The Pioneer Garden

The Gardens are an Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardener™ Program project 

Master Gardener Volunteers are trained to provide research-based education and technical assistance about sustainable gardening practices – the same type of practices early pioneers used. 

Welcome to the End of the Oregon Trail Pioneer Garden at Abernethy Green.  Walk back in time and experience the simple delights the first settlers in Oregon experienced as they saw their gardens begin to bear fruit, vegetables and flowers.  The varieties of plants that you see in the demonstration garden are representative of varieties grown in the 1840 to late 1880’s. 

History of the Gardens:  In 1992 and 1993 the heirloom rose garden was developed by Erica Calkins author of Hatchet, Hands, and Hoe a book based on her research about heirloom gardens.  Fellow gardener James Dalton was interested in preserving heirloom vegetables and assisted with the research and establishment of a vegetable garden. In planning the original gardens specimen roses were obtained from the Fort Vancouver gardens and Clackamas County homesteads. After the initial development of the gardens, funds for maintenance fell short and the project was not supported.  The vegetable gardens were eventually plowed under and replaced with lawn.  The roses lost their identification tags and weeds took over.

In 2004 the Clackamas County Master Gardener™ Association was asked to assist with the rose garden, which eventually expanded to a Kitchen Garden, herb garden, a small apple orchard and most recently, a flower garden. A Planning Meeting was held on November 11th 2004 with Erica Calkins, Jean Erikson, Jeanie Mattern, Calia Leeman, Carole Kelly  and Jane Collier.  Spades in the soil happened in spring of 2005 – twenty years ago. 

The Kitchen Garden:  Kitchen gardens were small, as they were tended by women and children, and were located close to the kitchen door for easy access.  The gardens often focused on growing vegetables that stored well in winter.  They planted potatoes, beets, onions, squash, carrots and much more than can be listed here.  Favorite plants like roses and flowers were also planted by the kitchen door for ease of care, like watering with cast off dish water. 

Today’s Kitchen Garden is planted with plants from the mid 1840’s to the late 1880’s – the decades the emigrants were arriving via the Oregon Trail.  Crops are rotated annually to discourage diseases and pests.  Every year we plant beets, carrots, beans, corn or broom corn, cucumbers, leeks, onions, lettuces, peas, peppers, tomatoes, radish, orach, squash, moon and stars watermelon and more.   

The kitchen garden showcases the same sustainable techniques that the pioneers used: hand weeding, mulching with fresh compost to enrich the soil, creating plant supports from natural, local materials, and using hands-on methods instead of chemicals to remove pests and weeds.  We also grow hardy varieties suitable to Oregon’s Climate and allow our plants to go to seed to collect for planting in the spring, and for our seed saving mission.

Seed Saving:  On the trail it would be difficult to keep the seeds dry so only the hardiest survived.  Seeds were acquired by catalogs, families back home and through trading.  Dr. McLoughlin was generous with seeds from his Ft. Vancouver gardens.  He frequently “sold” seeds for which he knew he would never get paid.  Flower seeds were a luxury, and special seeds and plants from mother’s garden would be gifted for weddings and other special occasions.  We harvest seeds throughout the growing season and package them for sale in the Gift Shop.  

Herb Garden:  The herb garden was renovated in 2017.  Previously the herbs were scattered in the flower and vegetable beds, much like the pioneers may have done.  We decided to plant the herbs in a central location with assigned beds, more like a traditional demonstration garden.  We have Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Hyssop, Feverfew, chives, horehound, and Lemon Bergamot.  Growing free range in the garden spaces we also have borage, feverfew, and a lot of lemon balm

Heirloom Apples:  Apples were added in 2005 thanks to help from the Home Orchard Society and Pitkin-Witerrood Nursery.  The apple trees were overgrown from lack of pruning before and during the COVID years.  We have been rehabilitating them in recent years with planned pruning workshops in the late winter and summertime.  

Heirloom Roses:  Around 23 varieties of roses came over the trail or around the Cape of Good Hope.  There are 18 varieties growing in our garden today.  Master Gardener Volunteers have been working hard to re-create the space and replicate some of the original rose plantings.  The renovated space now includes room for up close viewing and comprehensive ID tags on the plants.  Many of the roses in the garden were obtained from Clackamas County homesteads or other heritage gardens.  The majority of these roses are once- blooming, putting on a show in May and June.  

Pioneer Flowers:  The flowers grown in the garden are varieties the pioneers brought with them across the Oregon Trail.  They are all open pollinated plants. The garden is planted with French Stripe Marigolds, Lemon Gem Marigolds, Zinnia’s, 4 O’clocks, bachelors buttons, cleome and calendula. Flowers would have been planted to attract pollinators and deter pests from preferred crops.  

Hops Arbor:  The hops are Kent Golding, an heirloom variety.  Hops were used in the development of yeast for baking in addition to their uses as a medicinal aid and for preparing fermented beverages.  The hop flowers were considered a sleep aid and pillows were made from the dried blossoms.

Visitors in the Garden: The kitchen garden also serves as an educational tool for the public. Volunteers at the garden speak to groups that visit the Interpretive Center.  They learn about seeds, propagation, plant needs, soil, beneficial insects, seed collecting, and pest control without chemicals.  The demonstration gardens are a good teaching aid – ladybugs, their eggs and larvae (young ladybugs) can often be found under the hops leaves in the early spring and summer.