There's a wonderful mailorder nursery in Vermont called Perennial Pleasures.
Their catalog has lists of plants that were in gardens during different periods(including 1860)
You should get one of their catalogs
www.perennialpleasures.net

Hey there,Your question is right up my alley. For trees I would suggest Black Walnut, White Oak and Hickory, older Apples or Pears would also be good.Smaller trees or shrubs might be Lilac,Honeysuckle,Choke Cherries, Sassafras and Highbush Cranberry.Old Fashion roses,Hops,Fox Grape, Chinese Lantern, Flax, English Daisy and Edible Currants.Most if not all of these were used by the pioneers during the 1860's. Try Historical Sites/Villages for more info.If you want to know more e-mail me I used to be the Head Gardener at a Historical Village in Toronto.

On page 7 of this web site (gardenweb) under heirloom gardens there was a similar request to yours,got a lot of good advice.
Try these two sites http://www.s-t.com/daily/01-98/01-11-98/d03ho164.htm or http:www.gardengatemagazine.com/design/99_vic.html for sites to design a victorian garden. Hope those two work, if not get back to me. Hope this helped.
On the web site of Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home) there is good advice on tree types.

For appropriate bulbs, check out Old House Gardens (link below). They give the dates of the bulbs they carry, and work hard to be sure that what they sell is authentic. I've ordered from them for at least 6 or 7 years and have always been very happy with their stock and their service.

They also sell some books that will be helpful to you, and their web site has lots of links you'll find useful.

Good luck with your place! I'm sure you will make it great.

Jennifer

Here is a link that might be useful: Old House Gardens

Please be aware that Black Walnuts secrete a poison from their roots called Juglone. It kills off lots of other species and the only defense is to either chop down the tree and wait two years, or plant only in containers within ten yards of a mature tree.

I'd skip Black Walnuts if I were you. I have some my Dad planted twenty years ago, and they're killing the asparagus in my vegetable garden. If I could afford it I'd have them moved, but killing them is out of the question.

Hello ottawa1860s. I live in Richmond, south of Kanata. I'm organizing a heritage (or heirloom) plant purchase at work (so that my co-workers & I save on shipping). I've got some good news... I have already researched the companies listed near the Ottawa area.

First of all I suggest you check out www.seeds.ca/rl/rl.php. It lists a bunch of organizations that sell heritage or heirloom plants in Canada.

Of those listed, I found the following of particular interest:

www.alongthegardenpath.ca
http://www.seeds-organic.com (in Gloucester)
Note that they sell Lamb's Ear: stachys byzantina
- Formerly used to bandage wounds:
www.sandmountainherbs.com/lambs_ear_woolly.html
support.pallensmith.com/transcripts/0106g.htm
- And as toilet paper:
ced.ncsu.edu/2/adventure/joel_lane/lambsear.htm
http://www.circledanceseeds.com/vegetables.htm
http://www.littlepinecrafts.com
http://www.yuko.ca/ (in Carleton Place)
http://www.siloamorchards.com/
http://www.grimonut.com/

Just keep in mind that some of those places sell heritage and contemporary plants, so check the descriptions.

Good luck, it sounds like you will be having fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seeds of diversity.

Something else that would be helpful to you (if you don't already know) is that you are probably in Canadian grow zone 5a.
http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/nsdb/climate/hardiness/intro.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Canadian grow zones.

Where - most gardens were of two types. The house garden which supplied the house for the summer months was near the kitchen door, as were the herb gardens. Most farm or large lots of land also had a field garden which was harvested for canning for winter. This was usually located at the edge of, or near the closest field to the house. About the only thing that may have been planted in pots or containers were invasive plants such as mint. This is a general reference, as some people actually could afford gardening staff other than family members. Val