June is National Rose Month

 

Glass lantern slide of an unidentified garden, c. 1920. Archives of American Gardens, J. Horace McFarland Collection.

We’re bringing our month of wedding-themed #ThrowbackThursdays to a close with tips for caring for roses at home from Smithsonian Gardens horticulturist Shelley Gaskins. Shelley manages the Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden next to the Smithsonian Castle.

June is one of the most popular months for weddings, and it’s also National Rose Month! Roses are a traditional and elegant flower choice for wedding bouquets and decorations. Did you know that Tricia Nixon was married in the White House Rose Garden in June of 1971? The White House Historical Association has a new exhibit exploring the Rose Garden during the Kennedy administration opening on July 16^th. “The Kennedy Rose Garden: Traditionally American” features a few photographs and letters from the Archives of American Gardens. Did you choose roses for your wedding? Share your story in the comments!

‘Amber Queen.’ This rose, and all of the roses pictured below, can be found growing in the Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden next to the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C.

Rose Tip #1: Do your research! Roses are rated on several characteristics. Choosing roses that are rated as resistant to fungal diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew should top your list.

‘Angel Face’

Rose Tip #2: Roses require at least 6 hours of full sun (preferably in the morning), a well-drained and nutrient-rich soil, and moderate amounts of water. Water should only be applied directly to the root zone, not to the leaf surface. Adequate sunlight and water will help decrease the spread and incidence of fungal diseases.

‘Charlotte Armstrong’

Rose Tip #3: When pruning roses in early spring, prune with the understanding that opening up the center of the plant allows for light penetration and air circulation. Allowing light and air into the center of the plant will create an environment that is less favorable to fungal diseases. Be sure to clean the edge of your pruners with alcohol to avoid spreading viruses.

‘Grand Finale’

Rose Tip #4: Eliminating dead, dying and diseased plants and plant parts from your garden will help to keep your garden healthy. This includes cleaning up potentially diseased rose leaves that have fallen from the plant. Fungal spores can overwinter and return to the plant from the fallen leaves.

‘New Year’

Rose Tip #5: Not all bugs are bad! get to know the insects that visit your garden. Find out which insects truly pose a threat to the health of your plants (pests). Find out if the pest has any natural predators (beneficial insects). A healthy garden should have both. If necessary, you can introduce mail-order beneficial insects into your garden.

‘Purple Tiger’

Rose Tip #6: Beneficial insects are often beneficial only at certain stages in their life cycle. For example, the syrphid fly only feeds on prey while they’re in their larval stage. Adult syrphids don’t eat other insects, they eat nectar and pollen. You should plant flowers that provide a variety of nectar and pollen sources throughout the growing season.

‘Tropical Sunset.’

Rose Tip #7: Last one! Plant families that will help attract beneficial insects to your rose garden, including:

• Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae) -Carrot Family- attracts lady bugs, parasitic wasps, and predatory flies.
• Lamiaceae or Labiatae -Mint family
• Asteraceae -Daisy Family- attracts hoverflies, lacewing, lady bug beetles, minute pirate bugs, and spiders.

A Backyard Bouquet Inspired by the 1950s

Burpee seed annuals from the 1950s, left, were the inspiration for our DIY backyard bouquet, right. Seed annual, Archives of American Gardens, W. Atlee Burpee & Company Collection.

We continue our June #ThrowbackThursday theme of mid-century matrimony with a fun project that combines two of our favorite trends from the 1950s: DIY and classic backyard flowers. Melanie Pyle, Smithsonian Gardens horticulturist, shows us how to create a do-it-yourself wedding bouquet. We peeked into the special collections of the Archives of American Gardens, finding inspiration in the bright and cheery seed catalogs of the W. Atlee Burpee & Company Collection. Melanie carefully chose classically beautiful flowers reminiscent of those found growing in grandma’s backyard garden, such as snapdragons and football mums. Our new traveling exhibit Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard explores the do-it-yourself trend, flowers, and outdoor living in the years after World War II. It opens at the Tampa Bay History Center this Saturday, June 20^th.

Flowers have played an essential role in weddings throughout history as symbols of love, chastity, hope, and beauty. The practice was not truly institutionalized as a marriage custom until Queen Victoria’s wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. Victoria wore a simple headdress of orange blossom, with additional blossoms trimming her dress, which in turn became a favorite flower for Victorian and Edwardian brides. Though she was not the first bride to wear white, her wedding cemented the popular and ubiquitous tradition of wearing of white for brides in the Western world.

