Text 21 English Landscape Garden (995)

The English landscape garden, also called English Landscape Park or simply the English garden, is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical “jardin à la française” of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. It drew inspiration from paintings of landscapes by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin, and from the classic Chinese gardens of the East, which had recently been described by European travelers.

The English garden usually included a lake, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape.

By the end of the 18th century the English garden was being imitated by the French landscape garden, and as far away as St. Petersburg, Russia, in Pavlovsk, the gardens of the future Emperor Paul. It also had a major influence on the form of the public parks and gardens which appeared around the world in the 19th century.

Text 22 Cottage Garden Style (2424)

The romantic English cottage garden is the ancestor of American country. Both were born in the spaces around ordinary homes filled with extraordinary flowers. These are not pretentious plantings, but collections of beloved plants grown both for their beauty and practical uses.

Elements of the Cottage Garden:

The white picket fence

In early American gardens, this fence kept children in and farm animals out of the dooryard. Pointed pickets discouraged chickens from roosting on the fence. In Victorian times, many gardeners upgraded from pickets to wrought iron. This makes both fence types suitable for the style.

The arbor gate

Before automobiles, visitors tied their carriage horses at the front gate to the dooryard. The vine or rose shrouded arbor made it more comfortable for the animals to wait in the shade or protected from the rain.

White lattice

It is an elegant way to screen a view or offer privacy without sacrificing air movement. For outdoor living, or in the era before air conditioning, this was a common and welcome building item and, today, provides a backdrop for many cottage gardens.

Containers

The modest lifestyle of cottage gardeners did not afford luxury items. Inexpensive red clay flowerpots became the standard of the day. Homemade wood window boxes were a popular decoration for simple, functional homes at minimal cost.

Furniture

Comfortable old-fashioned rocking chairs are always a big part of this style picture. Wicker furniture popular in the 19th century remains as charming today as ever. Tables and chairs come into the garden off the front porch. The picnic table and accompanying benches remain the most common of all for outdoor seating and dining.

Paving

Brick, decomposed granite.

Decorative

Antique wheelbarrow, birdhouses.

Cottage is Simple

The cottage garden tends to have a mix of beautiful bloomers and plants brought in from the wild. Practical herbs for kitchen and medicine chest stand side by side with roses. Traditionally planted by the woman of the house in the convenience of her "dooryard", these gardens became a casual mix of her favorite flowers.

The emphasis is on flowers and diversity, with less interest in layout except to ensure each plant receives its share of light and water.

The style is free form and yet the most challenging because of its lack of rules. Cottage garden plants are not rare and exotic. Among them are natives and ordinary species. Above all, this garden must appeal to you personally, filled with the plants, flowers, scents, and colors you love. It is a garden of the heart, of the hearth and of the home.

Plants for a Cottage Garden

Many old-fashioned flowering shrubs such as hydrangeas, roses, lilacs and trees, such as magnolias. Most flowering perennials and shrubs fit well in this look. Edibles for kitchen gardens: rosemary, citrus, blueberry, figs, grapes, pomegranates.