5 the 19th c influences on landscape

Major Characteristics of 19th

Century Influences on Landscape

Hortykim

Hortykim, Otago Polytechnic 2010

Origins of the Garden


If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. ~Pearl Buck

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. Pearl Buck

Welcome to our interesting study of garden history where you will look at major characteristics from the Neolithic age through to contemporary New Zealand gardens.

Gardening is an ancient art in which people have created gardens for a combination of practicality and style.

In order for us to create gardens, it is important to study design principles, elements and features from the past in order to see where we are today. We hope you will enjoy this journey back in time and be inspired by the past garden styles from all over the world, many of which we will be able to link to gardens today.

Gardenesque



After three centuries, rich men’s gardens, in which flowers played a very small part, started to change.

The “Gardenesque” style started to flourish around villas and suburbia. John and Jane Loudon revolutionized gardening for the emerging middle class. John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14

December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden and cemetery designer, author and garden magazine editor.

Gardenesque



The “Gardenesque” style of English garden design evolved out of the 1820s from Humphry Repton's Picturesque, or Mixed, style.

Repton once wrote “Flower gardens on a small scale may, with propriety, be formal and artificial”.

The Wye Valley showing Tintern Abbey ,known for its romantic and picturesque qualities

Loudans and Gardenesque


If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. ~Pearl BuckIn contrast to Repton’s point of view, Loudan wrote that;

“Gardenesque is the the production of the type of scenery which is best calculated to display the individual beauty of trees, shrubs and plants in a state of nature…” and that his style was “the best for displaying the art of a gardener”.

Jane C. Webb Loudon (August 19, 1807 – July 13, 1858) was an early pioneer of science fiction, long before the term was invented. She is better known for her work in creating the first popular gardening manuals.

Gardenesque



The “Gardenesque” approach involved the creation of small-scale landscapes, dotted with features to promote beauty in detail, variety and mystery, sometimes to the detriment of coherence.

Artificial mounds helped to stage groupings of shrubs, and island beds became prominent features. Unusual plants were introduced such as pampas grass and the monkey puzzle tree. Araucaria araucana

Gardenesqueness



There are a few interesting developments which emerged during the “Gardenesque” style. Let’s have a look at some of the following factors: •exotic plants•new classes of gardeners•horticulture publications•lawn mowers•different trends in gardening styles Exotic or introduced species can

become a problem like this Japanese vine species, Pueraria lobata which is invasive in the southeast United States.

Exotic Plants



A huge scientific interest in plants was sparked by Linnaeus in the 18th C with his new and improved classification system. England’s Chelsea Physic Garden and the Botanic Garden at Kew had amazing plant collections but few plants contained within them were introduced to 18th C gardens.

This was to change.

Carl Linnaeus (1707 -1778) was a Swedish botanist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is also considered to be one of the fathers of modern ecology.

Exotic Plants



In 1804 Sir Joseph Banks and a small team of plant enthusiasts established the Horticulture Society which effectively extended the study of plants from a strictly scientific to more of a horticultural lean.

The society paid travellers and explorers to collect and deliver plants of interest.

Sir Joseph Banks, (1743 –1820) was a patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage and is credited with introducing many plants to the western world, including the genus named after him.

Exotic Plants



The Wardian case was invented in 1829 and was a real break through in that it was able to protect living plant specimens on long sea journeys.

Also, greenhouses became glass houses due to the industrial fabrication of glass and iron frames.

Wardian cases, forerunner of the modern terrarium and the inspiration for the glass aquarium, was invented by Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791–1868).

Exotic Plants



Industrial fabrication eventually resulted in the construction of conservatories like Paxton’ Crystal Palace.

Nurseries which had previously been restricted to growing native plants could now branch out by constructing glasshouses and paying plant hunters to find unusual exotic plants which they could then propagate in these modified environments.

The Crystal Palace was erected in Hyde Park, London to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the building’s 92,000 m2 of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technologies.

