Formal gardens
We’ll start this article with a sentence from a young girl who encouraged me to think about how to describe all the beauty a formal garden provides: “I love an unkempt garden, formal is boring.” Most of you are probably nodding your approval, but the truth is always around the corner. It just needs to be viewed from a different perspective. When you think about the formal look of the garden, what comes to your mind first? It is very likely that the word formally gives you the impression that there is no freedom, and that it is a garden dominated by order. You are not far from the truth. There is order, but at the same time, it gives a sense of freedom, and it is not boring at all. Formal style is based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order on the natural order created by nature. The Renaissance was responsible for the development of a formal garden style. For those who have forgotten what this period brought, we remind you that it was one of the most creative periods in literature and art. Also, there has been a shift in science and philosophy. The Renaissance was the largest cultural movement in Western Europe, during which urban development and trade flourished. Along with the material, a spiritual culture develops.
The Renaissance unleashed creative energy first in Italy and the Netherlands and then in Germany and France, creating cultural and scientific institutions, libraries, galleries, museums, and the first universities. At that time, the ideas of brilliant artists and individuals successful in different sciences and arts were in vogue, such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael, Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Christopher Columbus. Leonardo da Vinci embodied the ideal of a universal man in whom scientific curiosity was harmoniously combined with a love of nature. David, Michelangelo’s statue, represents the symbol of the free Florentine Republic, and Columbus overcomes fear of the unknown, venturing into distant regions.
Italian Renaissance gardens are the forerunners of a new style of landscaping. Inspired by the classic ideals of order and beauty, they intended to offer the pure pleasure of watching the gardens and the surrounding environment, and of enjoying the features, sounds, and smells of those gardens. The gardens have become grand and symmetrical, with fountains, statues, and other features designed for the enjoyment of their owners and visitors. Significant advances in the study of botany led to the emergence of the first botanical gardens. For the first time, gardens have been designed to create a direct link to the building, usually with a single major axis running through the garden. The gardens are divided into smaller formal sections, with structural evergreen hedges that visually partition them. The shrubs used for this purpose were laurel, cypress, evergreen oak, and myrtle. Some trees are planted and trained so that their branches intertwine, forming aisles and arbors. Mostly willow and mulberry trees were used, and other trees whose canopies were sufficiently elastic and flexible for this purpose. Water becomes an important theatrical element in its elaboration and refinement. The gardens are surrounded by walls, with trees and fruit trees on the outside.
Gardens not only represent the vast wealth of their owners and their influence in society, but also represent a healing shelter. Many traveled to Italy primarily for these imposing gardens. And that is why these first formal gardens were often planted with exotic plants and bright-colored plants from distant lands. The role of low hedges was to create decorative flowerbeds planted in geometric shapes. Boxwood, rosemary, sage, and santolines are the most common plants used to create low hedges in formal gardens. As Italian Renaissance gardens evolved, they became more extravagant and theatrical.
The sense of drama that his visitors experience becomes very important. Therefore, fountains were created, from which different sea monsters originate. There are also various animal and geometric shapes, the so-called topiaries, most often made of boxwood and yew. These Italian Renaissance gardens had a strong influence on the French and English gardens. Their great feature is the relationship to color, as it becomes more important than the lines. Tulips were often used for this purpose, not only because they are among the first spring perennials, but also because of their tradition of being established in formal gardens. During the Renaissance, tulip bulbs were highly prized and rewarded. Since then, we have come across more and more colors, shapes, and sizes of tulips.
Gardens do not only represent the vast wealth of their owners and their influence in society but represent a healing shelter.
The photos, which you will hopefully enjoy, were taken in the magnificent formal gardens of Hampton Court Palace in London, the Palace of King Henry VIII. You may notice palisades that serve as green living walls and create high structural barriers to shield unwanted views. Hornbeam and beech were used for this purpose. Palisades, in ancient times, most often served the ladies in moments of reflection and enjoyment of solitude. Through the magnificent gardens, people walked along alleys, and the materials used were gravel, sand, or grass. There is usually an element at the end of the avenue that forms the so-called focal point.
And what is the connection between formal gardens and the present day? To a large extent. During this period, massive changes occurred rapidly, just as they do today. That is why the formal gardens were created to calm and ground the humans, giving them the pleasure of staying in the garden. Exhausted from our daily obligations, we need a place to calm down and move away from reality and people. You do not have to have endless acres of land to create magnificent gardens, as Henry VIII did. It can be a small surface that meets the criteria of a formal appearance. Create a formal garden look that won’t change, giving you a sense of stability. Hedges of hornbeam or beech will protect your privacy. This hedge will go shopping in the fall; the green dress will turn yellowish, and in winter, milk chocolate colors will be applied to her light green dress again in spring, with the first fashion weeks. The boxwood will remain green throughout the year, fencing with it small flower beds that, twice a year, will enable you to regenerate in your garden.
After this, you will, like the author of this article, look at the picture in the museum with different eyes.
In the spring and fall, you will be able to create your masterpieces. You will be able to change the garden’s colors to match your mood. After all of this, do you still think that formal gardens are boring and that there is no freedom? After this, you will, like the author of this article, look at the picture in the museum with different eyes. You will recognize that the characters are arranged in a geometric relationship, emerging from the fog using light-dark contrasts. Well, you will see Leonardo’s Mona Lisa smiling in front of landscapes, stones, and rivers, and you will experience Michelangelo’s David as a tremendous force (something formal) and as a tension (a sense of freedom) radiating from this sculpture.
There is no greater satisfaction than when a click happens in your head, so you realize that formally is not boring, but on the contrary, it is interesting. When that happens, you will be overwhelmed by the tremendous euphoria. In this mood, you will create and create, to your joy and the joy of all who will walk in your garden. This euphoria will drive you forward in defiance of the tense and stressful everyday life. You will be rewarded with the peace that it will give you, the feeling of keeping things under control, and the immense sense of free creation and transformation. When you scratch a little deeper below the surface, you will probably end up liking these more formal than the so-called, unkempt gardens. We proudly admit that they are.
TEXT & PHOTO – Iva Tominovic Matas
