Types of Flowers for a Craftsman Style Home

Local and Exotic Components

• Purists believed Craftsman homes should be built of locally sourced materials, and many of the homes incorporate the kinds of wood and stone available in specific locales. Plant choices often leaned toward natives, although the Victorian interest in exotic plants and the wish for lush flowers didn’t just vanish with the advent of the Craftsman movement. Japanese plants became especially popular with garden designers of the time.

Climbers to Soften Hard Edges

• Because pergolas were an important element in a Craftsman backyard, designed for relaxation and conversation, flowering vines such as clematis (Clematis spp.), which grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 11, and honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), which thrives in USDA zones 4 through 10, are appropriate choices. Craftsman gardens were designed to be informal and naturalistic, so you can use vines to soften hard edges as an essential ingredient when planning your landscaping.

Flowering Shrubs for Year-Round Color

• When choosing flowers for a Craftsman home, consider plants that will bloom in seasons other than summer. Shrubs that bear early flowers, such as forsythia (Forsythia spp.), hardy in USDA zones 4 through 8, or berries such as viburnums (Viburnum spp.), hardy in USDA zones 2 through 10, add color in the off-season. Evergreens were often used to give the Craftsman garden structure and interest in winter.

Annual and Perennial Flowers

• The Craftsman Perspective website describes a planting list from the June 1925 issue of "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine that includes foxglove (Digitalis spp.), hardy in USDA zones 3 through 9, and Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale), which grow in USDA zones 3 through 7. Gustav Stickley, one of the Arts and Crafts movement’s leaders, recommended columbine (Aquilegia spp.), hardy in USDA zones 3 through 8. Annuals such as cosmos (Cosmos spp.), a perennial in USDA zones 9 and 10, also grew in Craftsman gardens.

Heirloom Varieties

• Flowers that have been popular for decades give you good choices for a Craftsman garden. Think of what your grandmother or great-grandmother grew, or peruse old photos and choose varieties that have been in cultivation since the early 1900s. Look for plants labeled “heirloom” or “antique,” such as “Festiva Maxima” peony (Paeonia lactiflora “Festiva Maxima), introduced in 1851 and hardy in USDA zones 2 through 8, or “King Alfred”-type daffodils, which have been around since 1899. Daffodils grow in zones 3 through 8.