Based on what we have learned about garden art, if you had to create a garden incorporating any combination of features or styles that we have examined in class, what would your garden look like and why?

If I were to design my own garden based on what we have learned, I would blend two main styles and concepts..a medieval whimiscal herber mixed with the purposes of the Reanissance garden.

I would start with the idea of a herber as my layout, as relatively small, enchanting, and some what enclosed garden. However I would not have it confined by walls bur rather bushes and vines and trellises. I would design it with the thought that it would be similar to the idea of the Renaissance secret garden, in that it would be small (but in this case not so small) and enclosed. with an emphasis on the concept of it being a garden meant connect with nature and to contemplate life. Meanwhile also using this space to cultivate a wide variety of different plant life. Just like in the Renaissance secret garden, I would tactfully intertwine art and nature, but in a less systematic and symmetrical way than what was once emphasized in these Renaissance gardens. I would put more of an emphasis on a whimsical atmosphere, with no real order to the garden. Contrastingly, this "Renaissance herber" would not be enclosed within a larger garden like how many of the Renaissance secret gardens were, it would be the main garden. It would reside closely connected to my home, as if the doors on the back and side of my home were to open up into garden, if not then led to it by a short path.

I wold actively follow the concept of the herber, filling the garden with sweet-smelling herbs and flowers of every kind. The most important aspect of my garden would be an emphasis on flowers, a feature that is emphasized in the herber, but not as prominently in many of the other gardens that have been examined. In between the innumerable flower beds and herb patches, I would have paths of differently cut stones, with mossy or flowy grass growing wherever a bed or path is not present. In another area of the garden, I would have a vegetable garden, similar to that of the monastic monks practical vegetable gardens. Here I would bring order to my garden, and grow beds of vegetables lining this area of the garden. Like the medieval orchard, but not as manicured and aligned in straight rows, I would like to grow a few nut and fruit trees popping up here and there throughout the garden, offering scent, shade, a beautiful blossom when in season, and of course: wonderful produce. In addition, a couple of other fruits would be grown, such as berries and cherries. 

Now for the design and features, I would love to fill my garden with beautiful vines, and I would allow this to happen using pergolas, arbours, and trellises. The garden entrance would be, as mentioned, near the door of my home, but would welcome visitors with a beautiful arbour entrance, with trellises filled with vines on either side. Once walking under the arbour, your feet would immediately find their way onto a stone lined path. On either said of the paths and on the other side of the trellises inside the garden, would be turf seats looking out into the garden. These seats would be identical to those of the herber, flowering and lovely. The path from the entrance would be a spider web of a route, leading you to all difference areas of the garden. Through the flowers, around the trees, towards the vegetable garden, and around the berries. 

There would no main axis, and in no way would the garden be symmetrical. No water features would be present. This garden would be bringing in the ideal of the smelly flower and herb filled space of the herber, blended with the peaceful idea of the Renaissance garden as a space to come and think and ponder current life, all the while also making the space practical by growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs for cultivation.

Some pergola, trellis, and entrance inspiration...

Some lighting inspiration…