The Beauty of an English Landscape Garden

by Adbelan Terreno

There are varying ideas of what is beautiful, and this is equally true of gardens as with people or artwork. Some prefer wild gardens, while others would rather view a garden with complex design and a sculpted landscape. There is some of both in the immensely enjoyable English Landscape Garden, a design with both simplicity and aesthetic beauty. It is no wonder this is the style chosen for many public parks and buildings.

A typical English Landscape Garden may feature lines that curve and wind; informal views of the garden emphasized by focal points, such as statues or seating areas; a mix of garden and park-type environments, replicating a natural blend of the two; a meeting point between garden and house, without any smaller gardens at the edges of the house; and a variety of plants so that the diverse colors and sizes give a naturalistic air.

There are many fine examples of this beautiful traditional design. You can find such gardens at Castle Howard, Stourhead, Blenheim Palace, Stowe and Rousham House, to name a few. These gardens give us a lovely peek at what it might have looked like centuries ago, at the height of English Landscape Gardening's popularity, though that popularity has now decreased a bit.

English Landscape Gardening is rooted in European landscape painting. It was designers like William Kent who turned the gardens into art forms in their own right. Humphrey Repton and Capability Brown, already famous as designers in their own right, also played a role, bringing in their own outside influences.

Despite some initial criticism of English Landscape design, the gardens conceptualized by these men soon became prominent. Each of the designers followed a distinct vision, however. Kent took his cue from ancient European culture, while Brown specifically wanted his gardens to resemble the English countryside. Repton, on the other hand, wanted to put flowers right up next to the house, an idea which had not been done until that time.

English Landscape Gardens of today can be rather eclectic in nature, blending influences from Kent, Repton and Brown in their design approach. Other cultures sometimes influence this type of design, as well, which is represented in the Chinese influence on some of the English Landscape designs.