Formal landscape design invokes order and balance. Think of the gardens of Monticello, the landscaping of Versailles, and, closer to home, the gardens of Bayou Bend, which is part of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The hand of the gardener is clearly in evidence in formal landscape designs as the pathways and plantings are controlled along crisp lines. It is this discipline that gives a sense of peace and order. Formal landscape design is our attempt to exert our control over nature, to create our idealized version of it.
Throughout history, formal gardens have evolved. Traditional, or classic, landscape design, for instance, is a type of formal garden that uses linear walkways and clipped shrubbery. In the 16th and 17th centuries, knot gardens and parterres were in vogue. Originating in England, a knot garden is a square made of low, clipped hedges. Within the “knot”, a variety of blooming plants and herbs grow. Parterres developed in the formal estates of France and are four squares laid in a symmetrical pattern separated by gravel paths. The planting that makes the outline of the parterre is an evergreen shrub trimmed into a pleasant, sometimes intricate, shape. Parterres are designed to be viewed from on high—from the crest of a slope or the balcony of a chateau.
Like language, the term “formal landscape design” continues to change with time. There are few hard and fast rules—but the main constant is to use the principles of formal landscape design to create a landscape that is beautiful and supports the things you love.
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