Principles of Landscape Gardening (0+1)

Practical. 7

Layout of Formal Garden

The major garden styles are

• Mughal Gardens
• Persian gardens
• Italian gardens
• French gardens
• English gardens and
• Japanese gardens
• Out of these, the Mughal, Persian, Italian and French styles fall in the category of formal gardens.
• Whereas, the English and Japanese gardens are classified in the informal style of gardening.

Few Formal styles of Gardens in the world.

1. Italian Gardens The Italian garden style came into existence at the Time of Renaissance. There is a striking similarity between the Persian and the Mughal styles with the Italian style. In all these styles of gardening the similarity was the use of heavy masonry features, through the character of masonry was different in the Italian style. The Italian elites conceived their gardens just as an extension of the lavish palaces, as a glamorous outdoor hall for entertainment and for showing off their wealth as well as status. The most prominent features associated with Italian gardens was the massive flight of stairs, generally of marble, complete with balustrade to connect the different levels in the garden. Decorative urns, fountains generally in combination with stone sculptures or rather the fountains themselves used to emerge from one part or the other of the statues, are the other equally important features of the Italian gardens. The greatest benefit the Italian garden style brought to gardening is that it taught all of Europe that gardening could be a most respectable form of art which demanded through and careful study.

2. French Gardens In the sixteenth-century France, the court life was shrouded with stiff formality and exactness. Matching with that the French style of garden designs were also very intricate and artificial. Until this time the French gardens were nothing but copies of Italian style. The new style of gardening now known as French style is largely, rather solely, due to the efforts of Le Notre who served in the Royal Garden of Louis XIV from 1643 to 1700. He elevated the art of garden design to a standard which had never since been reached. It was Le Notre who showed to the world the impact in impressiveness of scale, on garden design. His main creations, the gardens at Versailles, have avenues which are memorable for their tremendous length and width. To design a garden at Vauxe-le-Vicomte, his first master piece, Le Notre had removed three villages to create his vista. The moral of French garden style of Le Notre seems to teach the lesson “How to Think Big”. The style of Le Notre can be termed as an evolution and mastery of the art of formal garden in its perfection. His style dominated the gardens of civilized Europe, for a long time.

3. Persian Gardens Persian garden style is one of the oldest. The Persian garden style and the Japanese style both were based on their respective ideas of heaven. Except this similarity the two styles differ widely from one another. The Persian styles were strictly formal and symmetrical. They used for their gardens all crafted materials such as masonry, carved and pierced marble stones, and highly polished stones. The Persian gardens were laid out by cutting terraces on the hill slopes. They also tapped some natural spring to create a straight water-course through the gardens and manipulated the water-course to undertake different movements along its run. If there was no natural source of water this was created artificially by diverting some rivulet or a stream. So the main stay of a Persian garden design was nahars (flowing canals) of water – the concept of Persian Paradise, “where cooling water flows”. The selection and placing of trees were very judicious. The fruit trees represented the symbol of life while Cypress symbolized death and eternity.

4. Mughal Gardens The gardens laid out during the rule of Mughal Emperors in India are known as Mughal gardens. The Mughal gardens are similar to the style of gardens of Central Asia and Persia. Babar (1494 – 1531) was the first Mughal ruler to introduce this style in India. All other Mughal rulers and some of the Mughal Begums starting from Akbar and followed by Jahangir, Nur Jehan, Shah Jehan, and Aurangzeb all laid their hand on developing one or the other Mughal gardens in India. The main features of Mughal gardens, which are largely borrowed from the Persian style.

The main features of Mughal Gardens

Site and Design Mughals were very choosy about the selection of site and always preferred a site on a hill slope with a perennial rivulet or along the bank of a river. Mughal gardens are generally rectangular or square in shape and different architectural features are the main stay of the design.

Walls and Gates The Mughals created the gardens not only for pleasure and recreation but also as forts and residences surrounded by high walls and with-an-imposing wooden gate at the entrance which was studded with bold iron nails and pointed iron spikes. The purpose of the high walls was security from the enemies and shelter against hot winds. The gardens were a place of peace for the Emperors to enjoy with their wives and concubines. Terrace The Mughals came from the hilly terrains and so they were fond of terraces in the gardens. For this reason they used to select the location of gardens near hill slopes. Their fascination for terrace was so intense that even in the plains of Punjab they created artificial terraces. According to Islamic faith the Paradise has eight divisions and hence some times the gardens have eight terraces

Nahars (Running Water) The style of having running water by constructing canals and tanks borrowed from the Persians. The water canals were paved with tiles (or marble) of blue colour to create the illusion of depth. The course of water used to be maneuvered in various ways taking advantage of each slope, however small it may be, to break up the flow into artificial falls and ripples. The water canals used to have fountains to throw up the water high in the air. In the evenings small lamps used to be illuminated to create beautiful reflexions. The fascination for water came from the Muslim faith which says that the promised paradise is the place “where cooling waters flow”. With this bias for water Mughals selected sites on hill slopes to tap a running rivulet or spring for source of water. In the plains of India, where the summers are hot, Mughals utilized water for its cooling effect.

Baradari This is noting but an arbour-like structure, but made of stone and masonry with a pucca roof and a raised platform for sitting. These were usually provided with twelve or occasionally more doors on all sides for the Emperors to watch the performance of the dancing girls.

Tomb or Mosque It was a common practice to have the gardens built around a tomb (e.g., Taj Mahal, Akbhar’s Tomb at Sikandra). It is often said that the Mughal gardens were at their best when built around a monument.

Trees and flowers The trees were selected with careful planning and thought, as to Mughals each tree symbolized something, like life, youth, death, etc. Fruit trees were considered symbols of life and youth, while, Cypress represented death and eternity. The Mughals had bias for spring flowering trees and flowers. The seasonal flower beds were of geometrical pattern and constructed along the water canals or near the main buildings. The favorite flowers were rose, jasmine, carnation, hollyhock, delphinium etc.