Botanical Miniatures in 1 inch and 1/2 inch scale for dollhouses and collectors.

 

Historical Garden Information  

On this page we will be presenting information about historical garden styles and a link to a Plant lists page with dates of introduction, to assist you in creating historically accurate gardens and scenes.

Garden development was closely tied to world exploration, and some plants have been in cultivation for a long time.  We post introduction dates with our named varieties of scale miniature plants so that you can estimate when a plant might have arrived in your geographical location. (We will try to post reference texts available from libraries as well in case you are trying to find out when plant colours were introduced).  The species plants we make (foxglove, digitalis purpurea for example) are in their species or wild form, and their use in historic gardens was related to contemporary popularity, use, or fashion. 

If you are seeking as much accuracy as possible for a recreation, check out your local archive for information about local nurseries of the time period, from both your immediate location and your region.  Remember plants available by seed were much more widespread much earlier than those which needed propagation by cuttings or bulbs and may pioneers of the new world brought seeds of their culinary favourites with them.

Also research the leisure activities of the location.  Some areas had surprisingly more directed leisure time and gardens were likely to be more elaborate.  (In my region, a rural lawn tennis club developed in the colonies only ten years after the first championship at Wimbledon. Many Victorian plant introductions came from this small rural area.)

Questions? Email Us