Of course, many brides have taken the traditional bouquet and made it their own, with unique twists. The June 22, 1942 cover of Life magazine featured a bride carrying a bouquet composed of ten-cent to five-dollar war stamps, which could be used to buy a twenty-five dollar bond. According the article on “furlough brides” the bouquet was first popularized in the Midwest and became all the rage nationwide—they sold for the cost of stamps plus the time taken to craft the bouquet or bridesmaid corsage. It was just one of the many ways wartime brides made-do and supported the war effort, from dresses with shorter hemlines that used less fabric to hurried weddings between deployments.

Bouvardia, white orchids, and gardenias were popular choices for wedding bouquets in the 1940s and 50s, as well as a simple palette of white and pink. Shirley Temple carried both bouvardia and orchids in her 1945 wedding and Jacqueline Kennedy carried orchids, gardenias, and stephanotis in her 1953 wedding to John F. Kennedy. Our bouquet runs with the white and pink palette, but subs out the fancy flowers for the more down-home feel of backyard blooms. Hippie culture loosened up the traditional formal bouquet in the 1960s and 1970s, favoring “common” flowers such as daisies. Today, anything goes, from a farm-fresh locavore bouquet to one made of felt flowers to no bouquet at all.

 

DIY it!

Flowers: Melanie chose flowers that were commonly grown in backyard gardens in the 1950s and 1960s, taking inspiration from the vintage W. Atlee Burpee & Company seed catalogs in the Archives of American Gardens. Wholesale flower sellers and farmers’ markets are great places to start when sourcing flowers for your bouquet.

Dusty pink stock
White snapdragons
White roses
White football mums (chrysanthemums)
Pale pink carnations
Baby’s breath
Bakers fern

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Supplies:

Floral wire
Floral tape 
Small pieces of tulle
Satin ribbon
Scissors
Pen knife
Pliers 
Pins

Steps:

1. Prepare your flowers by removing the bottom leaves from the stems.
2. Wrap flowers with larger blooms and floppier stems (the mums and stock) with floral wire, starting at the top, and hiding the mechanics by wrapping the stems with floral tape. Leave four to five inches of exposed stem at the bottom.
3. Trim the stems. Using a pen knife, rest the stem on your index finger with your thumb on top and carefully cut the stem from bottom upwards at angle and away from you. The angle allows the stems to soak up more water. Trim about two inches off the stem.
4. Choose two or three favorite flowers to anchor the bouquet.
5. Begin to make a bunch around the anchor flowers by adding more flowers and greens, turning your bouquet as you add more flowers or greens. This is an opportunity to play with texture, height, and color based on your flower choice! A looser bouquet will have a more informal feel, and a tighter, rounder bouquet a more classic look.
6. Pause for a moment and take a look at your bouquet from all angles. Do you need more flowers? More greenery?
7. When you are happy with the size of the bouquet, surround the base of the arrangement with pieces of white tulle and secure with floral tape.
8. Starting where the tulle is attached to the stems, wrap the stems with floral wire, leaving about two inches of exposed stem at the bottom. Conceal the mechanics with floral tape.
9. Take your satin ribbon and starting at the topmost part of the floral tape, making sure none is showing, tightly wrap the ribbon down the length of the stems. Secure with a pin two inches from bottom, hiding all floral tape. Push the pin towards the stems at a slight angle. It may take a few tries to get it to stick.
10. Using a second piece of satin ribbon, tie a bow around the base of the bouquet and attach with a pin.

There you go! A beautiful backyard bouquet, inspired by the gardens of the 1950s. What types of flowers were growing in your backyard in the 1950s? Do you remember the flowers from your wedding bouquet or boutonnière? Did the flowers you chose have a special significance to you?

-Kate Fox, Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard curator and Melanie Pyle, Smithsonian Gardens horticulturist

 

 

 

 

Pollinator Houses

Gardens are not only places for flowers, trees, and vegetation to grow. Insects such as ladybugs, bees, and butterflies, have an important role in our garden as well. These pollinators propagate flowers and vegetables to keep our gardens flourishing. They are so important to the survival of plants that gardeners have been known to create “homes” for these critters. Bees and wasps use insect houses to keep prey for eggs that have been deposited, while butterflies and ladybugs use them as a place to hibernate.

Grosse Pointe Lighthouse Wildflower Trail Park, Evanston, Illinois, 2007. Mary Ann Grumman, photog. Archives of American Gardens.

The Archives of American Gardens includes terrific images of insect homes. The style and size of insect houses vary just like the houses in which we live. The design of a house depends on the type of bug a gardener may want in his or her garden. For example, the size of the nesting holes drilled into the walls of an insect house influence the type of bug likely to dwell inside. The butterfly houses shown here were constructed in an elongated shape with vertical slits running up and down the sides. Butterflies must fold up their delicate delicate wings in order to fit into these narrow openings. Once inside the insect house provides the butterflies with excellent protection from wind, weather, and predators.

