11 Garden Ideas to Steal from Russia

A summerhouse on a plot of land, to visit every weekend while wearing country garb—this is not the vision of New Yorkers escaping to Connecticut but of Russians, during the time of Tolstoy and Chekhov. The latter, one of the most enduring playwrights of all time, was also a family doctor, a dedicated humanitarian, and a gardener.

Dachas were typically filled with hardy Russian perennials and medicinal plants. The White Dacha, where Chekhov wrote The Seagull while gardening and treating patients, was recently saved and restored (with the help of the Anton Chekhov Foundation in the United Kingdom) and has been an inspiration for British gardeners Anna Benn and Hannah Gardner. They created a Chekhov-oriented garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show this month, and it is a digestible lesson in Russian gardening.

Here are 10 ideas to steal from gardens in Russia:

Photography by Jim Powell for Gardenista.

Fretwork Railing

Above: Above: A gaily painted fretwork fence, reminiscent of the wooden designs that decorate older dachas.

Wood, as well as forests, is a part of the national identity and for a thousand years almost everything in Russia was made of wood. Nails, on the other hand, were less easily obtained, leading to some inventive building work (including vibrantly painted onion domes). Decorative fretwork on roofs, windows, and doors also implies a celebration of the medium; wood for wood’s sake.

Handy Haystack

Above: A hay rick, or more properly a straw rick.

The hayrick should really be called a straw rick and if the designers were being literal, it would have remained outside the heart of the garden. This design is based on original photographs; straw was made and stored on Chekhov’s land for re-thatching village houses. A dacha owner was expected to look after the local community.

Samovar Seating

Above: A wooden table and seating are similar to furniture recorded in Chekhov’s own dacha, where he wrote, gardened, and saw patients in his capacity as a doctor.

The expression sidet u samovara, which translates to “sit by the samovar,” also can be described as chatting over tea or chainichat, and surely deserves wider use. Samovars, with their internal water-heating systems, are at the center not only of Russian culture but also that of its neighbors, Persia and China. It was from China that Russians (by which we mean a tiny minority of taste makers) took up the habit of tea drinking. The samovar became synonymous with leisure and good conversation for the 19th century’s cultural elite, Chekhov among them.

Willowherb Tea

Above: Not a weed, Epilobium angustifolium ‘Album’ is a type of rosebay willowherb that is show garden-worthy.

In reality, tea (let alone a  samovar) was out of reach for most Russians. At the Chekhov garden at Hampton Court Flower Show, the flower that attracted the most comment from bona fide Russian visitors was the white willowherb, since its wild cousin—rosebay willowherb—is held in fond memory as a free alternative to tea from China or India. Its leaves are fermented to make “Ivan chai.”

Pickling Herbs

Above: Dill (Anethum graveolens) grows close to cucumbers crawling along the ground. Also pictured is white yarrow (Achilleum millefolium ‘Schneetaler’).

Growing dill in a Russian garden is a given. “Dill is Russia’s favorite herb,” says Anna Benn, who along with Hannah Gardner designed Anton Chekhov’s Garden. “There is a  strong tradition of pickling – just about everything.” This is coupled with fermentation, which was embraced in Russia before the practice traveled west in the form of gut-friendly kombucha and kefir.

Dacha Garden

Above: Rosemary, sage, wooly thyme, lentils, calendula, tomatoes, and Siberian ginseng, all muddling together.

The term dacha has changed in meaning over the centuries; crops produced on local dachas today are an important part of the food economy while once, dachas were intended strictly for leisure. Plots of land were given to faithful servants of the Tsarist system (dacha comes from the word “to give”) and the expectation was that a cottage would be built on this land. These buildings could be bought and sold, which is how Chekhov acquired one, after earning enough from his plays. Today a dachnik is synonymous with a gardener (sadovod) and the plots of land are smaller, yet highly productive.

Herbal Healing

Above: Healers, all. Rosa rugosa flanked by two-tone Phlox paniculata ‘Natasha’ to the left and more unusual Phlox ‘Butonnik’ to the right, along with tufts of mauve Betonica officinalis and Achillea millefolium ‘Schneetaler’.

Everything in this garden has healing properties. “The Russian tradition of herbalism, largely due to poverty, has always been very strong and still is,” says Anna Benn. “You only have to go into a Russian chemist to see this.” Chekhov treated patients from his dacha south of Moscow, and when supplies ran out he naturally turned to herbal remedies.

Hips from Rosa rugosa are rich in vitamin C. Roots of phlox help to alleviate cold symptoms and stomach aches. The leaves and flowers of wood betony help circulation and nerves, ane yarrow is a cure-all. The College of Medicine (And Integrated Health) in the UK looks at natural alternatives to pills and procedures.

Russian Sage

Above: Soothing marshmallow flanked by Russian sage, hollyhocks, drumstick alliums, and umbels of wild carrot.

You can’t have a Russian garden without Perovskia atriplicifolia, the Russian sage. It’s a useful all-rounder elsewhere too, its felty stems and small studs of flowers keeping their shape and color throughout summer and autumn. The last word in Russian purple is probably lilac (not in season for our purposes). It is the “most typical of Russian shrubs,” says Anna.

An Orchard, (Not Necessarily Cherry)

Above: An apple tree grows amid yellow St. John’s wort and Sanguisorba.

The Russian word for “garden” is the same as “orchard.” What more does anybody need than a few small fruit-bearing trees? Apples are particularly pertinent here; they originate from nearby Kazakhstan, part of the Russian empire in Chekhov’s time. Apples require less maintenance than cherries, which need to be protected from birds for a reasonable crop. Also, Chekhov wrote The Seagull at the dacha that inspired this garden; The Cherry Orchard came later.

Birch Trees

Above: Silver birch against a perimeter of pines. The understory is made up of grasses, foxgloves, and rosebay willowherb in their smarter incarnations: Deschampsia caespitosa, Digitalis ferruginea, and Epilobium angustifolium ‘Album’. 

European white birch is a nordic icon, pale trunks glowing in the low winter light, the backdrop to fairy tales involving wolves and bears. Alternatively, you can’t beat a group of Betula pendula in a town garden (in USDA zones 2 to 6) for dappled shade. The paths, typical of a birch forest floor, are a mix of sand and white aggregate.

See more at Birch Trees: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Handmade Furniture

Above: Pinus sylvestris to the left, Rosa rugosa ‘Roseraie de l’Hay’ to the right, with magenta Phlox paniculata ‘Drakon’.

Photographs of Anton Chekhov in his dacha show him taking it easy on rough-hewn benches like the one here, made of split oak. As permanent furniture, a three-sided bench around a square table (also documented in Chekhov’s garden) is a neat solution, especially when the flat planes are balanced on columnar tree trunks.

See more rustic ideas in our Garden Design 101 guides, including Gravel 101 and Fences & Gates 101. Read more:

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