Another style that came out of the Landscape Movement
was Gardenesque, which was popular from 1830 - 1930s. The Gardenesque style
celebrates individual plants, and comes from the desire to plant plants for
their own merits, rather than for garden design. The style gained popularity
because of all the plants pouring into England from all over the world, the
increasing knowledge about propagation, and the availability of large scale
green houses in which to raise exotic plants.
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| Gardenesque: flowers, trees, and shrubs (The Gardener's Magazine, 1938) |
John Claudius Loudon (1783 - 1845) was a proponent of
Gardenesque, and wrote in 1840 that "the aim of the Gardenesque is to add
to the acknowledged charms of the [picturesque], all those which the sciences
of gardening and botany, in their present advanced state, are capable of
producing". Gardenesque often displays plants in the picturesque setting.
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| Gardenesque: specimen trees (The Gardener's Magazine, 1938) |
In 1866, architect and writer John Arthur Hughes described
Gardenesque as being "distinguished by the trees and shrubs, whether in
masses or groups, being planted and thinned in such a manner as to never touch each
other; so that viewed near, each tree or shrub would be seen distinctly while
from a distance they show a high degree of beauty...Grace rather than grandeur
is its characteristic." The garden becomes a collection of individual
specimens rather than composed. Many of the trees and shrubs coming out of the
Americas were perfect candidates for this garden style.
Learn More:
- The History of Gardens, by Christopher Thacker
- The Story of Gardening, by Penelope Hobhouse
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