The Age of Renaissance and Garden Design........

enjoyed the blog flori really interesting, i love the italian gardens myself, not as keen on the french ones, but as you said alot of these influenced our british garden designs, ;o))

Thankyou for an interesting and informative ramble through history Flori.There are some wonderful Italian Gardens near where we live...and the architecture is inspiring.AAt the centre,as you say, is a small,round raised pond..with a tasteful little statue and fountain,to boot !

I did presentation in my class on French Formal Gardens and talked a bit about Andre le Notre... there the Sun King also got jeleous of Fouquet's garden, and also took what he liked for himself, lol...
Visited Hampton Court Palace this winter - definitelly have to come back there in summer:)

I like visiting these grand old houses and the gardens are always first on the agenda, History and gardening both favourites of mine. I have enjoyed your blogs Flori......

So nothing is new then . It's all been done before. :o) Very interesting.

I am so touched and so pleased to find that you are all enjoying my Garden History blogs~your comments mean a lot to me, and I really hope I am keeping them interesting and light-hearted enough not to be boring!
San~The Italian influence showed great style and very much blended to work within the landscape, the French adaptation tended not to work quite so well, and gardens tended to just be 'add-ons', so didn't sit quite so happily with the architecture of it's surrounding property, but both influenced Britain very much as you can tell! :~))

Hi Bb! Glad you liked the blog, and enjoying my ramble, lol! You are so lucky to have Italian Gardens and architecture near where you live~am hoping to visit some over my way asap,as have been so impressed by the Italian Renaissance, and would like to look into it further~thank you for your lovely comment :~))

Linclass, it's always good to hear from you again, and I'm so chuffed that you like these blogs~I have always loved History, but Garden History is totally fascinating, and I love it, love it,love it!lol! I have 5 more weeks till my exam.....

Hello, Hywel, you really couldn't have put it any better, my friend lol! The Romans 'borrowed' from the Greeks, the Italians and French 'borrowed' from the Romans, and we 'borrowed' from the lot! Lol! The same principals were used, but everyone added their own twist to it, to make it theirs~don't they say that there is nothing ever really new in history, it just gets adapted and then re-used in a slightly different way?! How true this seems to be.......

Hello Okasia, it's nice to meet you! Yes, Le Notre was a major participant when it came to french architecture regarding Formal gardens, and he believed that the house and garden had to blend together to really make it work, as had the Italians. He followed their principle and went on to develope it further, and notable gardens of this design were, Vaux-le-Vicomt, Chantilly, and of course, Versailles. Hampton Court has seen so many changes over the years, but always stunning, whatever the season. Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit there.:~))

Thanks for the latest episode :o)

Always great to hear from you, Terra :~)) Glad you liked the latest blog. Sharing snippets of info that I am learning is fun, and it really helps me remember it too, what would I do without all you wonderful goyers out there, that have shown such an interest?? Hope all good with you and your lads my dear friend :~))x

All well here thanks ...
I hope Raffles is perky and happy ...
yes... I can understand that putting the garden history info. into a blog does help you to remember it ! :o) x

Raffles is fine, thanks, though very confused as we are having out Extention rebuilt this week, so no roof, or windows and lots and lots of rubble! Let's hope it stays dry! lol!
Not only are these blogs helping the old grey matter out, but am getting some great imput too from other Goyers, so learning new things that my course doesn't even touch upon~I'm loving this!! lol! :~))x

Good luck with the extension...
.. I daren't tell you about the weather forecast for tomorrow :o((( x

Think we might have rain coming in this evening, but they are hoping to have the new polycarb roof on by the end of the day, even if I do have to wait till Wednesday to have our window delivered, am hoping we will more or less water tight by then! Please keep everything crossed for me, Terra, I think we need the good luck! I am staying out of the way, it's far safer here at my computer, and no where near as noisy either!!! Lol x