Aspen Farms Community Garden, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1996. Ira Beckoff, photog. Archives of American Gardens.

It is immediately apparent how the holes in this bee house vary greatly from those used by butterflies. Round holes provide bees easy entrance to the house. Unlike bee hives, bee houses are meant to attract solitary bees, such as the Mason Bee (Osmia rufa). This explains why there are multiple holes created in the house rather than one large opening like a bee hive would have.

Giltinan Garden in Charleston, West Virginia, 1997. Jean Allsopp, photog. Archives of American Gardens.

To learn more about pollinators, attend the upcoming Pollination Party at the Smithsonian Gardens Butterfly Habitat Garden on Tuesday, June 16. The Pollinator Party will highlight the Pollinator Partnership’s mission to promote the health of pollinators–which are critical to food and ecosystems–through conservation, education, and research. Click here for more information about Smithsonian Gardens’ Pollinator Party.

– Melinda Allen, Archives of American Gardens intern

The Bride’s First Garden

June holds the promise of good weather and beautiful blooms, making it a popular month for weddings. This month on #ThrowbackThursday we’re mad for all things matrimonial and mid-century modern in celebration of our newest traveling exhibit, Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard. Stay tuned on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and our blog as we celebrate everything from backyard weddings to DIY bouquets to a plan for a 1950’s bride on a budget and her new backyard.

Drawing of the “Bride’s First Garden,” 1953. Perry Wheeler, landscape architect. Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Perry Wheeler Collection.

“All young couples who move into new houses on bare, treeless lots share two things in common: the urge to give their house a setting that will distinguish it from others in the neighborhood, and a desire to plant a garden without delay. Both of these enthusiasms may eventually produce a dream garden, and the good outdoor life that goes along with it, but not without a sound plan.” —Excerpt from “The Bride’s First Garden,” House & Garden, 1953.

June is historically one of the most popular months for weddings, when summer gardens are still in full bloom. In 1953, an article in House & Garden entreated young brides-to-be to begin planning an important aspect of their new future home: a garden. The magazine enlisted landscape architect Perry Wheeler to design a garden for newlyweds that could be developed over a five-year period; or, in Wheeler’s words, “on the installment plan.” His resulting plan emphasizes easy-to-maintain plants, seasonal color, individuality, and outdoor privacy for the growing, young post-war family.

A Georgia native, Wheeler practiced landscape architecture in the Washington, D.C. area from 1948 to 1979. He is best known for his work on numerous private Georgetown gardens and redesigning the White House Rose Garden alongside Bunny Mellon during the Kennedy administration. His designs were practical, often incorporating terraces for backyard entertaining and room for a jungle gym, but also lighthearted and whimsical.

Plan of the “Bride’s First Garden,” 1953. Perry Wheeler, landscape architect. Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Perry Wheeler Collection.

Wheeler’s design for “The Bride’s First Garden: A Five Year Plan” catered to a young couple on a budget living in a typical, suburban home with modern architecture in a new community development. Almost two decades earlier, the Federal Housing Act of 1934 put home ownership within reach of middle-class families, and suburbs such as Levittown in Long Island were built in response to the post-war housing crisis. House and Garden was one of many magazines, along with Popular Mechanics and Better Homes & Gardens, which ran how-to articles on home improvement. Rather than utilizing the driveway as the approach to the front door, Wheeler recommended individualizing the house (which looked identical to the other houses on the street) by giving the front entrance a “welcoming aspect” with large trees and a stone walkway. The backyard terrace, pictured here in a preliminary drawing done by an assistant, is a “major must” for the second year, along with planting beds for the terrace edging and select trees for brilliant fall colors.

The plan emphasizes spaces for informal socializing and relaxation over formal elements. In his notes for the design, he suggested investing in a few pieces of antique garden furniture to go with more modern pieces, rather than purchasing a matching suite. He even incorporated a charcoal grill into the terrace design—newly introduced by Weber in 1952. The fifth year of the plan imagines that there is already a growing family in the works, and the design accordingly leaves room for a playhouse and spaces for the family to spend time together outdoors.

The Perry Wheeler Collection at the Archives of American Gardens, includes photographs, plans, business records, and newspaper and magazine clippings pertaining to Wheeler’s landscape architecture practice. More detailed information about Wheeler is available in the Archives of American Gardens’ Guide to the Collections.

-Kate Fox, curator of Patios, Pools, & the Invention of the American Backyard

A version of this blog post was originally published on the Smithsonian Collections blog.