Which expression of garden art / garden style that we have studied this semester resonated most strongly with you personally? Explain why.

The garden styles that resonated the most strongly for me were both the medieval garden and the Islamic garden. In terms of actual garden purpose, I thought it was fun how the medieval gardens had multiple different types, each all so useful and beneficial to the lives of the people during medieval time, bringing in gardens and nature as an important aspect to their culture. Their emphasis and fascination with moral beauty held great importance to this time period, thus making gardens all that more impactful, creating gardens to be some of the core areas of the home. 

The herber was a garden style within the innovation of the medieval garden that especially stood out to me. It seemed so whimsical and beautiful, with such a relaxing emphasis on being able to use nature as a place to spend time in, while also being in a cool, sweetly-smelling little garden space. The idea of a pleasure park also seemed especially fun. Having your own large, impressive park right in your backyard where you can enjoy a variety of aspects, brings one all that closer to the outdoors, becoming an intrinsic part to their livelihood. Trying to picture all the gardens of the medieval time, and knowing how exactly they were fit into the peoples of this time period broadened my horizons in trying to imagine that important time in history.

The Islamic Gardens may ultimately be my favorite type of garden in their simple beauty. Having the ability to learn about them in class, and then to see an actual one-- the Alcazar Palace in Seville-- took the whole concept home for me. Their focus on humble detail, with beautiful and colorful geometric patterns allowed gardens to be created with the most beautiful touch. The gardens weren't just about plant material, but also intricate design, pretty and peaceful water features, and great architecture. I like the emphasis on spirituality mixed with a place to come that replicates a magnificent paradise. While I did not get to see one at the Alcazar, the attribute of a chadar or chinikani seemed so cool. This type of structure, especially the chinikani, stood out to me from the moment it was talked about in class. It sounds so beautiful, and seems like a wonderful aspect to a garden; especially one as beautiful as an Islamic garden. 

(My own photographs from Alcazar)

All in all, everything that was learned about in this class opened my eyes to aspects of the garden that I didn't even realize were such centralized facets of this particular form of flora and fauna. Gardens are such a beautiful component of our world today. It is wonderful to learn about them, understand their history, and appreciate them as a magnificent way to combine art and nature.

Jekyll and Lutyens-- masterminds behind the 'Arts and Crafts Garden'

The Arts and Crafts Garden came out of an anti-industrial movement that was a reaction against mass production, all born out of the the intention to revive traditional values. It was an encouragement of locality and personal design, with the resurgence of the appeal in the medieval era as inspiration. It stood for traditional craftsmanship, with simple forms and design. With the origins of the arts and crafts garden rooted in hardy, old-fashioned design, with country-cottage plants, the gardens advocated a resurgence of economic and social reform. Gardener Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) and architect Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) were behind the culmination of this movement. After meeting one day at tea, the two became compatible ‘kindred spirits’ that complimented each other in together creating some of the best, most beautiful, and well known arts and crafts gardens of their time. 

(Gertrude Jekyll)

(Edwin Lutyens)

As a duo, Jekyll and Lutyens created something magical. As told in the National Trust Book of the English Garden, together the two collaborated their simplistic view-- "Lutyens designed “the ‘hard landscape’- the pools, paths, steps, terraces and buildings-- while Miss Jekyll filled in the plant names.” Jekyll was the first person to apply painterly color theory to the planting of flower beds. Being very artistically minded-- a master of both embroidery and blowing glass-- Jekyll could literally paint with flowers and was able to artistically make a flower bed into a work of art; she also re-invented the subtlety of the herbaceous border.

(Munstead Wood-- Jekyll's residence, and an example of a 'Arts and Crafts Garden')

Together they emphasized the usage of local material being crafted in local and innovative ways, filled with disciplined, but whimsical and colorful planting, in combination with outdoor rooms, enclosed with majestic hedges, long vistas, and grand pergolas. 

(The Deannery--architecture by Lutyens)

The Victorian Villa Garden

The inspiration of the Victorian Villa Garden was in fact in the murder of the natural landscape. This rebellion against the eighteenth century landscape park was fueled by the idea that ‘Gardens are works of art rather than of nature’--- a previous thought of landscape artists such as that of Capability Brown, in the thought that the the idea of a landscape design was to let nature run it’s course and to creating the most natural-looking landscape possible. This new thought of a garden as a work of art became prominent in the early 1800s. As quoted in the Victorian Gardens by Brent Elliott “No theme is more important, no sentiment so regularly expressed, in the Victorian literature on gardening, than this affirmation of the artistic and unnatural character of the garden. Just like the minds of individuals, gardening was now meant to be independent, imaginative, and original. Nature was no longer the sought after leader, and gardens were no longer meant to be subservient to it’s rule. The new leader in charge was now Art, and it held much control over that of the Victorian Villa Garden. 

Garden magazines were now becoming the latest trend, and the influx of exotic plants was widely desired in gardens across the globe, and many technical innovations were in place. Many forces shaped the Victorian Garden, further advancing all that it became. Labor-saving devices such as the lawn mower and transplanting machines, and devices that measure tree heights. Railways made bringing materials straight to sites easier, and made carting other materials across the country much faster. The production of new materials such as concrete and asphalt made laying foundations and building architecture much more possible and easier. One of the most important of new materials was glass. The production of sheet glass fueled the construction of hearty greenhouses, capable of being heated and letting in sunlight. 

(The Great Conservatory, Chatsworth. One of the largest designs and innovations in greenhouse production)

Composed of three different components of the grounds, the Victorian Villa Garden became a beautiful multi-dimensional display of pleasant greenery and productivity. The formal garden, the pleasure grounds, and the kitchen garden made up all the different aspects of the villa garden. Included in the formal garden was geometric bedding arranged in formal displays, and this garden most often included the greenhouses, were exotic specimens among plants, fruits, fungi, or succulents were kept and grown. The pleasure gardens were the only aspect of the garden that potentially still maintained the ideals of the english landscape garden, more removed from the house towards the end of the property was the  pleasure gardens, which had the most ‘natural’ feel. Ponds and paths, rockeries, and collections of plants in bedding characterized this gardenesque area. The kitchen gardens were the productive gardens and were most often situated right near the house for easy access to materials used for cooking. Here common vegetables, fruits, and herbs were cultivated and harvested. Orchards were also among this space. With many aspects to the Victorian Villa Garden, the concept was widely popularized and heavily copied.

(Victorian Garden- formal garden and kitchen garden, without pleasure grounds pictured)