Everything crossed :o) x

Bless you my friend lol!xxx

such is the artistry of the computer

just got round to reading ur blog , and very intereasting a gain . and yes did go look round the garden lol and yes lol did have a few of the things in ur blog ,o dear and there was me thinking i worked it all out 4 myself haha .loveing it tho bring on the nxt 1 .love history and all that goes with it xxxx

heres a ? FOR ALL YOU BRAIN BOXES

why do they call it man-ure why not women-ure------------------hahahahaha

Hi Flori, loved your blog - am trying to 'catch up' with everything following a stay in hospital so plenty here to get on with - I enjoyed a 'Turkish/Greek Influence' in my garden yesterday - a lovverly lovverly Big Tasty Kebab!!!! :)))))

Another interesting blog Flori, I'm sure you'll do brilliantly at your exams. I'm very interested in the knot garden filled with coloured sand, did they actually dig a pit to keep the sand inside the low hedges? and what did they colour the sand with? It seems a strange idea doesn't it? Again, another idea we adopted, but this time for children, but without the hedges:-)

Oooh, hope you're ok now Mh, and back on the road to recovery! Lol,hope you enjoyed the kebab, whilst eating al fresco!! Glad to hear you are enjoying the blogs :~))

Hello Ba! :~)) Thanks for your lovely comment, and here's hoping for the recall in the exam lol! As to your questions, I think it was more a layer of sand they used, and the hedging would have been quite tightly packed, to stop the sand from spreading. Knot gardens were always designed to be looked down upon from a height, as it was more a design feature than practical use, and I would assume that as the knowledge of dyeing had been around for a long time, it could have been this that was used to colour the sand. Knot gardens were kepted quite plain in the tudor times, so it would not detract from the coloured finery of the nobility, and acted more as a 'foil' for displaying their status and wealth. It all comes down to money and power eh?! :~))

I'm loving these blogs Flori, don't know how I missed this one - still, I've now read it and learned more new facts. Your course sounds fascinating and you are obviously enjoying it - looking forward to the next one already!

I'll have me some of that money and power lol:-) Was the sand always the same colour, or was it a bit like heraldry? :-)

Hi Katnip! You have no idea how great it is to hear how much you have all been enjoying my Garden History blogs~I was so worried I would bore you all to tears with them, as I know it isn't everyone's cup ot tea lol! It is a great Course, and apart from the dreaded exam yet to come, I will miss it so much when it finishes at the end of this month!! Love it that you are still enjoying it though, Kat :~))

Ba, you are truly keeping me on my toes!! lol! From what I can gather, during the Tudor reign, they had statues, displayed in Heraldic colours, rather than the sand, and these were set around the grounds within the Formal garden areas. These were of upright Lions and mythical beasts~status and wealth displayed for all to marvel at and admire, I think our old Henry VIII just might have had a bit of an ego problem~way too much of it!
As to money and power......well if there's any going spare, they could throw a bit my way too! Tee hee hee!! :~))x

:-)

Excellent blog (once again) Flori. Great reading. :-))

Ah Muddy, you always know how to make me blush...........Am so chuffed you are enjoying and keeping me company on my journey through time! :~))

Ba, you keep my old grey matter turning over~bless you! :~))))))))X

a blush a reddening of the cheeks hmmmmmmmmmm must mean its floris on the tea run

dont know how i missed this Flori, but what a fantastic blog. I love old gardens. At the weekend I'm off to man the local HPS stall at the Burton Agnes Hall plant fair near Bridlington. it is an Elizabethan hall with a wonderful walled garden and fantastic yew topiary.

Hi Sbg! Thank you for your kind words, I am so glad you enjoyed! :~))
I studied the Elizabethan period extensively, going back a few years ago, and it was fascinating! Bet that Wall Garden and the topiary is fantastic, hope you have a great day out. It's lovely to hear from you :~))

I am there setting up tomorrow night and then manning the stall sat and sunday. I will try to take a camera and then do a blog.

Oh that would be fantastic if you could, Sbg, as would love to see it! :~))x