Formal Garden Ideas

Formal garden ideas vary widely according to culture and historical period of origin. Nevertheless, all share a common humanistic sense that man is the center of creation. Because of this, symmetry and geometry are the essential ingredients of any formal garden style, no matter what shape or size

Geometry is normally based around the key motifs of home architecture and points in some way toward the direction of the house. Many gardens are built around a central axis that lines up with an entryway or window. Others have bisecting axes that lead to a central courtyard built around focal point like a fountain or sculpture. This focal point can be seen from the house, and you can see the house as well when standing or sitting near the focal point. This creates a synergy of elegance between the house and the garden that establishes a feeling of order and system throughout the entire landscape.

Most formal garden ideas are based around the geometry of quadrilaterals. Depending on size or position, the borders may be in the form of a perfect square or a rectangle that follows a linear progression through various zones of greenery, flowering species, and special decorations. Pathways running through the garden can be built of stone, brick, or gravel. Material choices are mainly based on cultural or historical relevance to the particular design being developed.

To make any formal garden idea work from an organic perspective, you must approach vegetation with an atypical mindset. It is very hard for do-it-yourself gardeners to create their own formal garden designs because they have taught all their lives that more is better when it comes to the number of plant types you put in a garden. In formal design, however, the exact opposite is true. Too many different plant species makes the garden look out of control even when constantly tended to.

Professional gardeners, on the other hand, carefully choose first a style, and then select only a limited number of plant materials to use. Rather than having countless plants and flowers that overwhelm the senses, landscape professionals will create repeating patterns of geometry by using same types few shrubs, trees, hedges, and special flowering plants. By connecting these zones together in spirals arms, circles, rectangles, or squares, landscape professionals can create a nearly infinite number of forms with only a handful of plants that are easy to maintain.

Always make sure you work with a company like Exterior Worlds that knows botanical science, drainage, and irrigation methods. The Houston landscape looks deceptively plain, but in reality can be quite tricky and problematic when it comes to water management. Always work with an experienced team who can safeguard your formal garden ideas against the floods and droughts that can hit our part of the world without warning.

French Formal Garden

What is the ultimate theme of the French formal garden?
It uses carefully sculpted vegetation, planted in straight lines, as organic architecture. This emphasizes man’s dominance over nature through a strict control of all plant material. The disciplined symmetry of this form is precise in its planning and layout, and runs along long axes that inspire the viewer with a sense of sublime infinity.

What type of house does this garden work best with?
Historically, French formal gardens were built beneath a terrace that allowed the visitor to overlook the entire garden. If a terrace was absent, the garden would be viewed from either the top of a wall or a large window that provided sufficient overlook.

This approach can easily be modified to our contemporary location because the French countryside is remarkable similar to the flat terrain of the Houston landscape. French forms can be developed here in much the same way, with the intended vantage point for the garden being a balcony or second story window overlooking the parterres and axes of the garden.

Where on the property do you normally install a French formal garden?
The French formal garden uses the home itself as the garden focal point. Trees are planted away from the home to give it special emphasis. Low parterres and trimmed bushes closer to the home help distinguish it further.

The garden is built around a central access that is perpendicular to the house. Normally this runs opposite the front entrance and moves toward either a horizon point or a classical statue. The main axis is most often made of gravel and is edged by trees. Perpendicular axes cross the main axes to provide aesthetic balance and human transit points.

What types of geometry does this garden style use?
The most sophisticated parterres are square, circular, oval, or scroll-like in shape. They are juxtaposed against the home in such a manner as to compliment the architectural motifs that distinguish its build out. The parterres near the residence are normally created with low boxwoods that hug the ground. As the linear movement of the French formal garden progresses away from the home façade, the hedges rise proportionally. Trees may be planted in larger gardens to enhance the sense of heightened perspective and drama.

Does the French formal garden use water features at all?
Yes. In fact, water features are among its most important elements. Canals, basins, custom fountains, and waterfalls lend not only a touch or elegance, but also have a mirror-like effect that makes the garden appear larger than it actually is.

