Early Bakersfield Gardens

Bakersfield at the turn of the nineteenth century was little more than a frontier town, but despite its roughness, Bakersfield residents were able to beautify their surroundings. Early Bakersfield residents altered their landscape in both large and small ways to fit their preconceived ideas of how cities, homes, and gardens should appear. In addition to channeling the Kern River and draining the swamp that was Bakersfield, residents also planted hedges, shade trees, flowers, and lawns and built arbors and laid sidewalks in an effort to shape their surroundings.

Bakersfield imported a variety of non-native plants – many of which are familiar to the modern gardener and a few that have lost favor except to heritage gardeners. Bakersfield residents often chose plants that fit their ideas of what a garden should contain. Many of their ideas were shaped by their experience with gardens on the East Coast as well as in Europe. While many yards had pansies, roses, and lawns reminiscent of east coast yards, residents also experimented with other plants. For example, William Tevis had a large bamboo grove at his Stockdale farm and many Bakersfield residents marveled at century plants in both public and private gardens.

For this brief study, I focused on the time period from 1888 when famed photographer Carleton Watkins came to the area to photograph ranches and homesteads to 1905 when Bakersfield started to experience somewhat of a population boom. The following list was gathered from Carleton Watkins’ 1888 photographs (and his wonderful descriptions of the gardens), letters and diaries of early residents, and newspaper articles and advertisements. This is not an exhaustive list of all the plants that were used by early residents, but could be used as a starting point for someone wanting to recreate an early Bakersfield garden. But, a word to the wise, this article is not an endorsement of any plants; some of the plants that early Bakersfield residents planted are invasive and, in my opinion, should not be planted.

Flowers

African Lily
California Violet (native)
Canna Lily
China Lily
Chrysanthemums
Four O'clocks (native)
Geranium
Hollyhock
Honeysuckle
Hyacinth
Jessamine
Morning Glory
Pansy
Petunia
Poppy (native)
Smilax
Stock
Sunflower
Tiger Lily
Verbena
Virginia Creeper
Wisteria

Roses
Banksia
Cherokee
Cloth of Gold
James Sprunt
Marchal Neil

Trees
Acacia
Almond
Apple
Apricot
Ash
Cedar
Cottonwood
Cypress
Date Palm
Elm
English Walnut
Eucalyptus
Fan Palm
Fig
Gum
Japanese Maple
Locust
Lombardy
Nectarine
Olive
Orange
Peach
Pear
Pines
Plum
Pomegranate
Poplar
Prune
Quince
Tulip
Umbrella
Willow