May/June 2000

Notes From River Farm
 

Victorian Style Comes Full Circle 
by Janet Walker

Returning by plane from a winter vacation earlier this year, I happened to catch my first glimpse of River Farm from the air. Primed then in the chilly grays and umbers of early March, it was like a canvas waiting to receive our impressions; the palette and style were ours to choose. 

There is, quite literally, a lot of ground to cover here, so no single treatment will work throughout. We are addressing the overall design of the gardens one step at a time, beginning with the areas closest to the main house, which is visually dominant from most angles and serves as the centerpiece of the grounds. 

Built around 1900, at the very end of the American Victorian period in gardening, the house has seen many changes in gardening taste and style in its first century of life. For this reason, the garden beds immediately surrounding it-which contain historically important foundation plantings such as River Farm's famous boxwoods-present intriguing challenges in selecting appropriate seasonal accents. 

Given the current revival of interest in some of the standards of Victorian gardening-bright colors, novelties, and especially the period annuals-this spring we decided the best way to bridge the two centuries is by planting annuals popular in the Victorian era around the house and in cutting gardens on other parts of the grounds. 

Choosing Period Annuals Like the Victorian style itself, some of these annuals had fallen from grace. For a while, rocket larkspur (Consolida ambigua) and love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) were out of favor and even hard to find commercially, but now there's a renewed fascination with heirloom plants such as these. 

Others, like pot-marigold (Calendula officinalis) and zinnia, have remained favorites. Cultivated for centuries, unimproved species such as Zinnia haageana are often smaller, tougher, and in many cases more fragrant than their hybridized counterparts. And then there are "wallflowers" such as painted tongue (Salpiglossis sinuata)-a lovely annual that has for some reason always been in the background, and never really enjoyed a heyday. 

Pansies are underfoot everywhere these days, and their progenitor, the Johnny-jump-up (Viola tricolor), deserves our thanks and recognition. Bachelor's button (Centaurea cyanus) was enormously popular in the early 1900s, and cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) had just been introduced. 

The excellent, everlasting globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) and the native calliopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) are other period annuals perfect for our setting, and the common sunflower (Helianthus annuus), again surging in popularity, will join them. All of these annuals are good for cutting and easy to grow. 

Although deadheading and pinching back are often necessary for best results, this is part of the fun of gardening. Most of these plants need good sun and tend not to bloom well if the soil is too rich, but this doesn't seem overly picky. 

Many make up for it by being drought-resistant and self-sowing, and are therefore good helpers in the garden, especially in the late summer months when a splash of color is especially welcome. They ought to come in handy around your house, too. 

Janet Walker is director of horticulture at River Farm.