A New Class of Gardeners



Until the 18th C garden design had been mostly enjoyed by the wealthy.

Rural cottagers existed but this was for food production, herbs and medicinal plants. You would not see many fountains in these gardens.

The Cascade House at Chatsworth




During the 18th C the enclosure of common land and the agricultural revolution caused an influx of people from rural areas to towns. They were seeking factory work as the invention of the Spinning Jenny and the Watt’s steam engine had greatly increased the number of factory jobs.

James Hargreaves invented the multi spooled Spinning Jenny in 1764. The device markedly reduced the amount of work needed to produce yarn. A single worker was able to work eight or more spools at once.



So the early 19th C saw factory and landowners building and selling villas with about 4 hectares of land attached.

Designers and gardeners like Loudan realized the future development of gardens lay with the small land owner now. Large public parks were also on the horizon in order to cater to the growing urban environment.


The 19th century (1801–1900) was a period in history marked by the collapse of many empires. This paved the way for the growing influence of the British Empire, the German Empire and the United States, causing military conflicts but also advances in science and exploration. (Pink shows British Empire.)

Horticulture Publications



The first half of the 19th C is also known for the publication of many gardening manuals and magazines especially aimed at the the new gardening classes and are more for the lay person rather than the technical musings produced earlier.

The Loudans produced three books and two magazines, the “Suburban Gardener” and the “Villa Companion” (1838).

Begonia tomentosa plate by Paxton, published in his "Magazine of Botany”.

New Inventions



Prior to the invention of the lawn mower, grass was cut using a scythe or kept trim by flocks of sheep.

Edwin Budding got the idea of the lawnmower after seeing a machine in a local cloth mill which used a cutting cylinder mounted on a bench to trim the irregular nap from the surface of woolen cloth to give a smooth finish.

Edwin Beard Budding (1795–1846), an engineer from Stroud, England, was the inventor of the lawnmower (1830) and the adjustable spanner.

New Trends



There were some distinctive trends associated with the Gardenesque style and these included:

•the eclectic garden•carpet bedding and topiary•the natural woodland garden•public parks

Let’s have a look at these trends and the people behind them.

Botanic gardens of the 16th and 17th C changed from medicinal gardens to sites displaying new plants from distant lands.Photo showing Victoria amazonica at Braunschweig Botanic Garden, Germany

The Eclectic Garden



Eclectic gardens were a concoction of ideas and styles from different geological and historical sources.

For example, Alton Towers had collection of gardens which included: a Swiss Cottage, a Dutch garden, a Pagoda Fountain, Grecian, Roman, Gothic and Indian buildings, a topiary garden…

Alton Towers in 1880.The garden was begun, circa 1814 by the eccentric 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, of whom J. C. Loudon (who was consulted on design features of which there were many) relates that he consulted every artist, only to avoid 'whatever an artist might recommend'. Hmmmm.

The Eclectic Garden



…an alpine aviary, a Stonehenge like replica, Lysicrates' Choragic Monument from Athens (a feature in English gardens since the 1760s), domed glasshouses (originally gilded),and even a fairly large Matterhorn which was a backing to one of England's earliest Alpine gardens.

In England, a Dutch Garden was the description given to a particular type of rectangular garden enclosed within hedges or walls.

The Eclectic Garden


If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. ~Pearl BuckEclectic gardens required good choices to be made about what features were included as well as a lot of money, or they could come across as insipid or even looking like an amusement park…whoops.

Park logo of Alton TowersLocation: Alton, Staffordshire, EnglandOpened: 1860 (1980 as Theme Park)Area: 500 acres (2 km²)Rides: 29 total * 8 roller coasters * 5 water ridesSlogan: "Where the Magic Comes Alive"

Carpet Bedding and Topiary


Carpet bedding really took off due to the introduction of glasshouses and importation of new plants. Massed plantings of red salvias, blue lobelias and yellow lady’s purse became very fashionable.

