Book of the Week: Old Time Gardens (from 1901)

The black and white pictures in Old Time Gardens by Alice Morse Earle were the ‘hook’ for me. The Internet Archive has if you are willing to read it online; it’s the way I perused it - primarily for the pictures. There is also a version of the historical book published in 2005 and 'in print' from Amazon

Early on there is a photograph of the gardens at Mount Vernon (George Washington’s home) and I knew I would want to look all the way through. I found myself checking to see if some of the named gardens/locations still existed as gardens. One was a farm that was going through restoration - although the house was mentioned more prominently than the garden.

The other thoughts I have when looking at books of this vintage are historical. The book is a perspective of what the world was like for our great grandparents or great - great grandparents. It is heartening to understand that gardens in 1901 are something that gave joy then and the same types of places today are still pleasurable.

Brookside Gardens (Maryland) in December

Brookside Gardens has their seasonal 'Garden of Lights' happening in the evenings but I went during the day for a winter walk. With the early winter foliage and the intricacies of the lighting displays, there was plenty to see. The bulbs for next spring have been planted under netting but there was a squirrel that escaped with at least one bulb while I was there.

The sea monster/dragon (with a smaller one by its side) looks a lot less fierce in the daytime than it does at night. It fits well in the drained pool in the garden near the conservatory.

The lights used to make this flower were very densely packed....quite a bright glow along the pathway through the gardens.