Havens for Heirlooms
by Steve Dryden

For a few special nurseries and seed companies, preserving the history and beauty of heirloom annuals, perennials, and bulbs is a labor of love.

For many years, Scott Kunst led walking tours of historic landscapes during which he told stories about the plants that filled those treasured places. Within a few hours’ drive of East Michigan University, where he taught, were impressive properties such as the Belle Isle park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Henry Ford home in Dearborn, landscaped by the legendary Jens Jensen.

“People would say, ‘I didn’t know plants had a history!’” Kunst recalls. He also learned that landscape experts tend to be more conversant with the theory and practice of design than they are with the historical background of the plants that are the essence of a beautiful setting.

Intrigued by old things in the earth ever since he searched for fossils as a child, Kunst became alarmed in the early 1990s when he noticed that gardening catalogs were dropping some classic bulb cultivars, such as the 150-year-old ‘Prince of Austria’, a super-fragrant red tulip.

Feeling a responsibility akin to “saving the last two giant pandas,” Kunst started his business, Old House Gardens, with a six-page catalog. Today, the Ann Arbor-based mailorder and retail nursery offers about 250 bulb varieties, including ‘Maximus’ daffodils, which date to the 16th century, and the 13th-century English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta).

Dahlias are another of Kunst’s favorite heirlooms. Originally found in Mexico and Central America, dahlias became the rage in Europe around 1800. Then, purveyors of live dahlia tubers so penetrated the American market that farmers in Indiana had the flowers blooming in the 1840s. “They were, along with tulips, one of the most popular American plants of the 19th century, ” says Kunst.

The names given to many of the dahlias testify to their European sojourn: the yellow and burgundy ‘Kaiser Wilhelm’, the red and white ‘Union Jack’, and the golden-orange ‘Prinses Beatrix’.

When he started his business, Kunst thought he’d be selling his heirloom varieties mostly to people living in elaborately restored 19th-century or earlier homes. But he quickly discovered the interest in heirlooms is much more widespread. “Many people are looking for something different, like tulips with a wonderful scent,” he says.

Also, “through living plants, there’s a chance for a connection to the past,” Kunst observes. “Customers say, ‘I’m so glad you have that, because my grandmother grew it’, or, ‘My mom and dad had that flower on the altar when they were married.’”

Kunst is by no means the only entrepreneur passionate about saving these treasured antiques. In the hurly-burly world of 21st-century commercial horticulture, where new introductions get the lion’s share of publicity, a number of American nurseries still see the value of seeking out heirlooms.

PRESERVING OUR HISTORY

In fact, there seems to be a “back to the future” trend in the ornamental gardening world. “There has definitely been an upswing of interest in heirlooms over the last decade,” says Denise Adams, author of Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640–1940 (see “Resources,” page 41). “When I attend plant conferences, my talk on heirloom ornamentals typically generates as much interest as presentations on new cultivars.”

Adams believes the interest has been sparked by a combination of nostalgia, an increase in use of heirlooms at historic sites, and perhaps some momentum from the revival in heirloom vegetables. She also points to the importance of preserving heirloom plants to ensure the diversity of the ornamental gene pool. “Who knows what these historic plants could contribute to future plant breeding programs,” she says.

But Adams concedes that most people purchasing heirloom plants are not thinking about the gene pool. “The plants are important because they connect us to an experience a forebear may have had—a parent, grandparent, or aunt.”

Adams vividly remembers an occasion when she asked attendees at one of her lectures to describe any plants that had a connection with their families. “One woman burst into tears before she even started talking; she associated a particular plant with her grandmother, and it was a very emotional connection,” she recalls.

HEIRLOOMS, CALIFORNIA STYLE

Annie Hayes, founder of Annie’s Annuals, has a strong focus on heirlooms and cottage garden plants at her San Francisco Bay-area nursery. “Even in a Starbucked-world, where everything is the same, everything is grown from plugs, people still respond to plants nurtured the old-fashioned way,” she says. Among Hayes’ diverse offerings of annuals, biennials, tender perennials, vines, and shrubs are more than 200 California and West Coast natives.

Hayes got her start in horticulture at the locally famed Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, which has been selling native plants and rare exotics for more than 80 years.…

Photo credits: Courtesy of Henry Ford Estate. Courtesy of Old House Gardens

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