Introduction
Planting the Seeds
Cultivating the Garden
The Cultivators
Horticultural Societies and Garden Clubs
Experimental Farms and Seed Nurseries
Botanical Gardens
Heritage Seeds and Gardening
Reaping the Harvest
Bibliography
Photos by Beth Powning
Other Gardening Sites
Acknowledgements |
The Cultivators
Heritage Seeds and Gardening
With the increasing interest in gardening and the development of hybrid seeds came a growing dependence on showy annual flowers that bloom all summer long, and a move away from the charming, often scented, older-fashioned annuals and perennials that once flowered for a few short weeks in the gardens of an earlier period. But soon the pendulum began to swing. Seed experts worried that so many of the heirloom seeds were being lost. Amateur gardeners began to search out the flowers they remembered from the gardens of their childhood, and others they had only read of. The result has been an interest in recreating or maintaining historic gardens, and a desire to add traditional plants to the home garden.
Seeds of Diversity, originally initiated as Heritage Seed Program in 1984 under the auspices of the Canadian Organic Growers, boasts hundreds of members across the country. They seek out endangered seeds (sometimes preserved by a single family) and, through a yearly exchange, give new life to genetic strains that might otherwise be lost. For almost a decade, the driving force behind the program was the appropriately named Heather Apple who managed the organization from her country home in rural Ontario. Maintaining the genetic diversity represented by older strains is essential since changing conditions can easily wipe out the hybrids now so popular. If this happens, a wide range of heritage seeds will be required. "They taste better too," notes Heather Apple. "Once you've tried an heirloom variety of tomato, you won't ever want to go back to those tasteless, tough-skinned things they sell in supermarkets."
| Heather Apple in her living room, surrounded by her carefully sorted and preserved seeds. |
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Haldane, Susan.
"Apple's Seeds: Back to the Future in the Heritage Seed Program Garden," Harrowsmith, No. 89, Vol. XIV, No. 5, January/February 1990. |
| Three times a year since 1984, the organization has published a magazine full of articles on unusual seeds, gardening history, advice on saving seeds, and heritage gardens. |
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Heritage Seed Program.
Uxbridge, Ont.: Vol. 8, No. 1, April 1995. |
| Once Canada was famous for its hundreds of apple varieties, shipped all over the world. Now most of these have all but disappeared as large growers concentrate on the few that are most attractive in appearance, uniform in colour, and resistant to shipping damage. Fortunately, a small number of independent growers are now trying to rebuild the stock of earlier species. |
Koppel, Tom.
"Preserving the Fruits of Yesteryear". Canadian Geographic, November/December 1993. |
| Each year, Seeds of Diversity publishes a 58-page seed listing making available, from individual members, a large number of heirloom seeds. These can be ordered by members to add to their garden and offer to others in following years. |
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Seeds of Diversity: 1997 Seed Listing.
Toronto: Heritage Seed Program, January 1997. |
Sometimes it seems that every hamlet, every village, every city and region has a famous garden. It might be widely renowned and written of in books and travel guides, it might be the subject of a newspaper column from time to time, or it might only be the garden that neighbours love to walk by and introduce to their visitors. Whatever its size or however wide-spread its fame, there is a nearby garden that touches the soul of most of us. Here is a very tiny sample of Canadian well-loved gardens - and some advice for creating a period garden in your own small space.
| Residents of Halifax are justly proud of the Halifax Public Gardens, 16 acres in the centre of the city which form the finest formal Victorian gardens in North America. |
Collins, Louis.
"A Dream of Beauty: The Halifax Public Gardens," Canadian Antique and Arts Review.
Halifax: Vol. 1, No. 9, June 1980. |
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