Dear List,

The museum for which I work, Strawbery Banke Museum, is creating a 
children's garden this spring.  It will be physically attached to both a 
recreated high Victorian garden and a restored hothouse exhibit; therefore we 
are aiming to make this new garden as historically authentic as possible.  

The current garden is based largely upon the writings of Sarah Parker Rice 
Goodwin, wife of the Civil War era New Hampshire governor.  Similarly, 
elements within the children's garden will have roots within Goodwin's writing.  
One of these elements is the source of my question.

In her memoirs, Sarah Goodwin wrote a passage about a garden she 
experimented in as a child.  The bed's border was constructed with "alley 
board."  Beyond the assumption that the name refers to the boards' function 
of creating "alleys" between multiple beds, Sarah Goodwin gives us no other 
clues.  

So my question to the list is: what type of wood and what dimensions would 
in your experience fulfill the Victorian concept of "alley board"?       

And if you've read this far, another question Sarah Goodwin has evoked is her 
reference to a plan called the 12 o'clock.  It is unlikely she was confusing the 
plant with 4 o'clocks, but it's most likely a disused common name for a midday 
blooming plant.  Any ideas?

Thank you in advance,

Peter Lake
Garden Interpreter 
Strawbery Banke Museum
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