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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Summer Movies 2015: Visions of Nature

In another program, Penelope Hobhouse visits three naturalistic gardens. Naturalistic gardens emulate nature, but are "edited" to appear that way. Naturalistic gardening emerged as part of the landscape movement, which was a reaction to the highly manicured, resource-intensive, formal gardens of the Renaissance.

 
In England Hobhouse visits the iconic Stourhead, designed in the 1700s for the wealthy Henry Hoare family. A lake is the centerpiece of the garden; trails meanders through the woods and lake side, giving wonderful views of nature, buildings, a grotto, bridges, and so forth.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Hobhouse visits Winterthur Garden's March Walk in Delaware, USA. Winterthur was designed in 1839 by Antoine Bidermann and Evelina du Pont, and named after the Bidermann ancestral town of Winterthur. They both had a passion for gardening, and flowers, as did subsequent generations of their family. The garden is formally landscaped closer to the house, and then becomes a wild garden away from the house. The woods are an important part of the garden design.

She also visits the native plant woodland, Pierce Woods, at Longwood Garden in Pennsylvania, USA. The garden showcases the most ornamental characteristics of the eastern deciduous forest, and incorporates both indigenous and exotic plants. The garden has interest throughout the year.

I love the ideas behind the naturalistic gardens - gardens that appear as though they are wild, but in reality are planned and managed.

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