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Tradition and Styles of Landscape Design

© Georgene A. Bramlage

This recreation of a canalhouse garden at the Musum Van Loon in Amsterdam shows all the elements of a 17th century formal garden.

Informal & formal characteristics of landscape design reach back to the beginnings of civilizations in China and Egypt. Gardens developed gradually within China, beginning about 2000BC, with practice of the naturalistic and graceful principles that harmonized so well with the varied richness of its land. Botanists speculate that the north China plain at this time had trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation from almost every plant family. So, the initial gardens surrounding hunting lodges of the early Chinese emperors were nothing more than simple spontaneous enclosures around this lush fertility. As a result, what we now label "informal gardens" were created.

Meanwhile in Egypt, about 3000-2000BC, order and places of utility and beauty were being produced from the desert and the River Nile. Here, straight-edged and architectural standards attuned to the ancient Egyptian principles of ma'at - order, balance, harmony - were implemented.

Ancient Egyptian gardens were cool, shady havens of order. They were symmetrical and precisely planned around canals or square reservoirs filled with fish for eating and the sacred lotus. Fruit trees sensibly planted in straight rows that followed the lines of the canals also offered shade. While these gardens celebrated the harmonious and ordered lives of the Egyptians, they also originated the axial patterns, the straight lines, and the formality of all Mediterranean-inspired gardens.

Moving forward to more recent times, from the late 18th century and onwards, emphasis in design and gardening laid more on plants for their own sake than on the design itself. Exploration brought previously unknown plants into the lives of gardeners and designers while by the end of the 19th century technology advancement allowed designing and use of apparatus such as glasshouses and lawnmowers. The Victorian belief was that plants were made for man. Some commentators feel that at this point the methods and craft of gardening, as opposed to its design and passion, had reached a high point.

Despite the "chop and change" approach of the late 18th and then 19th centuries, the basic principles of formal landscape design are defined even today as:

1. Man dominating his landscape with perfect symmetry;
2. Geometry, balance and proportion are all part of this style;
3. And, the axial plan - everything along a straight central line.

By tracing the evolution of several national styles it's simple to see how these principles have historically been applied and how we might use them in our own garden designs. Through careful consideration, it's also easy to see where and how the principles have been misused to the detriment of garden design.

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