IN THE SECOND DECADE OF THE 20TH CENTURY, victory gardens were all the rage while the United States was enmeshed in WWI (the first World War). Victory gardens, also known as liberty gardens or war gardens, were first promoted at that time as a way for citizens to contribute to the war effort. Americans were encouraged to plant vegetable gardens to produce food for their tables and help prevent potential food shortages while the country concentrated its resources on the war. Citizens saw these vegetable gardens planted around private homes and churches, but also in public spaces like playgrounds and city parks, as a patriotic duty. If community associations or homeowner associations were prevalent a hundred years ago, the common elements may have included some designated space for such gardening efforts.


What happened when WWI was over? People wanted to have some dang fun! Digging in the dirt to put food on the table was no longer so fashionable or so necessary. War-weary citizens embraced modern and new lifestyles filled with newly affordable technology, which included the introduction of mass-produced food and clothing. Traditional values like hard work and self-denial were replaced by the desire for leisure, convenience and fun. It was a time for jazz music, the Charleston, flappers and bootleggers. People weren’t going to let Prohibition spoil the party! Can you imagine the noise complaints and rules violations that would have occurred in community associations back then? The 1920s came roaring in and the landscape - literally – changed.


People of all socio-economic backgrounds embraced beauty and relaxation in outdoor spaces large and small. Vegetable gardens gave way to the landscaping fashions of the day. Gardening for pleasure blossomed as a leisurely pastime. Nature itself often inspired the landscape design, and the beauty of flower and garden spilled over into other art forms like literature and music.


The quintessential novel of the period, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in 1925, smack dab in the middle of the Roaring 20s, also known as the Jazz Age. The novel and its later movie incarnations are imbued with garden symbolism. The Gatsby house is surrounded by a sea of fair expansive green lawns and formal blue gardens. Monochromatic gardens did exist back in the day, and blue was the rarest of the


floral colors so, of course, blue gardens made an appearance on the Gatsby estate. No doubt the music of George Gershwin’s 1924 Rhapsody in Blue would have wafted over garden parties.


The central female character of the book is named Daisy, with various interpretations on the meaning of that yellow and white flower. White orchids, lavender and roses also figure in the Gatsby world. Another female character is named Myrtle, a veritable feast of symbolism. True myrtle is a fragrant evergreen shrub with glossy green leaves and star-shaped white flowers. Crape (or crepe) myrtle trees provide flowers in purple, lavender, pink, red and white. Creeping myrtle is a sprawling evergreen vine grown for ground cover and poisonous if ingested; yet true myrtle berries are edible, myrtle leaves and flowers are used in wreaths and cooking, and specifically lemon myrtle tea is considered safe for consumption. Oh, my. It’s apparently important to know your myrtles! The fictional Gatsby estate and the exquisite grounds were likely inspired by real mansions that existed on Long Island in the 1920s, so let’s get back to real people and their homes.


For the wealthy estate owners in the 1920s, a codified formality may have ruled the lawn and garden most often using elements from colonial revival landscape design and the Victorian gardens popular in the preceding decades. Pathways meandered through decorative planting beds and smaller trees. Drives and paths were frequently bordered or contained by evergreen shrubs, bushes, or boxwood hedges. Abelia, hollies and


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