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Garden, Garden design

Discovering garden styles part 2: Formal gardens

January 29, 2014

Yesterday in a little break-from-winter look at garden styles we took a look at modern gardens. Now we’re going in what you would think is the opposite direction, to formal gardens, but really these two styles share more in common than you might think.

F O R M A L   G A R D E N S

Even if you’re not a fan of ultra formal gardens, you can probably appreciate their beauty. They are, to me, the quintessential “original” garden.

Symmetry (to the inch) is a hallmark of the style and nothing demonstrates this better that parterre gardens.

Traditional Landscape by Far Hills Landscape Architects & Designers Deborah Cerbone Associates, Inc.
Bodysgallen Hall Hotel, National Trust Images/Charles Hawes photo

While I tend to think of formal gardens being associated with older traditional homes, they can be translated to more contemporary look as well.

Clive Nichols photo

The color palette in formal gardens is often restrained. There will be no riot of color here and shades of green brought in by the many manicured hedges is likely to take center stage.

Of course there are formal rose gardens that are a bit more colorful.

Traditional Landscape by Mundelein Landscape Architects & Designers Schmechtig Landscapes
Traditional Exterior by Seattle Architects & Designers Stuart Silk Architects | Limited PS

Hardscaping materials in formal gardens are varied but I picture stone walls as you might find in an old English garden. But crunchy gravel, brick and even concrete works too.

Formal gardens are rarely just about plants. A statue or often a fountain is often used as the centerpiece of these impressive gardens.

Traditional Landscape by Barrington Landscape Architects & Designers Doering Landscape Company
Traditional Landscape by Willow Grove Landscape Architects & Designers Garrett Churchill Inc.

F O R M A L   G A R D E N S at a glance

H A R D S C A P E :  Almost any material works so long as it is used in an orderly fashion. Still hardscaping isn’t as important as in some other styles. Classic materials include fieldstone and crunchy gravel, but brick certainly works in some applications.

P L A N T S : You better love boxwood. Because formal gardens love boxwood trimmed into every shape conceivable. Plantings are restrained and plant selection is limited so if you’re a plant collector, a formal garden probably isn’t for you.

M A I N T E N A N C E : Plan on giving up some serious free time to keep a formal garden looking good. You’ll be setting up mazes of line levels to make sure all of the hedges are perfectly trimmed. And a weed? Gasp. The formal garden police will have you arrested for an errant weed. In other words, formal gardens are a lot of work to keep looking great.

G A R D E N E R  T Y P E :  Do you love math? You better if you plan on installing a formal garden by yourself. But the symmetry that makes formal gardens so beautiful will appeal to some gardeners’ OCD tendencies. A formal garden is a big commitment and doesn’t leave a lot of room for drastic changes down the road so a gardener should be relatively sure that it’s really for them. And put away the plant catalogs. You’ll be buying a handful of plants in bulk, not trying out new plants in groups of three.

Next up: We’re loosening things up a little with cottage gardens.

formal garden garden design
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
6 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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previous post: Discovering garden styles: Modern gardens
next post: Discovering garden styles part 3: Cottage gardens

Comments

  1. LlNDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD says: January 29, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    I love hedges, clipped boxwoods and topiary but our house is not formal. Still, we've managed to incorporate some of those elements but more informally. So much depends on the style of the house. I am always mentally adding gardens to houses that I drive past.

    Reply
  2. Karen says: January 31, 2014 at 12:28 am

    Oh good! Neither of those are my style. I have been waiting for something a little more fun and pretty!

    Reply
  3. Ivy Clad says: January 31, 2014 at 10:40 pm

    Good point about math & formal gardens. I love both! I always love seeing pictures of the gardens at Sissinghurst where it looks like the big formal hedges keep order while the flowers in between hang out & show off.

    I enjoyed your cottage garden post too. I would have a hard time living with one, but I love to see them.

    Keri

    Reply
  4. Loi Thai, Tone on Tone says: February 5, 2014 at 8:31 pm

    This garden style speaks to me most! Perhaps because I love restraint, structure and symmetry. And I find it works very well in small, city plots. Beautiful photos, Erin.

    Reply
  5. Jennifer Karls says: September 22, 2020 at 10:24 am

    Just found your blog and am really enjoying reading all the backlog. =) I am a mathematician and love formal gardens (just don’t have the yard for one). I found the sunken parterre in the design by Barrington Landscape Architects particularly intriguing since it allows you to enjoy the “overhead” view, which is much of the beauty of a formal garden to me, without obscuring lines of sight. I never would have thought of that. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Lynn says: December 17, 2020 at 4:03 pm

    After taking an early retirement from a corporate career I indulged myself with “daytime gardening” (as opposed to my former midnight to 6am pattern). Many friends asked for my help and advice in planning their dream gardens. I told every one of them that I will only do it if you can promise to take care of it – and I will not help if you overload the maintenance it will require. Now it’s time for me to cry “uncle” in my own much too large and diverse garden. The boxwood garden and roses are overwhelming me. The hydrangeas and evergreen shrubs are getting out of hand. It seems impossible to hire help who have the knowledge to do it properly. The time has come for me to just enjoy all of the beautiful photos posted by you and others.

    Thank you for your photos and bright spirit in sharing with others.

    Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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E R I N 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
I had a rather unpleasant realization last night w I had a rather unpleasant realization last night when I remembered that I’d not yet ordered tomato seeds. And I’m not going to rectify that until I dig into my seed stash, because I don’t go through tomato seeds quickly so there are definitely some lurking down there. 

I never used to grow tomatoes from seed because there are great varieties to be had in garden centers (including many heirloom varieties). But it’s almost non-negotiable for me now that I’m a convert to dwarf tomatoes. If you’re not familiar with the #dwarftomatoproject championed by @nctomatoman and others, these are heirloom varieties that are crossed with dwarf varieties to create plant that produces all the flavor and interest of an heirloom in a short (usually less than 4 feet) plant. 

They are particularly great in my tall raised beds. Of course I leave room to try new non-dwarf varieties every year (I loved Sun Dipper from @panamseed last year and I’ll grow it again).

Last year was a good tomato year and the photo shows some of the varieties I harvested in one day. I hope this summer will be equally good for the tomato harvest. 

One of my favorite questions to ask gardeners is: What is your favorite tomato variety to grow? So have at it in the comments because inquiring minds want to know!
And this is why I leave my winter containers assem And this is why I leave my winter containers assembled until at least March. A dusting of snow gives them a whole new look (even if it’s shades of gray). Also, I think I love my Limelight hydrangea even more in winter. Fabulous winter interest!
I’m going to look for opportunities to add more I’m going to look for opportunities to add more ferns to my garden this year. They are such interesting plants and often real problem solvers, bringing texture and color to places that many plants aren’t interested in. Athyrium niponicum (Japanese painted fern) ‘Crested Surf’ grows well for me in part shade (even pushing a bit into part sun) and looks great next to Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’.
Birds chirping, glorious fresh (i.e. not nibbled o Birds chirping, glorious fresh (i.e. not nibbled on) foliage, and texture galore. I can’t wait to have moments like this again. The star, by the way is Hakonechloa ‘All Gold’ which looks so good with the bold foliage of Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’ next to it. 

With the new path, this area will be getting a small revamp. It’s the next spot I’ll be focusing my planning on.
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