Hi I've just joined Gardenbanter to try and solve a problem of garden styles in the 60's 70's and 80's. There is lots of info on Georgian or Victorian garden design (And even the fifties) but nothing on more recent years. All I can remember of gardens back then were swings and bikes not varieties of plants. Can anyone please help identify what varieties of plants were fashionable and how they would have been used, shrubbery, rockery hedge etc.

Cheers GUY

"Guy Pinder" wrote in message
...

Hi I've just joined Gardenbanter to try and solve a problem of garden
styles in the 60's 70's and 80's. There is lots of info on Georgian or
Victorian garden design (And even the fifties) but nothing on more
recent years. All I can remember of gardens back then were swings and
bikes not varieties of plants. Can anyone please help identify what
varieties of plants were fashionable and how they would have been used,
shrubbery, rockery hedge etc.

Hi Guy

Asking that sort of question in an ng which has international following
makes a sensible response a bit hard. I can tell you what they were like in
Australia during each of those periods but I can't imagine that knowing that
Australian native plant gardens were all the rage in the 70s and
unsuccessful largely because at that time there was limited knowledge of the
size to which some of the plants would get to as they matured probably
wouldn't be too useful to you.

I suggest you head off to a second hand book dealer because every one I have
ever been to has a LOT of gardening books for those decades. I go regularly
to replace my locally produced gardening book from the 60s.

In article ,
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:

"Guy Pinder" wrote in message
...

Hi I've just joined Gardenbanter to try and solve a problem of garden
styles in the 60's 70's and 80's. There is lots of info on Georgian or
Victorian garden design (And even the fifties) but nothing on more
recent years. All I can remember of gardens back then were swings and
bikes not varieties of plants. Can anyone please help identify what
varieties of plants were fashionable and how they would have been used,
shrubbery, rockery hedge etc.

Hi Guy

Asking that sort of question in an ng which has international following
makes a sensible response a bit hard. I can tell you what they were like in
Australia during each of those periods but I can't imagine that knowing that
Australian native plant gardens were all the rage in the 70s and
unsuccessful largely because at that time there was limited knowledge of the
size to which some of the plants would get to as they matured probably
wouldn't be too useful to you.

I suggest you head off to a second hand book dealer because every one I have
ever been to has a LOT of gardening books for those decades. I go regularly
to replace my locally produced gardening book from the 60s.

With Farml's advice in mind I'd look at the Time-life series of
gardening by James Underwood Crockett. This is circa 1972. There is a
similar series circa 1960 but I can't find it or remember the details.

http://tinyurl.com/yasmyqo

Bill

--

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

Hi, Guy, As a boy growing up in the fifties, gardens were still very much influenced by the war years with every back garden in the land still growing veg and every front lawn surrounded by roses with a hydrangea in the corner and clumps of very traditional perennials like, solidago, pinks, cranesbill geranium, asters, chrysanthemum and dahlias etc. etc. My involvement with gardening started with me working at my local garden centre in Somerset in 1966 when I remember a far greater proportion of deciduous shrubs than are popular today ; Forsythia, Weigelia (as it was spelt then) Lilac, spirea and really shrubs which were grown for their flowers. Of course, it was these early garden centres that were responsible for introducing the general public to more unusual evergreen shrubs that up until then had only been known by a very small section of society. So slowly as we drifted towards the 70's, the average man had not only more leisure time but had the money to spend on plants and became less reliant on what was grown at home. In the late 60's everybody wanted a rockery, alpines were very popular, as were dwarf conifers especially 'Boulevard' and 'Rheingold'. By now containerisation was the norm, albeit those horrid floppy bags,but it did mean that for the first time plants were available all the year and not just in the traditional dormant period. In the 70's I moved to Cornwall and worked initially as a landscape gardener and then again for a garden centre. By now (mid 70's) slab patios were in vogue, and to go on them garden furniture (Iroko for the rich, plastic for the poor) rockeries now incorporated waterfalls and ponds, the first of the conservatories were appearing, albeit initially for the majority only lean-to alluminium greenhouses (which were totally unsuitable to sit in due to at the best condensation and at the worst leakage) Curved flowing borders by now had replaced straight lines and natural slate, especially slate crazy paving was all the rage. Lots of garden centres by now had sprung up so everybody had access to an ever increasing range of mainly evergreen shrubs, the traditional deciduous species now only selling when thay were in flower. As we moved through the eighties, the garden became 'the outdoor room' with barbeques now gracing the patio. There were still the die-hard veg growers but the 'organic' revolution was really taking hold. Television was now playing its part in driving trends (this really took off in the early nineties with programmes like ground force etc.) and the garden centres were now becoming outdoor activity centres. Car boot sales became big business and from the early nineties (to date) is where I have been selling plants. So enough waffle, not really very much about plants !
Best wishes Lannerman.