Carpet bedding is linked to a more formal style. In many cases, large showy plantings in municipal parks were large, geometric extravaganzas that took on a competitive edge between park superintendents (and still do). you have to search yesterday. ~Pearl Buck

Formal summer bedding scheme in Victoria Park, Bath, Somerset. Most of the colour is provided by large-flowered begonias



During the 19th C mass bedding displays could now also been found in private gardens and were a link to the formal gardens of Italy during the 16th C.

In fact, there was a return to the parterres and clipped hedges that were quashed by Brown. In some cases the clipped hedges extended to formal topiary.Ito search yesterday. ~Pearl Buck

Levens Hall's Elizabethan Topiary in 1880. Levens is now owned by the Bagot family and is open to the public. Levens Hall is reportedly haunted, and people have claimed to have seen the ghost of a black dog and an amicable lady in pink.



In 1826, Joseph Paxton was appointed as head gardener at Chatsworth.

The owner had previously shown little interest in improving Chatsworth's neglected garden, but he soon formed an extravagantly funded partnership with Paxton, who proved to be the most innovative garden designer of his era.

Annie Paxton standing on a Victoria amazonica leaf in the lily house; Paxton's design for the Crystal Palace came from his observations of the organic structure of this plant.



One of Paxton’s designs at Chatsworth was a formal garden with carpet bedding that became famous for it’s garishness, but not in a good way.

Paxton did redeem himself with many other innovative projects…

Sir Joseph Paxton (3 August 1803 – 8 June 1865) was an English gardener and architect, best known for designing the The Crystal Palace.



While at Chatsworth Gardens, he built enormous fountains as well as an arboretum, a conservatory, and a model village. In 1837 he secured a cutting of a water lily found in Guyana, and designed a heated pool that enabled him to breed the lily successfully.

The Great Conservatory at Chatsworth was built in 1836 and demolished in 1920 after World War I because all the plants had died as the building had not been heated during the war, and the cost of running it was no longer sustainable.

The Natural Woodland Garden


A protest to the elaborate bedding displays, topiary and neo Italianate styles came from William Robinson from about 1867.

William Robinson (5 July 1838 – 17 May 1935) was an Irish gardener and journalist whose ideas about wild gardening spurred the movement that evolved into the English cottage garden.

In 1884 Robinson was able to purchase the Elizabethan Manor of Gravetye, Sussex, along with about 200 acres of rich pasture and woodland. His diary of planting and care was published as “Gravetye Manor, Twenty Years of the Work Round an Old Manor House”.



William Robinson felt that the design for a garden should include hardy plants with interesting foliage, form and color that could be integrated with a natural woodland setting.

However, it is interesting to note that he was also responsible for popularising alpine plants which were often planted in very unnatural looking rockery gardens.

"Edge Hall, Cheshire. Lawn garden with hardy flowers in beds and groups from “The English Flower Garden”.



William Robinson’s most influential publications were “The Wild Garden”, and a magazine, “The Garden”.

“The English Flower Garden”, 1883, was revised in edition after edition and included contributions from his lifelong friend, Gertrude Jekyll.

She later edited “The Garden” for a couple of years and contributed many articles to his publications, which also included “Gardening Illustrated” (from 1879).

Colonies of poet's narcissus and broad leaved saxifrage from “The Wild Garden”.



Gertrude Jekyll is known for her subtle, painterly approach to the arrangement of the gardens she created, particularly her hardy flower borders.

Her work is known for its radiant colour and brush-like strokes of plantings which were similar to her paintings.

She met Robinson in 1875 and they became close friends who influenced each other greatly over the course of their friendship.

Gertrude Jekyll border restored at Manor House, Upton Grey, Hampshire.



Jekyll created, or contributed, to over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA. She was also known for writing over fifteen books, ranging from “Wood and Garden”. Her most famous book was “Color in the Flower Garden”.

In 1889 she started to work with architect, Edwin Lutyens, who designed rigid architectural gardens which Jekyll softened with her signature informal plantings.

