From time to time in my travels, I notice landscapes and gardens that show a vintage, with certain plants and combinations that were trendy at the time. The landscapes of the 1980’s and early 1990’s stick out in particular, perhaps because this was the period when I began studying horticulture and design.
Not that there’s anything wrong with these features, of course, but it’s an interesting exercise to date the installations.
A few typical features:
- Mugo pines and Japanese red pines at the center of a “border”.
- “Borders” in general
- Ground covering junipers with a few cotoneasters or winter jasmines (with the junipers mostly just barely hanging on these days).
- Screens of white pines
- Kousa dogwoods (we all thought the native ones were dying out)
- Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’
- Dry creeks, lanterns, plantings in threes and fives, and other Japanese-inspired features
- Hostas everywhere (only seen now where the deer haven’t been able to extirpate them)
- Miscanthus sinensis planted by pools
What am I missing?