Thats Brilliant! I was just after a feel of how gardens changed over the years and what trends were about when. This is very helpful cheers GUY

I came into this thread late. Have you read Beverly Nichols? While it is
the British trends he covers, it might give you some wonderful insight.

C
On 10/13/09 3:41 AM, in article , "Guy
Pinder" wrote:

Thats Brilliant! I was just after a feel of how gardens changed over the
years and what trends were about when. This is very helpful cheers GUY

lannerman;866662 Wrote:
Hi, Guy, As a boy growing up in the fifties, gardens were still very
much influenced by the war years with every back garden in the land
still growing veg and every front lawn surrounded by roses with a
hydrangea in the corner and clumps of very traditional perennials like,
solidago, pinks, cranesbill geranium, asters, chrysanthemum and dahlias
etc. etc. My involvement with gardening started with me working at my
local garden centre in Somerset in 1966 when I remember a far greater
proportion of deciduous shrubs than are popular today ; Forsythia,
Weigelia (as it was spelt then) Lilac, spirea and really shrubs which
were grown for their flowers. Of course, it was these early garden
centres that were responsible for introducing the general public to
more unusual evergreen shrubs that up until then had only been known by
a very small section of society. So slowly as we drifted towards the
70's, the average man had not only more leisure time but had the money
to spend on plants and became less reliant on what was grown at home.
In the late 60's everybody wanted a rockery, alpines were very
popular, as were dwarf conifers especially 'Boulevard' and 'Rheingold'.
By now containerisation was the norm, albeit those horrid floppy
bags,but it did mean that for the first time plants were available all
the year and not just in the traditional dormant period. In the 70's I
moved to Cornwall and worked initially as a landscape gardener and then
again for a garden centre. By now (mid 70's) slab patios were in vogue,
and to go on them garden furniture (Iroko for the rich, plastic for the
poor) rockeries now incorporated waterfalls and ponds, the first of the
conservatories were appearing, albeit initially for the majority only
lean-to alluminium greenhouses (which were totally unsuitable to sit in
due to at the best condensation and at the worst leakage) Curved flowing
borders by now had replaced straight lines and natural slate, especially
slate crazy paving was all the rage. Lots of garden centres by now had
sprung up so everybody had access to an ever increasing range of mainly
evergreen shrubs, the traditional deciduous species now only selling
when thay were in flower. As we moved through the eighties, the garden
became 'the outdoor room' with barbeques now gracing the patio. There
were still the die-hard veg growers but the 'organic' revolution was
really taking hold. Television was now playing its part in driving
trends (this really took off in the early nineties with programmes like
ground force etc.) and the garden centres were now becoming outdoor
activity centres. Car boot sales became big business and from the early
nineties (to date) is where I have been selling plants. So enough
waffle, not really very much about plants !
Best wishes Lannerman.

"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
...
I came into this thread late. Have you read Beverly Nichols? While it is
the British trends he covers, it might give you some wonderful insight.

Delightful books and well worth reading but Nichols' garden books were about
gardens that predate the time frame mentioned by the OP.


C
On 10/13/09 3:41 AM, in article ,
"Guy
Pinder" wrote:

Thats Brilliant! I was just after a feel of how gardens changed over the
years and what trends were about when. This is very helpful cheers GUY

