A History of Gardens, Part 2

7 • POSTED ON October 25, 2005
A History of Gardens, Part 2
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This week, we continue through our history of gardening, startig with the later medieval period and working up to the 19th century.

Our gardening column is published every Tuesday on OttawaStart. Read previous columns here.

As mentioned in our previous column, the monastery gardens of the early Middle Ages (around 800 A.D.) were mainly utility gardens, in which vegetables, fruits and herbs filled the beds. Flowers were grown on a very modest scale and solely used for decorative purposes (on the altar). In that same era, castles sometimes made room for small courtyard gardens but it wasn’t until much later that gardens started to appear outside the walls. Let’s continue our journey through the history of gardening.

In the later medieval period – around 1400/1500 A.D. – when castles had started to give way to (smaller) fortified mansions, the garden moved from inside the walls to the area around the perimeter of the building(s). Although technically gardens – the space was often surrounded by hedges or even fences – they were nothing more than simple green spaces where games (bowls, tennis) were played.

Forced by historical circumstances, I have to - slightly - complicate the story from this paragraph on. Up until this point in time, what we have touched on so far applies to most European countries, but from the 16th century on things change. Simply put, we see four styles appear that, although intertwined, all have their own specific characteristics. Sometimes the differences are marginal, sometimes they are significant.

The basic appearance of all four styles is the same and – in essence - was nothing more than a result of the changing times. Throughout Europe landowners started to enclose parts of common land to keep deer or cattle, thus creating the first parks. In order to counterbalance these “natural” green spaces, more formal spaces were created closer to the house, still sheltered from the outside world by walls or hedges. Slowly but surely utility gardens started to give way to ornamental gardens

The Italians created their own style by mirroring the alignment of their houses. If the house was rectangular, then so was the garden. If the house happened to be built in a curved manner, then so was the garden. In Tudor times, the English were heavily influenced by the Italians, but added their famous knot gardens. Knots were intricate patterns of lawn hedges (usually box wood), intended to be viewed from raised walks (or from indoors). The spaces between the knots were often filled with herbs and – somewhat later – with flowers and shrubs.

Around the same time, the French developed their more formal – classical - style with broad avenues sweeping away from the house, flanked by rectangular parterres of formal low hedges. The Dutch adapted the French style by adding water features, their infamous flower bulbs and trees planted in large tubs and topiary, thus creating a style of their own.

The 17th century saw the birth of the first printed publications on plants and gardens, as well as the first greenhouses and garden rooms. Fuelled by the knowledge that had become available, another important development starting in this era was that gardening became something that was not solely accessible – if you will – to nobility. The common man - perhaps not the poorest but certainly the more well-to-do middle class – started to take an interest in gardening. Clearly, it goes without saying that these people did not have the same amount of land at their disposal that the nobles had and as a result, a more natural look started to appear. In the 18th century, Renaissance formality, with its straight lines, started to give way to curved paths, and parterres were replaced with grass. The landscape style was born…

More or less from this point on, it was the English who dictated what was fashionable in the garden. Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1715-1783) is the most well-known of the landscape style designers. In fact, he was so influential and sought after by the English aristocracy, that it is estimated he was responsible for some 170 gardens surrounding the finest mansions and houses around England. In case you are wondering, his curious nickname was derived from his habit of informing potential clients that their gardens had “great capabilities”.

As mentioned above, the landscape style distinguished itself by making the house part of the landscape. Gone were the formal walks and beds, gone were hedgerows and fences. Instead, grass parkland was brought right up to the front door in an attempt to have the house blend in with the fields and farmland surrounding it. Trees were planted in clusters rather than in straight lines, rounded lakes and ponds replaced rectangular shaped water features, and carefully calculated vistas with statues and classical ornaments punctuated openings in the landscape. In the latter half of the century, gravel walks and separate flowerbeds were re-introduced but in essence the style stayed the same.

In the 19th century, passion for gardening intensified. It became commonly accepted to open up one’s garden to the general public and for the first time in the history of gardening we see (ornamental) plant collections appear. I’ll expand on that next week, when we continue our journey though (garden) time.

Until then, happy gardening!

René Trim

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About René
René Trim was educated and trained in The Netherlands, before moving to Canada in 2000. After studying the differences in climate and season faced by Ontario gardeners he established Trim Garden Design and Rescue in May 2002. A gardener since the 1980’s, he has a wealth of knowledge and experience, a vast library of reference materials from which to draw answers to various garden situations as well as an enthusiastic and professional staff.