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Colonial Revival garden


A Colonial Revival garden is a garden design intended to evoke the garden design typical of the Colonial period of the United States. The Colonial Revival garden is typified by simple rectilinear beds, straight (rather than winding) pathways through the garden, and perennial plants from the fruit, ornamental flower, and vegetable groups. The garden is usually enclosed, often by low walls, fences, or hedges. The Colonial Revival gardening movement was an important development in the gardening movement in the United States.

Generalizing about the common house garden in the colonial period in the United States is difficult, as garden plantings and even design varied considerably depending on the time period, wealth, climate, colonial heritage (whether British, French, or Spanish), and the purpose to which the garden was to be put (vegetable, flower, herb, etc.). Because of the overwhelmingly strong British influence in colonial America, the "colonial garden" generally refers to the most common type of garden found in the 13 British colonies. Colonial-era gardens in the southern colonies often exhibited the same design as those in the north. Gardens of the wealthy, however, often employed newer gardening ideas, such as the landscape garden or English garden.

Colonial gardens tended to be small and close to the house. A straight walkway generally extended on a line equal with the entrance to the house through the center of the garden. (This layout was often abandoned in the north, where it was more important to site the garden so the building protected it from northwest winds.) Perpendicular straight paths often extended from this central path. Planting beds were usually square or rectangular although circular beds were also seen. In almost all cases, beds were raised to provide good drainage. Beds could sometimes be bordered with low-growing, neat plants such as chive or pinks. In areas with a Spanish influence, orchards generally were attached to the garden.

The paths in the Colonial American garden were generally of brick, gravel, or stone. Brick was more commonly used in the south, however. Enclosure of the garden was common, often with boxwood hedges or wooden fences. Picket fences were common, but boxwood was usually used only in the south and in the later colonial period.


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