lannerman;866662 Wrote:
Hi, Guy, As a boy growing up in the fifties, gardens were still very
much influenced by the war years with every back garden in the land
still growing veg and every front lawn surrounded by roses with a
hydrangea in the corner and clumps of very traditional perennials like,
solidago, pinks, cranesbill geranium, asters, chrysanthemum and dahlias
etc. etc. My involvement with gardening started with me working at my
local garden centre in Somerset in 1966 when I remember a far greater
proportion of deciduous shrubs than are popular today ; Forsythia,
Weigelia (as it was spelt then) Lilac, spirea and really shrubs which
were grown for their flowers. Of course, it was these early garden
centres that were responsible for introducing the general public to
more unusual evergreen shrubs that up until then had only been known by
a very small section of society. So slowly as we drifted towards the
70's, the average man had not only more leisure time but had the money
to spend on plants and became less reliant on what was grown at home.
In the late 60's everybody wanted a rockery, alpines were very
popular, as were dwarf conifers especially 'Boulevard' and 'Rheingold'.
By now containerisation was the norm, albeit those horrid floppy
bags,but it did mean that for the first time plants were available all
the year and not just in the traditional dormant period. In the 70's I
moved to Cornwall and worked initially as a landscape gardener and then
again for a garden centre. By now (mid 70's) slab patios were in vogue,
and to go on them garden furniture (Iroko for the rich, plastic for the
poor) rockeries now incorporated waterfalls and ponds, the first of the
conservatories were appearing, albeit initially for the majority only
lean-to alluminium greenhouses (which were totally unsuitable to sit in
due to at the best condensation and at the worst leakage) Curved flowing
borders by now had replaced straight lines and natural slate, especially
slate crazy paving was all the rage. Lots of garden centres by now had
sprung up so everybody had access to an ever increasing range of mainly
evergreen shrubs, the traditional deciduous species now only selling
when thay were in flower. As we moved through the eighties, the garden
became 'the outdoor room' with barbeques now gracing the patio. There
were still the die-hard veg growers but the 'organic' revolution was
really taking hold. Television was now playing its part in driving
trends (this really took off in the early nineties with programmes like
ground force etc.) and the garden centres were now becoming outdoor
activity centres. Car boot sales became big business and from the early
nineties (to date) is where I have been selling plants. So enough
waffle, not really very much about plants !
Best wishes Lannerman.

On 10/14/09 3:19 AM, in article
, "FarmI" ask@itshall be
given wrote:

"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
...
I came into this thread late. Have you read Beverly Nichols? While it is
the British trends he covers, it might give you some wonderful insight.

Delightful books and well worth reading but Nichols' garden books were about
gardens that predate the time frame mentioned by the OP.


C

I was thinking of Gardens Open Today as being a "60's" garden...but I could
be wrong


Hmmm - I have a whole bunch of "garden memoir" books.. Maybe I need to go do
some re-reading.. All of the ones I've kept were such happy reads. Dumped
"Green Thoughts" - while the author wrote well and informatively, there was
something about her that just rubbed be the wrong way.


Cheyrl

"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
On 10/14/09 3:19 AM, in article
, "FarmI" ask@itshall be
given wrote:

"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
...
I came into this thread late. Have you read Beverly Nichols? While it
is
the British trends he covers, it might give you some wonderful insight.

Delightful books and well worth reading but Nichols' garden books were
about
gardens that predate the time frame mentioned by the OP.


C

I was thinking of Gardens Open Today as being a "60's" garden...but I
could
be wrong

You could be right too though. I've not read that one. I've read the
series that included 'Laughter on the Stairs' - where he starts from knowing
nothing to having that huge garden and being very picky about his plants.


Hmmm - I have a whole bunch of "garden memoir" books.. Maybe I need to go
do
some re-reading.. All of the ones I've kept were such happy reads. Dumped
"Green Thoughts" - while the author wrote well and informatively, there
was
something about her that just rubbed be the wrong way.

:-)) Your mention of him made me think that I needed to reread too. I
share the series with a friend as we both bought some of the set but they
live at her house.

On 10/14/09 11:13 PM, in article
, "FarmI" ask@itshall be
given wrote:

"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
On 10/14/09 3:19 AM, in article
, "FarmI" ask@itshall be
given wrote:

"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
...
I came into this thread late. Have you read Beverly Nichols? While it
is
the British trends he covers, it might give you some wonderful insight.

Delightful books and well worth reading but Nichols' garden books were
about
gardens that predate the time frame mentioned by the OP.


C

I was thinking of Gardens Open Today as being a "60's" garden...but I
could
be wrong

You could be right too though. I've not read that one. I've read the
series that included 'Laughter on the Stairs' - where he starts from knowing
nothing to having that huge garden and being very picky about his plants.


Hmmm - I have a whole bunch of "garden memoir" books.. Maybe I need to go
do
some re-reading.. All of the ones I've kept were such happy reads. Dumped
"Green Thoughts" - while the author wrote well and informatively, there
was
something about her that just rubbed be the wrong way.

:-)) Your mention of him made me think that I needed to reread too. I
share the series with a friend as we both bought some of the set but they
live at her house.



I'm going to take some time next week and find all my BN and a few others.
In particular, "Onward and Upward in the Garden" by Katherine White and the
Richardson Wright books need to come to the fore...

Reading is an interesting adventure these days. I had switch from a combined
script to "distance" and readers for my glasses. (I could not adjust to
bifocals; apparently there is some percentage of the population that can't.)
I can see fine to read and stitch, but need switch back and forth if I need
to get up and do something (like laundry or answer the door).


Cheryl