double Cinnamon among others. None, however, equals the exquisite and powerfully fragrant Damask rose, La Ville de Bruxelles, bred by Vibert, France, 1849. 

In 1998 an important addition was begun as the Leonie Bell Noisette Rose Collection and currently includes thirty Noisettes. Some rare and one of a kind selections are there, such as Faded Pink Monthly and Aunt Louisa Rose, but some other less rare additions add dimensions never dreamed of as to their beauty and fragrance as contributors to the collection. 

I've yet to even mention some important bulbs such as tulips, lilies, tuberoses, hyacinths, narcissus, daffodils, crocus, and scillas. Many of these can be naturalized and bloom season after season for decades without any further attention, or, at least minimal attention. Every gardener knows the more attention, usually the greater the rewards. 

And, then there are the other countless heirloom varieties of pansies, nasturtiums, gladioli, dahlias, and zephyr lilies. Have you heard of zephyr lilies? Zephyranthes grandiflora, PINK RAIN LILY, 1825. "Luscious as a bowl of raspberry sherbet" wrote Elizabeth Lawrence of this, "the best known of all zephyr lilies." With grass-like foliage and rosy pink flowers on 6-10 inch stems, mostly in early summer, it was brought to the US from Central America in 1825." The previous quote is from Old House Gardens Heirloom Flower Bulbs. Go to www.oldhousegardens.com. The website is replete with hundreds of wonderful educational links. 

Have I mentioned the antique varieties of sweet peas from the 1820s, or Painted Lady runner beans first introduced in England by John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I in 1633? I know I have not until now. This field of study is vast and has hundreds of books dedicated to it. 

So, whether you are seeking the Kaiser Wilhelm Dahlia, some "true broken tulips", or the guinea-hen flower, Fritillaria melagris (traced back to 1572), rest assured that somewhere out there you find seeds you seek to carry on the noble tradition of growing antique plants for future generations. 

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. 
- Marcel Proust 

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on February 18, 2009

© 2009 Ed Mues. All Rights Reserved.

eMail:  eGarden@MountainAir.us