Sunday, January 4, 2009

French Garden Motifs and Arrangements

By Melissa Burgendy

The simplest definition for the word horticulture is the cultivation of a garden, Hortus, in Latin, means garden and cultura means cultivation. Garden cultivation is considered a form of art and, like all art forms, it has different styles.

It was in the 17th and 18th centuries that for the first time the traditional French garden style was developed during the Baroque and Rococo periods. The gardens of the era were majestic exhibitions of power and riches constructed by royalty and aristocrats for the purpose of impressing guests. Inspired in part by ancient classical gardens, traditional French garden style is formal. Spanning level ground, these geometrically shaped gardens are very well planned out in regards to their design. The terraces that are often a feature of such gardens are artificially created, and elaborately designed stairs are included to link one terrace to another. French gardens often feature large water pools which provide reflective properties and are easily built given the flat landscape. Here you will find a list of the main components of traditional, formal, French garden design.

* Yards are contained of square frames and constantly shuddered by neat, squared bushes

* Flowerbeds are also geometrical in shape rectangular, oval or circular.

* Parterres are an important feature of formal French gardens. These are vast elaborate geometric patterns created on the ground using colored dirt, stones and gravel or colored flowers. Parterres are often lined with boxwood, lavender, or rosemary. Parterres de broderies or rather, embroidery parterres, are magnificently elaborate. Visitors can view parterres from garden terraces.

* The water features are most often canals and large pools. Most of these water fountains have engines to operate them.

* The French garden style included alles, or axes or rides, which were used for the walks and pathways and bordered by trees and neatly clipped hedges. Usually with a destination in mind, these paths may end at a type of garden ornament.

* French Garden Ornaments: In French garden designs, you will find a lot of statues, columns, trellises, sundials, birdbaths and more. Symmetrical placement occurs with these objects.

* Plants: Color is the foundation of the planting pattern. Most French gardens feature light, pastel colors with hints of yellow, red, orange, lilac and blue. Perennials are the best choice for gardeners.

* Primarily French in origin, and available as an optional feature, Orangerie is a large glass-enclosed room in the garden where you'll find lemon, lime, and orange trees blooming during the cold winter months.

* Herb gardens are often included in traditional French gardens. The neat French garden style usually includes separate areas for a fruit garden, a rose garden and sometimes a herb garden too. The herb gardens are another feature of the garden and are not just herb patches. Paving is used in a specific pattern a chessboard pattern or a circular pattern, laid out like the spokes of a wheel. Seats are often placed in the center or in a corner of herb gardens. Common French herbs include lavender, rosemary, sage, marjoram, thyme, and sweet bay.

A famous example of the traditional French formal garden style described above is the Versailles Gardens located just outside Paris. King Louis IV hired landscape architect Andr Le Ntre to create the Versailles Gardens, in 1661. Gardens are huge, very huge, on the far left of the Chateau de Versailles. The gardens have meticulously manicured lawns, parterres of blooming flowers, and dozens of valuable statues and sculptures. The most impressive feature of the gardens, however are its 1,400 fountains. The garden was watered with water from the Seine River which was supplied by a pumping system. Still, there was never enough water to run all the fountains at once. When King Louis IV approached, caretakers would turn the fountains on, one by one. These days their hours of operation are restricted to Sundays.

Not going to France any time soon? You can still visit a traditional French garden just by stopping by the Conservatory Garden, located in the North side of Central Park in New York City.

Gardens in France have inspired designers from all around earth. France does also have gardens that aren't as formal such as the Giverney garden, which is the subject of many of Claude Monet's Impressionist paintings. - 15266

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