Principles of Landscape Gardening (0+1)

Practical. 6

Layout of Different Styles of Garden

• Before someone starts to venture into designing a garden it will be wise to get an idea about the major gardening styles of the world.
• This will open up a window to this knowledge on gardening and help him design his own garden by adapting the best from each or any of these.
• But this does not mean that one should copy any garden style. For example, when a would-be writer studies Shakespeare, Shaw, or Tagore it does not mean that he will translate their ideas in his work of literature.
• He only studies the styles of writing and forms his own ideas suiting to the situation and time. Similarly, a garden enthusiast has to study the different styles only to gain knowledge to help him from his own ideas suiting the local condition and limitations such as a available space, funds, etc.
• Though in India from history and ancient literature we find that gardening was quite in vogue in olden times, but unfortunately there is no garden style called “Indian garden”, which can claim a place in the major gardening styles of the world.
• The famous garden style of India the “Mughal Gardens” are nothing but a replica of the ancient Persian Gardens.
• There are two main styles of gardening i. e. Formal Garden and Informal garde

1. Formal Gardens A formal garden is laid out in a symmetrical or a geometrical pattern. In this garden the design is stiff as everything is done in a straight and narrow way. In such gardens everything is planted in straight lines. Also 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 flower beds, borders, and shrubbery are arranged in geometrically designed beds. Trimmed formal hedges, Cypress, Ashoka trees, and topiary are typical features of a formal garden. Ex: Mughal, Persian, Italian and French styles

2. Informal Garden In an informal garden, the whole design looks informal, as the plans and the features are arranged in a natural way without following any hard and fast rules. But here also the work has to proceed according to a set and well-through-out plan; otherwise the creation will not be artistic and attractive. The idea behind this design is to imitate nature. Ex: English and Japanese gardens

3. Wild Garden A comparatively recent style of gardening, namely, “Wild Garden” was expounded by William Robinson in the last decade of the nineteenth century. His idea was revolutionary and found many admirers to follow this. The concept of wild garden is not only against all formalism but it also breaks the rule of landscape styles. His main idea was to naturalize plants in shrubberies. He also preached that grass should remain unmowed, as in nature, and few bulbous plants should be grown scattered in the grass to imitate wild scenery. He also suggested that passages should be opened in the woodland, and trees, shrubs, and bulbous plants should be planted among the forest flora to fulfill his idea of a wild garden. His other idea was to allow the creepers to grow over the trees naturally imitating those of the forests.