The Victorian period was characterised by progress, industrialization, and world journey. This speedy change created a eager for extra and the unique but additionally a nostalgia for a time when issues had been easy and protected. Understanding these competing influences may also help you admire the cut up character of the Victorian backyard.
On the one hand, you had inflexible mattress strains and geometric construction, with clipped evergreens and ornate topiary. These design components represented the order, opulence, and restraint that after outlined British society. However, you had a riot of shade and crops from faraway lands, mingling recklessly with one another and spilling over their harsh borders. This represented an appreciation for creativity and a want to interrupt the principles.
The identical philosophy and design components apply to Victorian-style backyard design at present. In case you personal a Victorian residence (identifiable by its high-pitched roof, ornate trim work, and colourful paint scheme), planning a period-appropriate backyard can really feel like a frightening process, even for a seasoned inexperienced thumb!
That can assist you make knowledgeable backyard choices, we’ve assembled an inventory of 21 crops that pair properly with Victorian structure and embrace the overarching philosophy of managed chaos. Learn on for an in depth have a look at their distinctive traits, preferences, and utilization.
Boxwood
All conventional Victorian gardens start and finish with boxwood crops. Use the compact, shapeable shrubs to create borders, punctuate mattress strains, and present year-round evergreen construction.
Though they fluctuate in dimension, shade, and behavior, all boxwoods have small, densely packed leaves for shearing into hedges, orbs, or topiary figures. Strive ‘Franklin’s Gem’ or ‘Inexperienced Mound’ for orbs and ‘Inexperienced Velvet’ for hedges.
Chinese language Juniper
Use smaller species of this slow-growing conifer for specimen crops, hedge screens, or anchor factors in a Victorian panorama. The foliage is darkish inexperienced to sage blue in shade and bushy in behavior. It responds properly to pruning and shaping, adapting to a spiral or pompon minimize simply.
Juniper stays inexperienced in winter. It has a pleasing scent and produces small, blue-green berries which might be engaging to birds. Plant ‘Skyrocket’ for tight rows and appreciable peak or ‘Spiral Blue Level’ for twisting whimsy.
Holly
This versatile evergreen is a Victorian backyard go-to for tall, slender hedging. Its waxy, darkish inexperienced leaves have prickly margins. Its department construction may be very dense, so it handles a flat prune fairly properly. Use it to create privateness or outline a backyard ‘room’ in conventional Victorian type.
Holly gives small white flowers in spring and prolific clusters of purple berries in late summer time. Berries will typically persist lengthy into the winter, giving this plant some vivid shade and a heavy dose of Christmas allure. Plant ‘Marginata’ for yellow and inexperienced variegated foliage and 40-foot mature peak.
This plant is classed as an invasive species in Oregon, California, and Alaska. It has additionally invaded Yosemite Nationwide Park and Redwood Nationwide Park. In case you reside in one in every of these areas, keep away from planting or seek the advice of your extension workplace earlier than buying and planting.
Crab
This flowering fruit tree was a preferred alternative for Victorian gardeners who wished to attempt their palms on the rising artwork of espalier. Merely put, that is the method of encouraging a tree or shrub to develop flat towards a fence or laborious wall. As a result of it freed up house and allowed for clear, straight strains, espaliered crops had been a preferred Victorian backyard staple.
Crab timber take properly to the managed construction, provide an abundance of sweet-smelling flowers in spring, and produce edible fruit in fall. ‘Sargent’ is the most well-liked crab for espalier, maxing out at 12 ft and providing small white flowers and purple fruit.
Dahlia
Native to Mexico and South America, the dahlia was a favourite in Victorian gardens trying to highlight crops from unique places. Distinctly tropical, with a excessive tolerance for warmth and drought, dahlias are available in a broad spectrum of colours and a very good vary of heights.
Leggy and infrequently top-heavy, with some blooms spanning 12 inches in diameter, dahlia works properly within the confines of an evergreen border reminiscent of boxwood. Its blooms final an extended whereas in a vase, which makes them well-liked within the chopping backyard. Virtually any selection will do in a Victorian backyard.
