As
the wheel of fashion began to turn during the 19th century, as it
always does, a battle of styles emerged in the world of gardens. This battle
was two-sided, between the horticulturist and the architect. It was a battle
between natural and formal and between William Robinson, a horticulturist, and
Sir Reginald Blomfield, an architect.
William
Robinson was an Irish gardener who began his career at a young age. He believed
that because gardens were made of plants, the design belonged to gardeners.
Robinson’s style was based out of his love of plants. It could be described as
very natural and very informal. He had a love for plants that were hardy
perennial plants meaning that they lived for more than two years and you didn’t
have to replant them every year. The approach taken by Robinson was a wild one.
He chose to use grouping of plants that looked very natural and not placed. He
had a respect for a plant’s natural growing habits and did not want to force
them to look a certain way. Overall his gardens were very informal and were
most similar to the English landscape gardens that came before. His goal was to
create gardens that allowed people to truly appreciate the beauty of plants.
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| Sir Reginald Blomfield |
On
the other side of the battle was Sir Reginald Blomfield. He was an architect
and garden designer who had a distaste for the naturalistic style such as those
designs by William Kent and William Robinson. He also had another, John Sedding,
on his side. Blomfield felt that gardens were the setting for the house, which
meant that it was the architect’s responsibility to design them. His style was
polar opposite to that of Robinson’s, in that it is very formal. His
inspirations came from the formal Renaissance gardens. He wanted to connect
smoothly the architecture and the garden and believed that the formal garden
was the best way to do this. Sedding was also an architect and garden designer
who had very similar views to those of Blomfield. He liked the idea of basic
and clean-cut gardens and his inspirations came from formal English gardens.
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| John Sedding |
From
all of these debates, the arts and crafts garden emerged. Gertrude Jekyll who
was a gardener and Sir Edwin Lutyens who was an architect were able to form a
team and bring together the best of both worlds. They were able to collaborate
on both the housing and the gardens and turn them into a coherent piece of
work. The best portrayal of their work can be found at Hestercombe House.
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| Hestercombe House |
For
more information about the Hestercombe House, check out this link:
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