Take a tour of the gardens of yesteryear through a now-obsolete technology called lantern slides with these stunning images obtained through the . The selection of photographs above, some taken almost a hundred years ago, captures the rich, natural beauty of gardening across the United States.

Renowned American photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston took the images between 1895 and 1935, according to the library. More than 1,130 of her black-and-white photographs were reproduced as lantern slides, a small glass transparency designed for projectors, and carefully hand painted and covered with protective film.

“Johnston was one of the first professional, women garden photographers,” house and garden historian Sam Watters said in an interview with weather.com “Her photographs helped define not only the new American garden, but what was garden photography.”

Watters spent five years digging through libraries across the country and the national archives to track down the name of the homeowners, dates, locations and records for nearly every image in Johnston’s collection. He learned that gardening in the early 1900s was primarily an art form practiced by the elite.

“For the most part, garden owners before 1930 were upper class,” Watters explained. “Their challenges were competing with friends for the most lavish floral displays, employing the best gardeners and understanding new design ideals. Knowing the right plants, flower colors and how to care for gardens were necessary talents.”

To make a garden bloom with a profusion of flowers, Watters said gardeners in the 1900s raised plants in private greenhouses that absorbed massive amounts of water and energy. It is a technique still practiced today.

“Healthy plants and good weather have always been inseparable,” Watters told weather.com. “Though the garden owners of the 1900 era were rich, with experienced gardeners and limitless resources to buy, raise, and care for plants year-round, they faced the same question every gardener faces today – ‘What are the plants that will flourish in my backyard climate?’”

Watters is an independent writer and lecturer on American houses and gardens. He is presently lead curator for exhibition on Women and The American Garden.

To view the entire collection obtained by the Library of Congress, visit the . An essay, , features more information of Johnston and her work. Additional lantern slides and info can be found in Watters’ book, “.”

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