Hobbies And Interests
1900 Through the 1920s
From 1900 through the 1920s, the Victorian use of exotic plants from the far corners of the Earth grown in greenhouses and conservatories year round and in formal outdoor settings, climate permitting, was still very popular. Water features with enormous formal fountains and exotic koi fish were popular among the rich. Those with more modest incomes embraced the charm of the English country cottage garden, which is less formal but tends to be more colorful, combining wild and domesticated flowers in large clumps about the yard. Nevertheless, they blended what Victorian formality they could afford into their gardens. Formal Victorian hedges provided backdrops and formal shrubbery was interspersed along border rows of flowers. Modest water features were also incorporated.
1930 Through the 1940s
The 1930s through the World War II years saw the rise of kitchen gardens and victory gardens. These were necessary extensions of the continental herb and vegetable gardens, brought over by the masses of immigrants to Ellis Island at the turn of the twentieth century. During the Great Depression and World War II, the government encouraged the people to be self-reliant and depend on their own vegetable gardens to provide sustenance for their families. These World War II era vegetable gardens became known as victory gardens.
1950 Through the 1960s
The prosperous post-war era of the 1950s through the 1960s saw once again the rise of ornamental "pleasure" gardens versus essential victory gardens. The formal Victorian garden with exotic species was abandoned by the rich for the mixed border clumps of the colorful informal English cottage garden that had previously been popular with the middle class. Water features such as koi fish ponds were again very popular. Tending to rose gardens became a popular hobby. Among those of high society, modernist/minimalist adaptations of Asian rock gardens became immensely popular concurrent with the rise in popularity of the modernist arts movement.
1970 Through the 1990s
From the early 1970s through the 1990s, environmental concerns led to the increasing popularity of organic gardens free of pesticides and xeriscape (water conserving) gardens, especially in arid climates. The use of high maintenance, exotic plants was discouraged in favor of native plants that would be more sustainable. Composting your food waste and substituting it for commercial fertilizers containing chemicals was widely taught and encouraged. It was not uncommon for people to replace their entire lawns with native plants in a xeriscape design. These trends to take in consideration environmental concerns remain extremely popular in the 21st century.