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Garden Restoration

1920s home, would like period plants

8 years ago

Live in California, Zone 9 - would like to have period piece plants for my landscapping. Where can I get a list of trees, shrubs, flowers, etc...

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Comments (4)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I doubt you are going to find any conclusive list of plants used during that period - the 20's are considered the "golden age" of California gardening and the plant palette was huge, depending on where exactly the garden was located. Pretty much any plant that is not a recently developed cultivar or hybrid could be appropriate.

You are going to need to do some research. And rather than focusing on specific plants, you should be looking more at overall garden style. Check out the works of CA landscape architects Thomas Church and Garrett Eckbo, who were very active and influential during that period. Also take some time to visit some of the public gardens available - estates such as the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Filoli
in Woodside, Lotusland in Santa Barbara and Luther Burbank's home and garden in Santa Rosa are all characteristic of this
era. Monterey also has a remarkable collection of historic, 20's era private gardens although most are now under the auspices of the CA Department of Parks and Recreation and are open to the public.

Sunset magazine has been publishing since the turn of the last century and has been documenting CA gardening (both styles and plants) over these many years perhaps better and in more detail than any other publication. Any good library in CA should have archival copies available for you to peruse.

Also, The California Landscape Garden: Ecology, Culture, and Design, by Mark Francis and Andreas Reimann would be a good text to consult. It provides essential information on native plants and wildlife, ecology
and bioregionalism, landscape history and design concepts that are appropriate to the time period. It is currently out of print but can be found on Amazon and in libraries.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
8 years ago
Eckbo is more post-WWII than 1920's.

Certainly a native California oak, and citrus would be very appropriate. Both iconic.

Church and Eckbo
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chas045
7 years ago
Never even aware of this site. Presumably you would want to be more precise on your zone in Sunset terms, not the national zones. It really depends exactly where you live. You can't function without a Sunset Western Garden Book.
Sarah Faircloth
7 years ago
I would try and find (google) 1920s botanical illustrations or find period photos of the area to get an idea of how the gardens looked and what was within them.
You may not get a list, but you can probably narrow it down with a little research.

Try looking up antique garden club notes for your area. Email the local historian, they have ALL KINDS of items, including historical pictures of well known houses from the area.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/51369251975886132/

You could also try looking for period home plans for the area. A lot of the time the illustrations included surrounding gardens
For example, heres a 1920s post card from California depicting a home
https://www.etsy.com/listing/213382317/southern-california-postcard-craftsman

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