Ornamental Horticulture

Formal style

The gardens of Greece and Rome assured an emotional security though their formal style. The Persian, Moorish gardens of Spain and Mughal gardens were also of the same kind and were strictly formal, symmetrical and geometrical resembling a carpet.
The Italian renaissance garden was having intricate geometric designs, sheared trees, trimmed hedges and edges to create formality. The impact of formalism influenced the French and British gardens also in the form of parterre, the much divided flower beds.




The key features of formal design are:

• The design is stiff as everything is done in a straight and narrow way.
• If there is a plant on the left hand side of a straight road, a similar plant must be planted at the opposite place on the right hand side i.e., mirror image of each other.
• The plan is symmetrical with square, rectangular and roads cut at right angles.
• It has a sort of enclosure or boundary.
• Flower beds are arranged in geometric designs.
• The arrangement of trees and shrubs is necessarily geometrical and kept in shape by trimming and training.
• Other features like fountains, water pools, cascades etc. are used for further attraction

Demerits

• Formal gardens have no ‘secrets’ and the element of surprise is lost.
• However, attractive focal points at terminal and intersecting points of paths and roads are provided to make the formal garden effective.
• Present day home gardens are laid out in formal design only at the frontage.