Historic Vintage Gardens of a 1928 Missouri Home

.Step into the history of a 1928 garden transformed over generations into a thriving sanctuary of blooms and wildlife

The gardens on my property trace their roots back to 1928, when the home was built by a professional gardener whose vision shaped every inch of the land. This wasn’t a casual planting or a few decorative beds tucked around a foundation. It was a full landscape design  intentional, layered, and ambitious  created by someone who understood how to work with the slope of the yard, the light, and the seasons. The original gardener carved the property into a series of level gardens, each one with its own purpose and personality. Flowers were planted in sweeping beds that followed the contours of the land, and stone steps were set into the hillside to connect the levels like a quiet invitation to wander.

What remains today is not just a garden but a living inheritance. Over the decades, each generation added, removed, restored, or reimagined pieces of the original design, and the landscape evolved the way old gardens do  slowly, organically, with the marks of time visible in every corner. What began as a structured 1920s garden has grown into a sanctuary where blooms, wildlife, and history coexist. The bones of the original design are still here, but they’ve been softened by years of stewardship, storms, seasons, and the hands of every gardener who came after.  

 

on the opposite side of my patio I grow peonies 

The gardener in 1928  moved the earth by hand and installed cement blocks for the steps and red brick walkways. These steps go to the upper gardens and to the lower gardens.  

Wrapped around the gardens is a privacy river rock wall with stately columns at the garden entrance. 

It took the original owner of the home many years to complete the gardens and the rock wall as all of the rocks needed to come from the creek bed.  

My elderly neighbors tell me how she brought the rocks up a steep hill from the creek by wagon and worked on the wall by hand.

Since 1928 there have been four property owners and each of the homeowners has enjoyed gardening.  All have contributed in one way or another to enhancing the beauty of the landscape.  

I moved into the home in 2004 and my contribution was designing and installing a flagstone patio and walkway, a red brick patio, a stone garden path, and capstone paths.  

New gardens; garden mint, daylily, ornamental grasses, hosta, irises, herbs, vegetables, wildlife, and a rose garden.  I planted a wildlife habitat in the side yard and there I grow wildlife forage, wildflowers, and switchgrass.   

Along with the wildlife gardens, my husband and I installed three small ponds.

I love residing in a home that has history especially when it has a lovely garden.  here are photographs of the gardens.

Spring and Summer Flower Gardens:

 

The Wildlife Habitat