A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

and are protected by walls. The style of a formal garden is reflected in the

Persian gardens The tradition and style of garden design represented by Persian gardens or Iranian gardens ( fa, باغ ایرانی), an example of the paradise garden, has influenced the design of gardens from Andalusia to India and beyond. The gardens of the ...

of Iran, and the

monastic garden A monastic garden was used by many people and for multiple purposes. Gardening was the chief source of food for households, but also encompassed orchards, cemeteries and pleasure gardens, as well as providing plants for medicinal and cultural uses. ...

s from the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

. It has found its continuation in the Italian Renaissance gardens and has culminated in the French formal gardens from the Baroque period. Through its design, the garden conveys a sense of established order and transparency to the observer. In

garden design Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. ...

, the formal garden is said to be the opposite to the landscape garden, which follows nature and which came into fashion in the 18th century.

Distinguishing features

A typical feature of formal gardens is the axial and symmetrical arrangement of pathways and beds. Both of these elements are typically enclosed, for example with low box hedges or flower borders. The garden itself is usually surrounded by "green walls", for instance walls covered in climbing plants, fences or clipped hedges. The area that has been created by this procedure is again divided by hedges,

espalier Espalier ( or ) is the horticultural and ancient agricultural practice of controlling woody plant growth for the production of fruit, by pruning and tying branches to a frame. Plants are frequently shaped in formal patterns, flat against a struct ...

s, and trellises. The enclosed areas of the different parts are structured by means of low elements. This creates an atmosphere of clarity and straightness and thus also a certain degree of simplicity. The center of the garden is often accentuated by a round, oval or square structural element, which is usually made of dimension stone. The footpaths are covered with materials like brick,

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * fe ...

paving stone Pavement, in construction, is an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering. Paving materials include asphalt, concrete, stones such as flagstone, cobblestone, and setts, artificial stone, bricks, tiles, and sometimes wood. In landscape archite ...

. Alternatively, the paths can be covered with scattered gravel or colored glass chippings. Their straight lines create visual axes. At the end of these axes, eye-catching elements, such as sculptures, ornamental ponds, fountains, planters or seating accommodation can be found. Other eyecatchers that can be found in formal gardens are ornamental structural elements such as beds that are arranged to form intertwined patterns, or beds with complex geometrical arrangements of the plants. However, formal gardens that contain these elements lose their simplistic design in part and are no longer easy to care for. Most of the plants in a formal garden need pruning once a year.deavita.com
accessed on September 13, 2016. This is mostly necessary for

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

, which is a practice where

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

woody plant A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposite to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until sp ...

s, for example box trees, yew trees,

hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash founded the band ...

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ac ...

s are cut into geometric shapes, such as

sphere A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is th ...

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

s, or

cone A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines con ...

s, but also into animal shapes or other more fanciful shapes. In larger formal gardens, usually there are

hedge maze A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges. History Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe, and were first constructed during the m ...

s, which are constructed by means of topiary. These mazes include archways, hidden resting places and ''

cul-de-sacs A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...

''. Usually, low

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

s and flowers harmonize well are planted in

herbaceous border A herbaceous border is a collection of perennial herbaceous plants (plants that live for more than two years and are soft-stemmed and non-woody) arranged closely together, usually to create a dramatic effect through colour, shape or large scale. ...

s. However, the main criterion is not the bloom but rather the shape and effect produced by the color of the leaves. Therefore, ornamental

foliage A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, s ...

plants are often selected for the beds. The type of

lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...

that can be found in a formal garden, if used, is usually closely cut ornamental lawn. Formal garden Tryon Palace, North Carolina.jpg, Typical formal garden Jardines de Sabatini (Madrid) 01.jpg, Sabatini Gardens at the

Palacio Real The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...

in Madrid SchlossVillandryGarten10.jpg, Formal gardens in Château de Villandry Formal Garden, Hampton Court Palace, Surrey (geograph 2510706).jpg, Formal garden in Hampton Court Palace Modern formal garden, Dallas, Texas.jpg, Modern formal garden

Bibliography

* Mark Laird, Hugh Palmer: ''The Formal Garden. Traditions of Art and Nature.'' Thames and Hudson, London 1992, . * Günter Mader, Laila Neubert-Mader: ''The English Formal Garden. Five Centuries of Design.'' Aurum, London 1997, . * Allen S. Weiss: ''Mirrors of Infinity. The French Formal Garden and 17th-Century Metaphysics.'' Princeton Architectural Press, New York 1995, . * Reginald Blomfield: ''The Formal Garden in England (Classic Reprint).'' Forgotten Books, London 2015,

References

Christina Waldeyer: ''Homo hortulanus. Die Sinnzuschreibungen in privaten Hausgartengestaltungen.'' Springer, Wiesbaden 2016, , S. 185. H. Simon et al.: ''Das große GU Gartenbuch.'' 2016, p. 121. H. Simon et al.: ''Das große GU Gartenbuch.'' 2016, p. 132. H. Simon: ''Gärten gestalten.'' 2013, p. 22. deavita.com
accessed on September 13, 2016.
, accessed on September 13, 2016.

External links

{{commons category-inline, Formal gardens Types of garden

Distinguishing features

See also

Bibliography

References

External links