We get the word “horticulture” from the Latin word, “hortus”, which means “garden”, and “cultura”, which means “cultivation”. Gardening is an art, and as with all art forms, there are a number of styles to choose from.
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. You will find that traditional French garden style is very formal, they are in fact inspired by the ancient classical gardens. Spanning level ground, these geometrically shaped gardens are very well planned out in regards to their design. A common characteristic of such gardens are man-made terraces. There are also elaborately designed stairs that connect 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.
* Lawns are always contained in rectangular frames, surrounded by neat, boxed hedges.
* 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: The planting design is often based on color. Pastel colors are used predominantly in French gardens with touches of yellow and red, and a little lilac and blue. Ideally, gardeners should choose plants that bloom all year round.
* 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. Herb gardens can actually be integral components of a well-planned garden. Paving is used in a specific pattern a chessboard pattern or a circular pattern, laid out like the spokes of a wheel. Places to rest are in places where you can see the beauty of a garden. Rosemary, sage, lavender, marjoram, sweet bay and thyme are herbs that are very common in France.
A famous example of the traditional French formal garden style described above is the Versailles Gardens located just outside Paris. The famous landscape architect Andr Le Ntre was employed by King Louis the fourth to make the Versailles Gardens in the year 1661. Gardens are huge, very huge, on the far left of the Chateau de Versailles. Not only do these gardens feature many expensive ornaments, they also boast carefully cared for lawns and numerous blooming flowers. The garden boasts 1,400 fountains which are probably the most interesting feature. To bring water from the Seine River into the garden, a large system of pumps, reservoirs, and fourteen water wheels was constructed. But still, there could never be enough water for all the fountains to be run at once. During Louis IV’s reign, the fountains would be turned on, one by one, as the king approached. Today, they are only operated on 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.
Despite the fact that traditional and formal gardening styles of France influenced the designs of gardens around the world, not all French gardens are traditional. France has many less formal gardens, including the Giverney garden overflowing with blooming flowers as shown in Monet’s beautiful paintings.
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