The Victorian Gardener

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Vines: Vines of all types were used as decoration and to hide "unsightly" features, such as fences and tree stumps. Vines could also be trained up the side of a porch to ward off the sun. The TV series came out of the blue when Jennifer Davies, an enthusiast for Victorian horticulture who became the show’s associate producer, discovered that Thoday had been using a derelict Glamorgan kitchen garden as a study tool for local young people’s charities.

Gardens - Victorian Literature - Oxford Bibliographies Gardens - Victorian Literature - Oxford Bibliographies

In July 2016 the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee announced an inquiry into public parks to examine concerns that public parks are under threat. The research report on the History of Public Park Funding and Management (1820-2010) which we commissioned, has been included as part of Historic England’s submission to the inquiry. Seating arrangements add coziness of an indoor living-room to the charms of a Victorian style garden. Decorate your outdoor living area with wrought iron patio furniture styles from the past, featuring wrought iron table and garden bench designs. Nebuchadnezzar II, 6th-century neo-Babylonian king, credited with founding the Hanging Gardens of Babylon One import from the Victorian era not looked upon so fondly is Fallopia japonica, better known as Japanese knotweed.

Some Victorian garden plants that are generally available for summer gardens and that will also do well in containers: The word pineapple in English was first recorded in 1398, when it was originally used to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pine cones). When European explorers discovered the tropical fruit they called them pineapples (the term first recorded in that sense in 1664) because of their resemblance to the pine cone. It became a symbol of health and prosperity, so much so that it was used in stonework on grand gate piers, and interior decoration – and even a huge version as a summer house on the Dunmore estate in Scotland (now rented out for holiday accommodation). This engraving shows the house with an adjacent conservatory. During Rogers’ ownership, a new entrance and carriageways were constructed, as well as a large ornamental lake with small islands, a fountain, waterfall and stew ponds for fish. [3] Soil excavated from the lake was used to build up a terrace in front of the house. Sepia stereocard of Stagenhoe parkland looking towards the house from the lake, c. 1846-1869 Among the most popular species of plants were the rhododendron, camellia and magnolia. Each has its own fascinating history.

Victorian Walled Gardens | Kylemore Abbey Connemara… Victorian Walled Gardens | Kylemore Abbey Connemara…

Thomas Jefferson, 19th-century American president, recognized for planning the grounds of the University of Virginia With the Museum being closed to visitors, now is a good opportunity to delve into the boxes of some of the lesser known archives we hold. This week, I have been cataloguing the archive of Victorian Head Gardener, Matthew Balls (1817-1905). Since our collecting focus is contemporary and 20 th century garden design, I was excited to see this older material, especially because archives of Victorian Head Gardeners are rare.

Ornaments:Urns, sculpture, garden water fountains, sundials, gazing balls (lawn balls), birdbaths, and man-made fish ponds were all commonly used. Cast iron was a commonly used material for such accoutrements. Often, urns were not planted with anything, but were simply set in pairs to ornament stairs or balustrades. A strong repudiation to earlier garden studies focusing on garden design and designers, the chapters of this history (one of which covers the Victorian era) emphasize social factors in the evolution of garden styles and make interpretations through the lens of economic history. The Victorians loved their gardens and many of the flowers, shrubs and trees that are common today were actually discovered during the Victorian era. Owners loved nothing more than illustrating their wealth or how well-travelled they were than by filling the gardens of their Victorian homes with colourful species garnered from all corners of the globe. The history of Victorian garden design Victorian gardens were all about spectacle, and they loved to add points of interest through ornaments, sculptures, water features, bird baths, and more. Decorative elements, like a sundial, created a place to pause and provided a talking point when taking a turn of the garden with any visitors. The Victorian method of growing pineapples had been lost but thanks to the restoration of the gardens on the Heligan estate near St Austell in Cornwall we know a lot more. The art of pit management was lost and in the absence of any written instructions, the staff had to learn through trial and error.

Gardens | The Guardian Peter Thoday obituary | Gardens | The Guardian

Helmreich, Anne. The English Garden and National Identity: The Competing Styles of Garden Design, 1870–1914. Modern Architecture and Cultural Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Thoday grew up in Cambridge, the son of Mabel (nee Ellis) and Ralph Thoday, a head gardener who oversaw the grounds at St John’s College, which included a market garden producing everything from pigs to orchids. Victorian cottage garden style includes many different kinds of flowers and edibles, and the Victorians had a special love for aromatic plants such as lavender, rosemary, thyme and scented geraniums, says Elizabeth Fogel, senior horticulturalist at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia. After a year or so, Matthew might have started work in the kitchen garden or glass house, progressing to an ‘improver’ by age 17 or 18. Improvers were ‘upwardly mobile young gardeners’ who learnt while practising. [2] Improvers lived beside ‘journeymen’ (gardeners in their 20s who travelled to develop their skills further) in a bothy, which were sometimes set into the walls of walled gardens. They were expected to remain single. After a long, hard day’s work, came evening study – everything from botany, etymology, plant physiology and trigonometry, to plant breeding and the cultivation of flowers, fruit and vegetables, some of which had never been grown in the UK before.Greenhouses and exotic plants: Collecting plants imported from around the world became a popular hobby for Victorian-era gardeners. Wealthier gardeners overwintered tender plants in greenhouses.

Victorian garden design – 5 key elements for your backyard

Trees were also a popular feature, providing shade when sitting outdoors. Trees with bright leaves, or “weeping” species, were often planted. For the wealthier families, more exotic trees could be cultivated in the conservatory or greenhouse. By 1850, the camellia was a much-prized ornamental shrub. The formality of the blooms and the elegant evergreen foliage made it particularly popular.

Plant this look: Small wrought iron or concrete birdbaths offer a touch of Victoriana without requiring a garden overhaul. In addition, the development of sheet glass in 1847 meant larger greenhouses could be built more cheaply, while the invention of asphalt in the 1860s led to the introduction of more garden paths. Wrought iron became especially popular and was often used in fencing or decorative benches. On large estates, benches gave you a place to rest and admire the garden, says Rizzo. As Queen Victoria’s empire grew, so did our Victorian gardens, with all sorts of exciting new produce: rhododendrons and magnolias from the Himalayas, monkey puzzle trees from the Andes, orchids from Central America, and blooms of every description from various continents. The gardens at Brodsworth Hall in South Yorkshire were laid out in the 1860s to provide a formal setting for the new house. The dense shrubberies, formal layout and labour-intensive nature of the gardens are typical of the mid-Victorian period.