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Rancho
Los Alamitos in southern California was once part of a vast Spanish
land grant. This cultural landscape includes gardens designed between
1920 and 1936, an adobe ranch house (c. 1800), and early 20th century
barns. For examples and definitions of cultural landscapes, visit
The Cultural Landscape Foundation website: www.tclf.org or www.rancholos-alamitos.com.
Photo © Susan Chamberlin, 1999
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These lists will get you started in your
research, documentation, design, or planting. Check web site
links and the bibliographies and footnotes in books for more
extensive references. |
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Historic Plant Materials |
Gardens and cultural landscapes have many character-defining
features in addition to plants and vegetation, yet plants
can be some of the most difficult things to replace in a
restoration
or reconstruction. Their specific names might not be recorded,
and nurseries today usually carry “improved” selections.
For example, there are hundreds of dahlia cultivars, but
the actual dahlia cultivar grown in a particular garden one
hundred
years ago may not be noted in surviving documents or avaialble
for purchase.
Many old varieties are actually lost. Others are no longer
stocked by nurseries, although they can be obtained from
dedicated gardeners and horticulturists. Sometimes a
replacement from
the same time period or that closely duplicates the qualities
of an heirloom plant must be substituted, especially in
situations where pests or diseases make it impossible
to grow the original
variety.
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“Working beds” at the Elizabeth
F. Gamble garden in Palo Alto, a community horticultural
foundation.
Photo © Susan Chamberlin, 2003 |
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A vernacular garden in the Los Rios Historic
District of San Juan Capistrano.
Photo © Susan Chamberlin, 2003 |
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Plants that were grown long ago are often
called “heirloom” or “heritage” plants
or “antique” varieties. These terms may have
precise definitions, but many people use them casually or
simply say, “old” or “historic” plants.
Whatever term you prefer, it is essential to choose a
species, cultivar, or variety appropriate to a historic time
period and not a modern selection of the same genus and species.
This includes lawn grasses. |
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The following resources can help you find information
about historic plants or locate them in retail nurseries: |
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“Contemporary Sources for Heirloom
Plants” (Appendix C) in Restoring American
Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants,
1640-1940 by Denise Wiles Adams (Timber Press, Portland OR, 2004)
is a useful, general reference, however, it is important
to remember that nursery businesses come and go, and
their plant stock changes constantly.
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The Anderson Horticultural
Library maintains a database of sources for plants by
scientific or cultivar name, but it is available only
to subscribers, so access is usually from botanic garden
or arboretum libraries.
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www.crfg.org – members
of the California Rare Fruit Growers network for each
other and “Fruit
Facts from their web site and journal often has information
about old fruit varieties."
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www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu – the web site
of the University of California, Riverside, Citrus Variety
Collection has extensive information on citrus fruits.
Not a retail nursery, although they may direct you to
sources. |
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Old Mission Huerta Project (a repository and living
museum for mission era heritage plants, Jerry Sortomme,
manager) c/o Kristina Foss, Santa Barbara Mission Museum
Director, 2201 Laguna St. Santa Barbara, CA 93105 |
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Old roses number in the thousands, and they are
probably the most studied and available heirloom plants.
An Internet search will turn up many cultivars. The Heritage
Rose Foundation sponsors conferences and has information
specific to California: www.heritagerosefoundation.org |
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www.monticello.org – click on “Center
for Historic Plants” for Twinleaf Journal articles;
Twinleaf seeds and plants are available through the Monticello
Online shop. |
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www.rhs.org.uk – Royal Horticultural Society
(London) maintains a database of UK plant and seed sources—some
ship internationally. |
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For Help with Scientific Names |
Check the database maintained by The International Plant
Names Index: www.ipni.org. |
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Books and Articles |
The History of Landscape Architecture web
site maintained by the University of California at Berkeley
is a superb bibliography: www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/histland.html
The most extensive scholarly treatment of California landscape history to date is California Gardens:
Creating a New Eden by David C. Streatfield
published by Abbeville Press in 1994. It was based
on a series of in-depth articles by the author. See
his bibliography. |
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An earlier, essential reference
is Victoria Padilla’s book, Southern
California Gardens: An Illustrated History (UC
Press, 1961) reprinted by Allen A. Knoll Publishing,
Santa Barbara, in 1994. |
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Harry M. Butterfield (1887-1970)
remains the best California horticultural historian. His
original articles published in The California Horticultural
Journal (later Pacific Horticulture) and his unpublished
papers (archived at the University of California, Davis)
were the basis for Judith M. Taylor
and
Harry M. Butterfield, Tangible Memories: Californians
and Their Gardens, 1800-1950, a book published in 2003
by Xlibris
Corporation.
A revised edition of Michael R. Hardwick’s book, Changes
in Landscape: The Beginnings of Horticulture in the
California Missions (originally published by the Santa Barbara Mission
in 2002) is available from Paragon Agency, Orange, CA.
There are many entries devoted to California designers
in Pioneers of American Landscape Design, edited
by Charles A. Birnbaum
and Robin Karson (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000). An
expanded encyclopedia is forthcoming.
For preservation standards see Charles A. Birnbaum,
editor with Christine Capella Peters: The Secretary
of the Interior’s
Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines
for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes published by the U.S.
Department of the Interior National Park Service, Washington,
DC, 1996. |
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Links |
While the Internet is a superb research tool, many primary
source materials can only be found in the archives of local
historical societies and park departments, in library special
collections, or in the homes of the descendants of historic
properties.
The following sites were selected for their relevance to
our mission. Browse their links and the Internet for other
resources.
If a link doesn’t work, try the full name of the organization
in your favorite search engine.
www.gardens.si.edu/ Horticultural Services Division, Smithsonian
Institution, includes the Archives of American Gardens and
the W. Atlee Burpee Collectio
www.tclf.org - The Cultural Landscape Foundation
www.ahlp.org - Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation
www2.cr.nps.gov/hli - National Park Service Historic Landscape
Initiative
www.californiacoastline.org – California Coastal Records
Project aerial photographic survey
www.sah.org - Society of Architectural Historians
has a Northern California and a Southern
California chapter
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/histland.html - History of Landscape Architecture bibliography maintained
by the University
of California at
Berkeley library
www.huntington.org - Huntington Library,
Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
www.ohp.parks.ca.gov/ - Office
of Historic Preservation,
California
www.parks.ca.gov - California
State Parks
www.ceres.ca.gov - California
Environmental Resources
Evaluation System (CERES)
www.gardens.si.edu/ - Horticultural
Services Division, Smithsonian
Institution, includes
the Archives
of American Gardens
www.lalh.org – The Library of American Landscape History
www.archives.gov/research_room/arc/ - NARA (U.S.
National Archives & Records
Administration Online Archival Research Catalog “ARC”)
CGLHS does
not endorse
or assume
liability
for the
accuracy
or availability of these sites. |
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