Victorian Gardens: Now and Forever

The Victorian era may have been codified as the era of mourning, but Victorian gardens were anything but drab. The Victorian age, eclipsed in the latter stages by the Gilded Age, was a time of stark opulence, the refined noble houses a world away from the slums, a festering hotbed of disease and poverty. Those with coin to spend would beautify their gardens and their estates – carefully maintained stretches of greenery filled with bedding plants that seemed like something straight out of fantasy. Meticulously planned and crafted, they were intended to showcase and preserve the fleeting evanescence of beauty. 

What does a Victorian Garden Look Like?

‘Victorian’ is a broad term with multiple variations, but no matter the stylistic dictates, it recalls to mind an earlier age where street lamps and horse-drawn carriages were the predominant way of life. Ornate plantings, steamy exotics, and asymmetrical garden beds were all once prominent in Victorian-styled gardens. Like the fashion of high society during the era, these gardens were elaborate yet refined, with gothic undertones. Take a stroll along the paved path of a manor house, and you might find topiaries trimmed into fantastical shapes and glass greenhouses designed to house delicate specimens that would otherwise perish.  

If it looks like someplace a 19th century poet, delicate bruises underneath his eyes, would spend his time in, then it probably would be considered Victorian. Here’s how you can conjure your inner poet and create a quintessentially Victorian garden in the 21st century using these easy tips.  

Key Features of Victorian Design:

• Iron-wrought trellises and hardware in the gothic revival style
• Forlorn drapery in the form of moss, vining plants, or roses
• Exuberant plantings and mosaics of color 
• Greenhouses packed with striking displays of exotic flowers  
• Pastels for a cottage garden or a darker palette of burgundy, carmines, and blues for intrigue 
• Old-fashioned plants such as heliotrope, azaleas, flowering tobacco, and geraniums      

1. Design an English Cottage Garden     

An English cottage garden is a subset of a Victorian garden that focuses more on the low-maintenance aspect of design. Reflecting the medieval romanticism of a bygone time, cottage gardens are less about geometry and more about the rural wilderness common in alpine regions. Cascading rosettes of florals, densely packed pods of color, and informal plantings are all common features of a cottage garden. Plants were chosen for their fragrance, color, or appearance. Many of them, meant to exude effortless glamor, tended to be frilly or ‘cabbage-like’, emulating the lacy layers of a silk gown. Look for old-fashioned flowers that easily self-seed, such as sweet pea, foxgloves, and hollyhocks, then let them run amok for an explosion of color. 

 

2. Utilize Raised Beds and Arched Trellises 

Fences, whether whitewashed or iron-wrought, acted both to curb extravagant excesses and to add charm to the landscape. Elements such as raised garden beds, clipped hedges, and arched trellises are cost-effective ways to evoke the poetic grandeur of a Victorian garden without leaving your coffers penniless. Line specially shaped raised beds in geometric formations to emphasize the vibrancy of your blooms. It’s an easy way to highlight specific plantings and delineate garden paths without the hassle of completely remodeling your yard. Don’t feel like installing new fencing or pavement? Flowering vines can be trained to climb upon trellises for a natural screen of privacy. 

3. Build a Victorian Style Rock Garden  

Whereas alpine land is sparse and craggy, Victorian gardens were over the top, a borrowed aesthetic that the Victorians made their own by filling it with color. A rockery – a conglomeration of stones interlaced with plants – was intended to reflect the Victorians’ fascination with travel. Today’s gardeners can recreate a Victorian rockery by combining elements of Mediterranean design with alpine plants: wispy blooms in muted violets and whites, hardy shrubs, and conifers. Pulhamite was a Victorian invention used to imitate natural stone outcroppings and reduce costs; to this extent, local stone and gravel are recommended, as they are likelier more sustainable and cheaper. Astrantia major ‘Alba’, pasque flower, and rock jasmine are all timeless alpine flowers great for beginners. 

4. Style an Indoor DIY Greenhouse  

In the Victorian era, greenhouses were vast, crystalline expanses propped up by a bulwark of steel, intended to create the optimal conditions for rare specimens purveyed from faraway lands to flourish. If they could, they would have constructed architectural marvels rivaling the Tower of Babel, filled with Jurassic-era ferns dwarfed by redwoods the size of cathedrals. 

If all of this sounds quite dramatic, not to mention cost-prohibitive, then take your passion for gardening indoors with a DIY terrarium. Derived from the Edwardian cases of the Victorian era, DIY greenhouses for your houseplants can be salvaged from thrift stores at low cost – IKEA cabinets are commonly repurposed. Supplement your indoor cultivation with indoor herb planters, available in calming colors to fit into any abode. 

 

5. Add Tropical Plants   

Dig deeper, and you’ll realize that Victorian plants either fall into two categories: dainty and diminutive or large and florid. Some of them, like heliotrope and cleome (spider flower) have fallen out of fashion, while others, like dahlias and orchids, continue to be popular. If your climate allows it, collect an array of exotics, or flowers that seem exotic. Imported tropical plants were welcomed and integrated into the garden in a graceful manner, not necessarily melancholy, but certainly reflective. 

6. Attract Nighttime Pollinators with a Moon Garden 

At dust, when daylight flowers come to rest, the night comes alive with nighttime creatures and night-blooming flowers. Gardens who enjoy the solace of the nocturnal hours can cultivate a moonlit garden. A niche concept, a moon garden fed into the Victorian tendency towards whimsy. Pale flowers such as moonflower, night jasmine, and tobacco flower are utilized to create a heavenly tapestry that shines the brightest at night. Many of these flowers are highly fragrant (and attractive to pollinators), and when intertwined with the alluring scent of Old English roses, transforms into a magical alchemy of perfume that eludes even the most skilled distiller.