French Garden

French Garden

When one speaks of the French style in garden design, one is normally talking about the formal gardens that were so popular in European society in previous centuries.

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Formally arranged gardens began in 16th century Italy but it was French gardeners who developed the style and popularized it across the continent. Some of the best examples of symmetrical and geometrically laid out trees, hedges, lawns and shrubs can be found at grand houses with a French garden.

The garden designer, Claude Mollet promoted the concept of parterre, a formal garden with flowerbeds. This type of French garden remained common throughout the 18th century. An influential book on garden design was published in 1709. Written by Dezallier d'Argenville, it translated as The Theory of the Practical Garden. English and German editions came out and it became the blueprint of the French garden style of formal garden for some time to come.

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Most people agree that the crowning glory of the formally arranged garden is to be found at the Palace of Versailles in France. It is a series of gardens, planned by Andre Le Notre and is one of the most ambitious landscaped gardens ever commissioned. It incorporates greenery, sculpture, several water fountains, gravel, stone and parterres. The jewel in this crown is the central Grand Canal.

The grand opulence of such gardens is of course, prohibitively expensive for most establishments and they went out of fashion anyway as other ideas gained favor. However, there was a resurgence of interest at the start of the 20th century. The landscape architect Beatrice Farrand designed formal terrace gardens for the grounds at Dunbarton Oaks, an historically important 19th century mansion in Washington DC. The work was done between 1922-1947 and the ten acres of garden, which are open to the public, has been universally praised.

Another example is the Conservatory Garden within Central Park in New York City. The six acres of landscaping is the only formal garden in the park. It attracts a lot of visitors and wedding ceremonies have been performed there. This part of the park opened to the public in 1937 and it was designed in three different sections, each one in a distinct style. The divide is between French, Italian and English style layout. The French garden part has a focal point at the center of a sculpture and fountain called Three Dancing Maidens. A parterre bed surrounds the fountain where tulips bloom in the spring and chrysanthemums come out in the fall.

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