Old World Wisconsin Garden Events 2012

Click here to print this guide. Bring it to Old World Wisconsin for a self-guided garden tour
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Putting Down Roots, winner of the 2012
American Horticultural Society Annual Book
Award, featuring Old World Wisconsin’s re-created
19th-century heirloom gardens. Written by the
museum’s historical gardener, Marcia Carmichael.
Available in the museum store or online at
shop.wisconsinhistory.org.
Cover image:
Old World Wisconsin’s
1860 German kitchen garden.
View a Book Trailer/Interview
with Marcia Carmichael:
garden
events at old world
wisconsin
Heirloom Garden
Strolls
Enjoy a special garden visit with our own
historical gardener, Marcia Carmichael,
author of Putting Down Roots: Gardening
Insights from Wisconsin’s Early Settlers.
Each tour highlights the gardens, favorite
plants, planting styles, and gardening
traditions of selected immigrant groups.
The tour will conclude with refreshments
featuring flavors from the homelands of the
gardens visited. Each Heirloom Garden
Stroll ticket includes one half-price museum
admission ticket valid during the 2012
season. Books will be available for purchase
and signing after the tour.
oldworldwisconsin.org
262-594-6300
A Self-Guided
Tour of
Old World
Wisconsin’s
Heirloom
Gardens &
Bluebird Trail
& Bluebirds
Before-Hours Tours:
July 22 and September 16; 10:00 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. (museum opens at 11:00 a.m.)
$15 per person; refreshments
included; reservations available at
oldworldwisconsin.org or 262-594-6301.
Based on extensive studies of 19th century
sources, staff and volunteers strive to create
gardens that accurately represent the time period
and ethnicity of the homes they complement –
in design as well as in the selection of plants. You
will find gardens filled with appropriate heirloom
varieties of vegetables, flowers, fruit, and herbs of
varying colors, textures, flavors, and fragrances.
You are welcome to walk the garden paths and to gently
pet the plants; they look forward to meeting you!
After-Hours Tours:
August 23 and September 6; 5:30 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. (museum closes at 5:00 p.m.)
$20 per person; this special tour will
include refreshments in the garden and
a cash bar. Reservations available at
oldworldwisconsin.org or 262-594-6301.
This brochure provides brief descriptions of the gardens
and a map identifying their locations.
Group Tours:
Your group will enjoy a custom tour
of the garden of your choice, given by
Marcia Carmichael. Contact Jeni Miller
at jeni.miller@wisconsinhistory.org or
262-594-6301 for pricing and details.
he twelve historical gardens
at Old World Wisconsin offer a peek into the
past and a treat for the senses.
oldworldwisconsin.org
262-594-6300
Old World Wisconsin’s Bluebird Trail is also
indicated on the map. The popular bluebird has colored
our skies for centuries. Wisconsin families commonly
encouraged their presence by furnishing boxes for
their habitation. Follow the icons to see a variety of
documented birdhouse styles and to find signage with
interesting 19th century quotations pertaining to the
beloved bluebirds. Watch for bluebirds, but please
remember to respect their privacy.
Thank you for appreciating nature’s fragile beauty.
Crossroads Village Area
Hafford House Garden (1885) 2
Fragrant lilacs, roses, and lavender welcome
you to the home of a self-supporting Irish
woman. A charming cottage garden in the
front yard is lush with plants reminiscent of
her Irish homeland.
Benson House Garden (1875) 6
Separate flower beds, a fine lawn of grass,
and a small kitchen garden in the backyard
typify landscaping of a Yankee village
family home. A bed of lemon verbena is a
refreshing treat.
Yankee Area
Sanford Farm Garden (1860) 0
The large kitchen garden includes a wide
variety of plants for household use. Meet
fragrant pocket melons, prickly caterpillars
(they only look like bugs!), and rat-tail
radishes. A wonderful collection of herbs
and a fine selection of flowers for fresh and
dried bouquets also grow here.
German Area
Koepsell Farm Garden (1880)
A decorative flower bed cut into the large
front lawn of grass and rows of plants in
the kitchen garden illustrate the “American”
influence on gardening style. Strawberries
edge a fine boardwalk path and hops plants
climb tall poles.
Schottler Farm Garden (1875)
Brilliant delphinium, sweet William,
and roses; beds of vegetables and herbs;
and a garden devoted to small fruits offer
fragrance, flavor, and visual appeal.
Schulz Farm Garden (1860)
A picturesque living patchwork quilt-like
kitchen garden planted with a mixture of
vegetables, herbs, and flowers fills the front
yard and is framed by a fence of woven
branches.
Polish Area
Kruza House Garden (1900)
In the kitchen garden flavorful beds
of produce include cabbages, caraway,
celeriac and kohlrabi, while petunias weave
their way through potatoes. Rosemary
and myrtle, long associated with Polish
wedding traditions, join flowers in a small
garden along the path to the home’s front
door.
Finnish Area
Ketola Farm Garden (1915)
Brilliant blue cornflowers beckon you into
a garden where rutabagas and potatoes
predominate, and keep company with rows
of produce that can be stored for yearround use. Ask about the root cellar. Learn
the story of the Rambo apple trees.
Rankinen Farm Garden (1897)
Imagine yourself in Wisconsin’s north
woods. Rows of vegetables familiar to the
Finns struggle to flourish in the sandy soil,
and flowers near the front door
brighten the landscape.
Danish Area
Pedersen Farm Garden
(1890)
Cheerful flower beds ringed
with rocks greet you. An
assortment of fruit bushes
share the kitchen garden
with neatly arranged beds
of colorful vegetables and a
sprinkling of flowers.
Norwegian Area
Kvaale Farm Garden (1865)
Plants of madder, woad, and lady’s bedstraw
supply colorful dyes for wool. The limited
variety of vegetables and several herbs –
including angelica for tea – are joined by
numerous varieties of fruit to complete the
kitchen garden.
Fossebrekke Farm Garden
(1845)
The challenging living conditions of early
settlers are evident at this farm with its small
log cabin and a kitchen garden offering only
basic sustenance. Wildflowers add touches
of color and the promise of a brighter
future.