English Garden Design in the Landscape

English garden design - What Exactly Is It?

Garden By English Designer Tom Stuart-Smith

I would say, with the exception of Snowshill, they all have a similar garden feel to them.

Snowshill is a secluded village in the famous, charming Cotswolds, with ancient pretty cottages and a 19th century church clustered around a small green. You certainly feel as if you have walked into another time. Snowshill Manor is a Tudor mansion with a medieval like priest's house on the property. What impressed me here was the landscape of rolling hills scattered with sheep and the view into the far distance....all set among the charming village.

But back to "English Gardens".

English gardens are a mix of both formality and informality. I would say the structure is usually formal, with straight, wide walkways. On the sides of the walks are very loose perennial gardens. They are full, lush and colorful. While they seem to be created in a disorganized fashion, I think this is far from the truth. The beauty is that they are just made to look this way.

Much thought goes into heights, color, positioning and quantities for the end results. There might be a bench along the way or you might come upon a pretty sculpture. Sometimes there is a beautiful focal point.

Some of the gardens are wide open, while others are enclosed to form "garden rooms". The walls of these rooms may be plantings or actual walls made of brick or stone. Regardelss of which is used, they are tall as a wall might be.

One interesting feature used in England is that of a tapestry hedge. Here, the wall is formed by tall plants to form a sheered hedge, but the plants vary from each other. There might be Boxwood, Hornbeam and others. Over time, the greenery of the plants actually weave together to form the "tapestry".

English garden design can be a challenge both in the creation and the maintenance. Perennials should be planted with thought to how the texture of one type looks with another. There should be a thought out color scheme. Place lower plants in front of taller ones, but ignore this in some areas so that the design is not completely uniform.

Although perennials will return year after year, they do need up keep, such as removing spent flowers and any yellow leaves. In addition, they must be cut down to about 2 - 3" once a year to allow for the next season's new growth.

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