Geranium
Native to Africa and Australia, annual geranium (to not be confused with perennial geranium, or ‘cranesbill’), was a Victorian backyard staple. They provide season-long curiosity in a kaleidoscope of colours. Their whimsical, floppy behavior seems beautiful within the floor and in containers.
Geraniums are nice for newbie gardeners as a result of they’re really easy to develop. They aren’t hardy, however you may deliver them indoors for winter and put them again out every spring.
Petunia
Symbolizing consolation, ardour, and hope, the petunia is one other Victorian favourite. Selectively hardy in zones 10 and 11, it’s thought-about an annual in most components of the world. It’s grown simply by seed and produces a riot of shade from spring to fall.
Its five-lobed, funnel-shaped flowers spill properly out of a raised mattress or backyard urn, providing quantity and traditional flower pleasure. Strive a trailing selection like ‘Flash Mob Redtastic’ for a daring, unique hanging basket or ‘Picnic Purple’ for easy magnificence.
Cleome
Also referred to as ‘spider plant’ or ‘spider flower,’ cleome is grown as an annual in a lot of the world. This South American native gained reputation throughout the Victorian period for its unique character. It options six to eight-inch racemes and extra-long stamen resembling spider legs. Coloring is often white, pink, purple, or purple.
Leaf construction is dense and bushy, notably after pinching. Strive ‘Fountain Mix’ for multi-colored blooms and a 3 to five-foot peak. This plant advantages from being contained by a inflexible dwelling border.
Verbena
This North American native has a wide-spreading behavior. It produces mounds of showy, pom-shaped blooms in shades of purple and pink. It really works properly as a filler plant in an upright Victorian urn. Strive it as a bedding plant in a parterre or divided flower backyard, too.
For a tall, leggy selection to plant behind a row of evergreen orbs, attempt ‘Brazilian Vervain.’ Work some trailing ‘Whiteout’ right into a porch container to play a impartial spiller position.
Pansy
Though it’s perennial (or biennial) in zones 6-10, pansy has a brief lifespan. It’s usually thought-about an annual flower. Victorian gardens prized this perky plant for its cheerful character, early spring shade, and tolerance for cool climate.
Like most of the different annuals on this listing, pansy wows in a big mass as a bedding plant. It additionally makes a candy assertion within the container backyard. Since Victorian gardening favored a broad palette of shade, you may’t go mistaken with any cultivar from this plant group.
English Ivy
The proper plant to hyperlink a house with its backyard, English ivy was allowed to ramble freely up a house’s exterior partitions throughout the Victorian period. Ivy was thought-about an emblem of immortality.
When planning a modern-day Victorian backyard, plant ivy the place it may be managed and maintained. It spreads shortly and is taken into account invasive in lots of areas. Strive ‘Glacier’ for its engaging gray-green leaves with white margins or ‘Needlepoint’ for its delicate foliage and shiny inexperienced coloring.
Rose
An emblem of traditional love, roses had been featured closely within the Victorian panorama. Because the gardening bug started to unfold by Europe, inexperienced thumbs in every single place had been studying to prune and management these previously wild shrubs. Accessible in a rainbow of colours and a variety of sizes, roses contributed to the general vibe of extra and enthusiasm.
With lengthy, prickled stems that usually create a leggy stature, roses look fantastic when fronted by a low hedge of boxwood or yew. Use smaller floribunda roses for a diminutive backyard scale or climbing roses to create an outside front room ‘wall.’
Rhododendron
Rhododendrons lend early spring curiosity to the Victorian backyard. Providing massive lots of five-lobed flowers in colours of pink, white, purple, and purple, rhododendron crops are native to the mountainous areas of Asia and Australia and had been coveted for his or her profusion of flowers.
As an understory plant, azaleas thrive with filtered daylight, which makes them a perfect alternative for a Victorian backyard within the proximity of a mature shade tree. Strive ‘Strawberry Ice’ for deep pink buds and peachy-yellow flowers or ‘Southern Indica’ for a number of flower colours on a single plant.
Parlor Palm
As journey to unique lands turned extra out there to them, gardeners within the Victorian period had been obsessive about all issues tropical. Anxious to incorporate some crops from faraway areas within the panorama, gardeners gravitated towards crops like parlor palm, which had darkish evergreen foliage and a agency upright construction.
