Gold was the ultimate equalizer in California. Those who found it became rich as kings almost immediately, whether they were born into poverty or affluence. It made possible the creation of a new middle class where homes and gardens became available to anyone who could pay for them.

The home grounds proved a highly visible testament to the community that the owner had indeed "made it" financially. This expression was not always in the best of taste, though, for efforts of the nouveau riche to emulate the wealthy often resulted in tacky landscaping that mirrored the over-decorated interiors of the day.

Here in California the new Victorian homeowner found he or she could plant an enormous diversity of plants without the least bit of worry about winter protection. It is important to realize that the vast majority of early residents in the Mother Lode were immigrants from the eastern states where the winters are so bitter, no evergreen plant save a few hardy needled evergreens could withstand the cold.

Back home the only plant material of any interest had to be deciduous to survive, and even then it suffered the repeated freezing and thawing that is so devastating to root systems. There were some characteristics of these gardens which were uniquely Victorian and set the basic criteria for the Gold Rush aesthetic.

First was the choice and arrangement of plants, the decoration of the garden, and special relationships of the plants to architecture. The Victorian gardener strived to obtain the greatest diversity of plants possible. This was more like the mind set of a collector than of a designer, for the result was that home gardens resembled a botanical garden or arboretum more than an attractive space surrounding the home.

The best example of this is at the Empire Mine where William Bourn Jr. planted virtual arboretum of native California trees around his cottage. There was at least one specimen of each native species represented. Historic plants appear throughout Nevada County, and their origins tell much of the story of the Goldrush.

The windmill palms found at St. Joseph's Cultural Center and Grandmere's Inn, Nevada City, are very old specimens of Trachycarpus fortunei. These were once popular as indoor parlor palms along with other less hardy species. When they outgrew the room they were moved outside and only these rugged specimens survived so many snowy winters.

Even the perennial poke weed, Phytolacca americana, is exotic and rarely found anywhere else in California. It was planted for its clandestine role in Nevada County's nineteenth century wine industries that failed to take hold over the long term. The purple berries of poke were long used in Europe to add rich color to poor quality port wines. The plant had been outlawed in Portugal during the nineteenth century for just this reason. Yet it survived here for over a century and has naturalized in Nevada City, adding interest and color to the gardens there.

The tree-of-heaven, Ailanthus altissima, was linked to another failed post gold rush industry, silk culture. Far more adaptable than mulberry, the leaves of this tree in China were fed to the worms for a more durable silk fiber. While the mulberry orchards died out with the industry, this tree proved more resilient and has naturalized. It is extremely tenacious and is tearing up out of cracks in paving all around the Miner's Foundry in Nevada City, and elsewhere throughout the county.

It is believed that the ubiquitous Scotch broom, Cytissus racemosus, that has spread like wildfire throughout the county was created by miner's lust for liquor. Scotch whiskey was packed in fresh cut broom, a weedy plant of the British Isles. It was shipped in wood crates and when unpacked here the broom complete with its seed pods was cast off. So willing to grow from seed it sprouted and found the Sierra Nevada a suitable home.

In the first few decades after the discovery of gold, the plants grown for the nursery trade here were fruit and nut trees, as well as rose of Sharon, lilac, roses, and quince. These flowering shrubs were deciduous and quite tolerant of winter cold, with most blooming early in spring. They are also very long lived and particularly the lilac survives today in graveyards throughout the Mother Lode.

In the Victorian mind, the most beautiful plants were vines for their romantic ability to change the character of common structures. Vines were almost always trained across porches, over bay windows and doorways as seen in the ivy cloaking the entry to Murphy's Inn, Grass Valley. It mattered not what type of vine it was, but simply that it was large enough to enhance an outside wall or fence line.

Inspired by the gardens of the wealthy and royal of Europe, the Victorian homeowner sought to express equal taste in the garden with decorative embellishments. Perhaps the best example of this can be seen in Grass Valley at St. Joseph's Cultural Center where the remnants of a true Victorian garden still exist close to its original state. Here in various compartments are religious statues that reflect the architecture of convent and chapel, a fountain, and sun dial as the central decorative elements.

The most common legacy of Victorian gardens in Nevada County is the fences. These are either cast iron, wrought iron or wood pickets that enclose the front yard of the home. There is a direct connection between the ornateness of the fence and the social-economical standing of its owner. The neighborhoods at the top of Broad Street in Nevada City many examples of wood fences which are original remnants of the Victorian designs. We find charming twisted wire fences there too, but the best examples of intricate ironwork in the graveyards where individual graves or family plots were bounded by their own decorative fences. In fact, like very large monuments or vaults of the wealthy that stand out in cemeteries, the more elaborate the grave fence here in the gold country granted a higher status to the deceased occupant.

The historic plants and gardens of the northern mines are a window upon nineteenth century style and horticulture. Because the Goldrush occurred at the height of the Victorian era, homes and gardens created here exhibited this historic aesthetic. Today that same character is reemerging with all the beauty and diversity our climate will allow.

The old Victorians are flourishing once again beside new homes and gardens. The result is a charming combination of historic plants, the best of our flowering native species, and imports from around the world decorating cottage gardens throughout the county.

Surrounded by the majestic trees and mountains that constitute Muir's range of light, there are few places in this state so well adapted to outdoor living amidst the wild and cultivated botanical kingdom.