Gardens of the Jazz Age
New England Grows - Boston, MA - February 5-7 2014
Jenny Rose Carey
Director-Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, PA
In this lecture, images from glass lantern slides and contemporary magazines are used to
show many American gardens from the 1920’s and 30’s. The time of affluence and change in
America between the two world wars has become known as ‘The Jazz Age’. The 1920’s in
particular has been called the ‘decade of prosperity and youthful high spirits’. This prosperity is
shown in American gardens by a vast increase in the number of gardens and in their diversity.
In popular culture, ‘The Jazz Singer’, the first movie with sound was released in 1927.
The novel most associated with the spirit of the Jazz Age is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great
Gatsby’ from 1925. Other socioeconomic influences in the 20’s were a newly enfranchised
group of women (nineteenth amendment in 1920), who were being freed from some household
duties by the new kitchen appliances.
There was more freedom of movement due to the
increased number of motor cars. International travel, by the new large, cheaper ocean liner was
more commonplace. Immigration was a huge factor in the new century. The population in 1900
was 75 million, and by 1920 it was 100 million. Labor was cheap both for factories and gardens.
Many of the new immigrants were from Italy. Italy was also the destination of the rich. They
traveled there on vacation and brought back both garden design ideas and also the requisite
garden urns and statuary. The new immigrants knew how to build both houses and outdoor stone
walls and terraces in the old world tradition. Another quirk of this time period is that, in 1919,
the eighteenth amendment (Prohibition) was passed. One wonders how this affected garden
design at this time. ‘Gardens as much as any other art form, are a sign of the times’.
Categories for Gardens of the Jazz Age
(Adapted from PHS Centennial Book- Boyd 1929)
1. Old gardens
2. New gardens added to old
3. Formal
a) Italian Renaissance
b) French - Grand Style
c) English Tudor
4. Spanish Yard Gardens - Including Pot gardens
5. Gardens as an integral part of the house
6. Horticultural Gardens
7. Rock and Wall and Woodland gardens (Naturalistic)
Garden Features - 1920’s and 30’s
In analyzing the gardens from both written descriptions and glass lantern slides, certain features
are commonly present. Not all are found in every garden, but they are usually in combination.
The major influences are those identified by the writers in the 1920’s, but also looking back there
is a strong sense of the old ‘Colonial’ gardens that they did not identify. This style was later
called ‘Colonial Revival’.
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Gardens related to the house
Garden Rooms
Axial Views and Vistas
Outdoor Living - Teahouses and Belvederes
Pergolas and Arbors
Fences and Walls
Sundials and Birdbaths
Boxwood and topiary
Perennial Borders
Water - Central pools, fountains
Vegetable Gardens
There was also a strong reaction against the excessive use of bedding plants that had been
dominant in the preceding Victorian era. This coupled with the strong movement from England,
headed by William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll, to use ‘hardy plants’ led to many perennial
borders. Favorite plants included tulips, peonies, bulbs and hardy herbaceous perennials that had
been used in ‘Grandmother’s Garden’.
Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens - SIRIS Quick web address
http://sirismm.si.edu/siris/aagtop.htm
Jenny Rose Carey 2014 [email protected] 267-468-8400