A fan of places with minimal sunshine, parlor palms are often known as bar room crops for his or her excessive shade tolerance. Use them for east-facing entrance porch urns which may be sunny solely within the morning. Strive ‘Variegata’ for vibrant white leaf margins and pair it with a colourful spiller plant for a lush, Victorian-worthy show.
Fern
Within the mid-1800s, Victorian gardeners entered a interval referred to as the ‘fern craze.’ With world journey and literature opening eyes to this distinctive plant type, an obsession with all issues curled, twisted, and fringed took root.
Plant ‘Big Chain Fern,’ which reaches heights of eight ft, as an unique anchor in your maze backyard. Work ‘Dwarf Maiden Hair, right into a small pot on the entrance porch for a candy accent, or use ‘Ostrich Fern’ to melt an unpleasant wall or constructing airplane that doesn’t get a lot solar.
Coleus
Hardy solely in hotter zones however propagated simply by seed or chopping, coleus crops are one other Asian tropical native that Victorian gardeners had been drawn to. With massive, showy leaves in a mess of colours and a excessive shade tolerance, coleus works properly on the northern aspect of the house or within the shade of a mature tree or shrub. Strive ‘Dragonheart’ for a festive purple and inexperienced container show or ‘Lime Time’ for a mass of chartreuse in a divided mattress.
Lavender
A fascination with robust, unique scents attracted Victorian gardeners to crops like lavender. With an upright fan form and spikes of whorled flowers in shades of purple or white, lavender holds its personal as a specimen plant or a linear backyard component.
Blooming all summer time and filling the backyard air with its distinct aroma, lavender holds a particular place within the Victorian gardener’s coronary heart. Plant ‘Hidcote’ in a small-scale potager backyard or ‘Provence’ for slightly extra peak and a bushy behavior.
Rosemary
One other kitchen backyard darling, rosemary supplies each type and performance within the Victorian panorama. Its long-needled foliage was valued for its robust, spicy scent and used for each potpourri and cooking functions.
Its flowers appeal to an array of pollinators and birds to the backyard. Plant ‘Arpo’ in the event you’re searching for tall, vertical construction or ‘Prostratus’ for a low-creeping floor cowl with shiny purple flowers.
Thyme
Victorian gardeners prized thyme for each its medicinal and culinary properties. Native to southwest Europe and Italy, thyme is an fragrant herb with rolled blue-green foliage and whorls of white or purple flowers in mid-summer.
Some Victorian gardens included a ‘rockery,’ which featured stones or gathered hardscapes from their travels. Thyme was typically employed to cowl the bottom because it spreads shortly round small objects to cowl the earth. ‘Slim Leaf French’ has white flowers and high-quality grey leaves. ‘Orange Balsam’ has a definite orange scent and slender, engaging leaves.
Hyacinth
No Victorian backyard could be full with out a riot of spring shade. Along with tulips and different tried and true flowering bulbs, hyacinths had been well-liked for his or her early bloom time, massive flower dimension, and powerful scent. Cultivated from the Mediterranean and components of Turkey, hyacinth flowers had been thought-about unique and given a particular place close to many Victorian entryways.
Providing sturdy spikes of complicated, cylindrical flowers, hyacinths bloom for as much as three weeks and can type bulb offshoots beneath floor. This creates a cluster impact over time and distinct pockets of spring shade. Select from a whole lot of hybrid cultivars in shades of pink, white, purple, and purple.
Daffodil
Providing lots of shiny, trumpet-shaped flowers in spring, daffodils multiply shortly and produce a particular form of pleasure to the backyard. Whereas early daffodil cultivars had been primarily yellow in shade, newer hybrids now provide choices in pink, white, orange, and yellow.
Plant ‘Dreamlight’ in your parterre backyard to carry the house till your herbs pop by, or work ‘Orange Progress’ right into a container association for a recent burst of orange and yellow.
Closing Ideas
That is only a sampling of the crops which might be typically utilized in Victorian backyard design. Because the philosophy behind the motion was inclusive of flowers and foliage crops from all around the world, nearly something goes as soon as your evergreen construction is in place. Start with a format that features agency borders and fill in with no matter you discover interesting, and your backyard will certainly hit the Victorian notes you want.