LA 166 Lecture Outline 1/10/07 & 1/12/07

Nourishment from the Past: Elements of English Garden Design

• The English Gardening Style:

often described in terms of the 18^th century English landscape garden

• Early Italian influences as well as elements of French and Dutch design.

Example: Hampton Court

• 18^th century informal style emerges from a growing discontent with the formality of gardens informed by Italian and French models.

Design Inspiration

• Unique blend of nature and art.

Example: Stourhead, Stowe

• Nature copied and celebrated for its “wildness”.

Water, topography, and plantings manipulated and arranged to create a landscape that blurred the boundaries between the “natural” and “designed”.

• 19^th century: Renewed interest in the organized nature of formal gardens.

• English Cottage Garden style: informal.

Examples:

Hestercombe Garden, Somerset.

Sissinghurst Garden, Kent.

• Herbaceous planting becomes popular in American gardens.

• Restorative spirit arising from a closer association with nature.