How many plants in your garden are heirlooms? Many of us can say "I have a piece of the peony that my grandmother grew" or "This rose variety dates from the 1800s." Often we don't know the history of the flowers that grow in our gardens and it certainly isn't necessary to know in order to enjoy them. Some people find that knowing the history or associations of their garden plants deepens their pleasure with them. In my life, the plants that I associate with relatives and friends are like a living, interactive memory book. It started with my first potted plant given to me long ago as a child. That plant is long since gone, lost to my childish inexperience, but every time I see a begonia of that kind, I think of my mother's friend who gave it to me. Most of my house plants trigger memories of their donors or the circumstances surrounding their coming to live with me. When I finally had outdoor soil to call my own (even temporarily), I began to accumulate memories with my garden plants too. So many things are given to us by friends, relatives and acquaintances over the years of our active gardening lives that the memory book overflows.
Heirloom plants are loosely defined as valued plants that have been handed down from generation to generation. Many of my memory plants have been given to me by members of my own generation and would seem not to qualify, but the truth of the matter is that many of the plants we receive in that manner are someone else's heirlooms. They have qualified for the role because they are easily propagated, tough and reliable. Sometimes they are even referred to as "passalong plants".
You have probably been growing quite a few heirlooms already and just didn't know it. You just appreciated them for their beauty and ease of care. There are many ways to be an intentional heirloom gardener that can add to the pleasure of gardening. Depending on what interests you most, your heirloom gardening could take several forms.
You might be living in a period home and want your garden to accurately reflect that period too. However, a cottage garden, billowing and playful, is an easy way to match almost any vintage smaller home without doing any historical research at all.
Maybe you are a collector. Whether beanie babies or roses, the mind set is the same. You get more exercise and fresh air with the roses, though. Roses, peonies, iris, dianthus (pinks) all have long histories and enough cultivars to keep a collector happily hunting for years - even those of us with the added handicap of our climate.
