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An Heirloom Border

Plants & Gardens News Volume 20, Number 1 | Spring 2005

by Joan McDonald

Heirloom plants, simply put, are great garden plants that have withstood the test of time. Passed along by generation after generation of gardeners, they possess qualities worth treasuring and preserving and often have rich and colorful histories.

More technically, heirlooms are open-pollinated, nonhybrid plants that come true from seed. They also must be at least 50 years old (from the date when they were first introduced to cultivation). In this age of cloned pets and genetically altered food, there's an "unmessed with" quality about heirlooms I find comforting and reassuring.

The design above features classic heirloom bulbs and other plants in a graceful early-spring to summer display. (Here it's pictured in April.) Many of the heirlooms are rare and hard to find; call BBG's Gardener's Resource Center at 718-623-7207 for nursery sources. Old House Gardens (734-995-1486; www.oldhousegardens.com) carries most of the bulbs.

Grow all of these plants in fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun. The foliage of Dicentra spectabilis (bleeding heart) dies down by midsummer and the spring bulbs lose their flowers early in the season, so plant underneath them with Lilium candidum (Madonna lily) and other summer-blooming bulbs to extend the show.

an heirloom border
  1. Dicentra spectabilis (bleeding heart) This popular cottage-garden plant grows between two and three feet tall and produces arching stems of heart-shaped pink and white flowers in April and May. Introduced to cultivation in 1846. USDA Hardiness Zones 3—9.
  2. Narcissus poeticus 'Plenus' (poet's narcissus) Introduced in 1601, this heirloom daffodil produces snowy white, richly fragrant double blooms with frilly yellow centers in late April and May. Zones 3—9.
  3. Narcissus 'Van Sion' (daffodil) Introduced in 1620, this spectacular double-flowered yellow daffodil blooms in April. Zones 4—8.
  4. Paeonia 'Festiva Maxima' (peony) Growing up to three feet tall, this heirloom peony boasts large, fragrant, rose-form flowers of pure white flecked with crimson in early June. Introduced in 1851. Zones 3—8.
  5. Paeonia 'Sarah Bernhardt' (peony) Gigantic, double, apple-blossom-pink fragrant flowers sit atop this three-foot peony in late June. Introduced in 1906. Zones 3—8.
  6. Spiraea prunifolia (bridalwreath spirea) Introduced to cultivation in 1843, this much-loved spirea grows up to nine feet tall. In early spring, its long, slender, arching branches are covered with beautiful double, buttonlike white flowers. Zones 4—8.
  7. Tulipa 'Lac van Rijn' (tulip) Dating back to 1620 and the infamous "Tulipmania" period in Holland, this rare heirloom tulip sports dramatic purple-red, ivory-edged petals in April. Zones 4—7.
  8. Tulipa 'Zomerschoon' (tulip) This ancient "broken" tulip from 1620 is patterned with shades of strawberry and cream and blooms late in the spring. Zones 4—7.

    9.  

    Groundcovers

  9. Galanthus elwesii (snowdrop) First cultivated in 1875, this harbinger of spring produces nodding, honey-scented white flowers very early in the season. Zones 3—9.
  10. Myosotis sylvatica (woodland forget-me-not) Clusters of sweet-scented intense blue flowers appear on this low-growing compact plant in spring and summer. Zones 5—9.

    11. Joan McDonald is a former manager of BBG's Gardener's Resource Center and current owner of Gardens by Design, a private garden design, installation, and maintenance business, which can be contacted by e-mail at gardensbyjoan@aol.com.

    Illustration: Paul Harwood