So after going over some of the gardens and garden styles that are prevalent throughout Ireland, I’m going to discuss some of the garden practices that can be found there today. First off, certain garden practices are associated with various garden styles. I’m going to focus on four predominant styles: Japanese, formal French, English, and Italian Renaissance.

            

 So many of you probably have some idea of what a Japanese garden entails. It tends to be very natural. There’s a good reason for this in the fact that the Japanese had a great sense of respect for nature, and they believed that it should be embraced and reproduced, on both large and small scales. Water was a very common feature, but it usually came in the form of a river, flowing through the landscape. The Japanese even go so far to dictate the various ways and directions that water can flow. Rock and gravel beds were also a very predominant feature, and were raked in various patterns. This was considered a sacred activity and could only be done by people with religious authority. In terms of plant material, there was nothing very formal. The plant material was laid out in a way that produced balance, but still kept everything natural. Bonsai was started by the Japanese, and is used to create miniature trees and shrubs. Often these plants are used indoors, but can definitely be found outside in gardens as well. The way this is done is by taking the individual shrub or tree, and not only pruning the trunk and branches, but also pruning the roots. By doing this over a number of years, a mature miniature tree or shrub is produced.   

            

Scene of a Japanese garden with a Japanese maple tree.

The root pruning of a bonsai tree.

Often when people hear formal gardens, they think the French, and there’s a good reason for that. The French had a very controlled outlook on nature, and this could not be exemplified better than through the creation of Versailles. Some of the characteristics of these gardens include the use of axes, pruning of the shrubbery into geometric shapes called topiaries, lots of symmetry, formal water features, and all of this being on a very grand scale. In order to achieve this style of gardening, a great deal of labor and maintenance is needed. It’s interesting in the fact that in man’s attempt to control nature, nature ends up having a very strong control on man. A perfect example of this is a practice referred to as pleaching. In the practice of pleaching, a tree is consistently pruned in a specific shape, and by doing this, a “shell” is created. The inside of the tree is bare and almost nothing but twigs. But once again, in order to do this, a great deal of labor and maintenance is involved. Another common feature of French garden design is the incorporation of statues and groves. The statues often were sculpted from bronze and marble. The bottom line is that this type of garden design is meant to represent power. 

This is a view of the Orangery at Versailles.

             

The next type of garden style I will be going over will be the English garden. This style of garden is interesting in the fact that it was often criticized in the time period that fell shortly after the formal garden era that enveloped most of Europe. It was criticized in the sense that a garden wasn’t being created, and it was just a pure replication of nature. Capability Brown was one of the garden designers responsible for this movement, and it eventually became very popular. People began to step away from the idea that gardens need to have topiaries, symmetry, and formality. The new style of English gardens included native plant material that was well kept, but had a very organic shape. Balance was definitely incorporated, but once again symmetry and axes weren’t part of this. Lastly, wildlife could be found quite easily in English gardens and could include cattle and horses. One of the ways this was done was through something called a “ha-ha”. This was a sunken fence that separated one area of a garden from another, but at the same time, could not be seen from where the viewer was standing. By this being the case, it felt like the cattle were wild, but in fact were contained. 

Picturesque English garden style.

This is a ha-ha, used to keep cows in a designated area of a garden.

Lastly, I will discuss the Italian Renaissance garden. It’s interesting in the fact that the style and practices aren’t quite as evident or well-known as the previous three. The Renaissance garden came into existence after the dark ages of the medieval times. The gardens that existed during this era were walled in, and this feature often carried over into Renaissance Gardens. Although these walls did exist, grand views of the country side were incorporated. However, not all of the country side could be viewed from one angle. Multiple views were needed to make it interesting and keep the element of surprise. Another predominant aspect of the Renaissance garden was a renewal of Roman influence or the classics. In a great deal of Renaissance gardens, it’s easy to find statues of the Roman gods and goddesses. A second aspect that could be found in these gardens is the use of slopes. Once again, slopes made the design interesting. In terms of plant material and layout, structure and symmetry were definitely evident. Topiaries were found quite frequently, and some design can be comparable to that of the French. The reason for this is that the Italian garden design served as the predecessor for formal garden design that eventually manifested and made its way into the French culture. Lastly, Renaissance gardens became the other half of villas, or country houses for the wealthy at the time. Some famous villas include the Villa Medici, Villa D’Este, and the Villa Lante.

Typical Renaissance garden design, utilizing a slope.

Sources and Cites

Thacker, Christopher. The History of Gardens. 1979. Reprint. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califronia Press, 1997. Print.