Now numbering over 1,600 items, the Garden Furnishings and Horticultural Artifacts Collection spans the period from 1835 to 1955.

Hundreds of garden furnishings are exhibited in the Smithsonian gardens and interior plant displays in the Smithsonian museums surrounding the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian Gardens' collection includes dozens ofdifferent seating designs and numerous distinctive motifs on urns and vases. Ornate cast iron fountains provide grand centerpieces for some of the Smithsonian gardens.

Seating
There are at least two dozen different seating designs currently in the Horticulture Services Division’s collection. The many chairs, settees and benches show a range of styles dating as far back as 1840. These pieces show how styles and tastes evolved throughout time leading up to the present from the very ornate to the more understated arrangements. The seating collection can be found throughout the gardens providing a respite where one can relax and admire the beautiful scenery.

Practically every aspect of our lives is affected in one way or another by horticulture. The food we eat, the plants we decorate our homes with (both inside and out), the flowers we use to mark special occasions -- these are all necessary components of our lives that also tell us a lot about ourselves.

The Horticulture Artifact Collection includes artifacts related to the horticulture trade, gardening, interior home accessories, and floral stands for funeral arrangements, primarily from the nineteenth century.

The collection also includes a number of historic commercial seed boxes complement the Archives of American Gardens' collection of seed packets, advertisements, catalogs and business records.

Learn more about the commercial floral and seed industry.

Frances Jones Poetker of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a noted floral designer, author, and lecturer on floricultural history. Her personal collection of floral accessories, ornaments, and nineteenth and early twentieth century bouquet-holders was donated in 1987 to the Smithsonian’s Horticulture Services Division (now Smithsonian Gardens). Mrs. Poetker’s wish was to present Smithsonian Gardens with a body of authoritative objects to be used for “illustrative teaching and research purposes” by horticulturists and scholars.

Learn more about bouquet-holders.

Click here to view images fo the Horticulture Artifact Collection