What types of decorations does the French garden use?
To further emphasize the theme of order, system, and human dominion, classical sculpture is used in the garden to establish Greco-Roman or mythological aesthetics. Sculpture is normally placed at the intersections of axes or by water features.

Formal Garden

What makes a formal garden formal?
Order, neatness, geometry, and symmetry are the defining features of this style that traces its origins all the way back to the dawn of recorded history. Formality is a tradition honored equally in Western, Middle Eastern, and Eastern Cultures. We have all heard of Greek and Roman Gardens, and most of us as well have heard of the Hanging Gardens of Ancient Babylon. Since the beginning of history in the East, both China and Japan have perfected formal gardens as expressions of Taoist, Shinto, and Buddhist ideals.

Formality is like artistic diplomacy. It takes what would otherwise be a divergent and conflicting array of individual forms and brings them together into a working relationship where every contributing element plays a part in making up a greater whole.

What feeling should this type of garden create?
It should establish a sense of stability—something of an island of respite from the daily grind of life. Formality means elegance and that which is elevated above the mundane. Nothing mediocre should enter in to your garden, or even come to mind.

What types of formal garden plants are most commonly used?
Vegetation is selectively chosen so there will be something for everyone to enjoy. Different species of shrubs, trees, hedges, perennials, and annuals are arranged in cultural and historical motifs.

It is not a matter of the amount of plant material, but in the way that it is arranged. Some gardens are very simple and consist of only boxwoods enclosing a flower bed. More formal designs integrate and intertwine organic elements with inorganic elements. All forms must appear balanced and done to scale, be they trees, shrubs, or flowers. Inorganic elements are used to center attention on its midpoint, or to draw attention to a particular aspect of its geometry.

How many different types of formal gardens are there?
The most prominent types are based upon historical and cultural traditions. Others are based upon style or size. A few examples follow.

Formal French Garden
The French garden is intended to inspire awe and wonder, much like a grand chateau on an Elite estate. It uses carefully sculpted vegetation as organic architecture. The disciplined symmetry of this form is precise in its planning and layout, and runs along long axes that inspire the viewer with a sense of sublime infinity.

Formal Italian Garden
Like the French garden, the Italian garden is a controlled, linear, symmetrical form. Unlike the French garden, its intention is to create retreat and repose rather than awe and wonder. Italian gardens appeal to multiple senses and invite the viewer to step into an alternate realm of contemplation, surprise, and a rich diversity of shape and color.

Formal English Garden
The English garden presents an idealized view of nature. It was originally inspired by pastoral landscape paintings that emphasized rolling hills, trees, and lakes. It is a geometrically balanced design built around a central pathway and a central focal point. Around the center grows a variety of trees, shrubs, and flowering plants arranged in geometric, interwoven patterns.

Formal Small Garden
This is an ideal style for small yards and townhome properties. It uses small squares or circles of yard in areas where larger landscape elements cannot be created. Its disciplined symmetry lends itself well to complimenting the architecture of surrounding homes and buildings, and the richness of floral and vegetation patterns can be just as diverse as those in larger formal garden designs.
Formal Flower Garden
Formal flower gardens are designed as elegant beds with straight lines. The intent of this form is to mix annuals and perennials together so that as some flowers seasonally die and come back, others are continuously blooming at various times. This maintains continual floral growth that gives color and vitality to the Houston landscape throughout the year.

Where can I get formal garden ideas?
The best place to begin is by looking at garden pictures on the Internet and any print media sources you have available. Although many of these pictures will not depict formal gardens per se, you will see a wide range of vegetation, hardscapes, and decorative elements that you can select as a sort of collage of ideas. Bring these to the table when you meet with your Exterior Worlds garden designer.

How is a formal garden plan developed?
Your designer will look at your visual wish list and then talk to you about what you expect to see, smell, and feel when you experience the new garden we are planning. We will also take extensive time to study your home and yard so we can adapt your desires to appropriate landscape elements that truly compliment the house and surrounding yard.

The plan is sketched out as a preliminary draft, which you have the freedom to change or approve. Upon final approval, a more sophisticated draft is created that is part of the landscape master plan. Installation is either done directly through our team or through specialists we contract and supervise under our invoice and guidance.