I love gardens. All kinds of gardens. Flower gardens, community gardens, butterfly gardens. And a recent visit to Old World Wisconsin near Eagle, Wisconsin sparked an interest in yet another type of garden – the heirloom garden.
Old World Wisconsin , one of the ten Wisconsin Historical Society’s sites throughout the state, sprawls on nearly 600 acres of rolling countryside in the Kettle Moraine area, about 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee and 55 miles east of Madison. It features a slice of life out-of-doors museum re-creation with working farms and settlements established by immigrants to Wisconsin in the mid- to late-1800s.
It was a perfect summer’s day when I went exploring last week-end. Old World is a great place to go when you want to both get in a little outdoor exercise and visit a museum. Though there is tram service to the various areas, I chose to walk the paths and managed to add nearly 4 miles to my pocket pedometer. And I discovered my favorite parts were outside, too – the thirteen heirloom gardens that sported colorful flowers and vegetables, and looked like paintings right out of the 19th Century. All of the gardens in the museum are typical of those found in the historical period from the 1850s through the 1890s.
Heirloom gardens use only plants that are cultivars that were commonly grown before large scale agricultural practices were introduced. Most vegetable plants have kept their traits through open-pollination and fruits are propagated by grafts and cuttings. Often these varieties have become less prevalent because plants are now chosen for their consistency, their hardiness to tolerate shipping and storage, and their tolerance to drought or pests. Though necessary qualities, these plants may not be the best nutritionally or taste the finest.
In the last decade, the heirloom gardening movement has been increasing. The gardens at Old World Wisconsin provide some mighty incentive. The vegetables and fruits I sampled tasted great and the gardening techniques were quaintly fascinating.
— Bo Mackison is a Madison area photographer and writer who has always loved history and gardening, and now loves historical heirloom gardens, too. Visit her galleries at Seeded Earth Photography to see more Wisconsin photos.
Wandering Wisconsin with Bo 