Sir Edwin Lutyens was a leading 20th century British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era.Photo shows one of his designs, The India Gate, New Dehli, India.For more of his designs seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lutyens



The Lutyens-Jekyll team combined the formal with the informal, for example, strong brick paths which were softened by full herbaceous borders. This was in direct contrast to the very formal bedding schemes favoured in previous centuries of gardening.

This new natural style was to define the English garden and influence the development of cottage gardens.

Thatched cottages surrounded by gardens built in Bedfordshire around 1812.

19th C Influences on the USA


The garden designs of Europe and the UK greatly influenced what was happening in North America.

The general thrust in the US at this time was directed at creating a new world and taming the wilderness, so ornamental gardens were slow to take hold.

The gardens that did exist copied the rectangular linear designs popular in 17th and 18th C Europe.

The Union: blue (free), yellow (slave);The Confederacy: brown*territories in light shades

Map of the USA in mid 19th C showing The Union: blue (free), yellow (slavery) and The Confederacy: brown(territories in light shades)



In Pennsylvania the style in the 1870s was derivative of the style that was popular in the UK two centuries ago with a focus on using mazes, topiary and statues.

Generally speaking, there were four phases of European influence on American gardens which can be identified:

1. Early American landowners employed immigrants who had learned their skills in the gardens of Europe.

Immigration is the introduction of new people into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology.There are more than 300 million migrants around the world today.



2. Emerging American designers learned about garden design from books and especially revered the publications of Humphry Repton and John Claudius Loudon.

3. Americans started to accumulate wealth and a desire for an OE, so a European tour became important as there was an interest in both ancient gardens and in contemporary trends.

The world's largest book stands upright, set in stone in Myanmar (Burma). It has 730 leaves and 1460 pages; each page is three and a half feet wide, five feet tall and five inches thick.Can you convert that to metric?



4. European designers influenced the development of the modern style of gardens in America. It is possible to use their stylistic classifications for American gardens but with an emphasis on the eclectic, for example, Reptonian undertones with a dash of Brownian park gardens and a splash of Loudan influence.

Longwood Gardens consists of 4.2 km² of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, United States. It is one of the premier botanic gardens in the United States. By 1850 they had amassed one of the finest collections of trees in the nation.



Significant US designers in the 19th C include:

•Andre Parmentier,a Belgian who worked at Hyde Park and moved to Brooklyn in 1821 and became one of the first landscape architects.

• A.J. Downing and Calvert Vaux joined forces and together they designed many significant projects, including the grounds in the White House and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

An aerial view of Hyde park.The park was the original site of The Great Exhibition of 1851, for which the Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph Paxton.



•Fredrick Olmstead is the originator of the title and profession of landscape architect. After Downing died in July 1852, in a widely publicized steamboat explosion on the Hudson River, Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together and won!

The Skating Pond in Central Park 1862



The design of Central Park echos Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals.

He was also influenced by Downing’s observations regarding social class in England, China and the American South and believed that parks must always be accessible to all citizens.

This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a public gardens all over the world.

Painting of Central Park by George Wesley Bellows (1925) was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City

References


http://wapedia.mobi/en/History_of_gardening?t=3.5. - History of Gardeninghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Claudius_Loudon - JC Loudanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_C._Loudon - Jane Loudanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus - Linnaeushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Banks - Joseph Bankshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case - Wardian Casehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Paxton - Joseph Paxtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Robinson_%28gardener%29 - William Robinsonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Jekyll - Gertrude Jekyll'shttp://www.gardenvisit.com/garden_glossary#ixzz0klUjvObG - Glossary of termshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_garden - The English Gardenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park - Central Park

Brooks, J., Room Outside, Thames & Hudson, 1969 Newton, N.T., Design on the Land, Belknap, Harvard University, 1971 Thacker, C. , The History of Gardens, Reed,1979 The full online text of Marie-Luise Gothein's History of Garden Art

5 the 19th c influences on landscape

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