She edged the flower beds with freshwater clam shells. Theodore, Herberts brother, remembered the kitchen garden behind the cottage. He wrote in 1911, Perhaps my earliest memory is of being in the garden with my mother. This re-creation of Hulda's garden contains many vegetables that may have been planted in Midwest gardens during the 1870s and 1880s. Hollyhocks were planted by the privy so refined ladies could just locate the outhouse without asking.
Morning glories climb the lattice by the back porch, and peonies stand just outside the front door.
We invite you to walk through the yard and look at the vegetable and flower gardens. The Johnson County Master Gardeners have volunteered to plant and maintain the vegetable garden behind the Hoover Birthplace Cottage and the heirloom perennial beds in front of the historic buildings.