Dutch Gardens | Imitation of French Gardens

Development of Gardens

Development of Gardens began with the evolution of Egyptian Style followed by Persian Gardens which brought about a revolution in the field of Landscape Architecture…

Every Gardening Style that evolved after Persian Gardens was an imitation of the previous style and then gradually disappeared in a few years. The phase of the evolution of various gardening styles is termed as “Modern Garden Architecture“.

In this article, we are going to discuss the Evolution of Dutch Gardening Style…

Dutch Gardening Style also disappeared unlike the Italian Garden Style, French Style, Japanese Style, Chinese Style, Islamic and English styles.

As dedicated florists, the Dutch imitated French Gardening Style. Dutch Gardens are distinguished by its dense atmosphere and efficient use of space. The gardens where the tulips plantations are dense are also termed as Dutch Gardens.

Evolution of Dutch Gardens

However, because of the flat reclaimed landscape a distinct style emerged. Scale was an important difference in that the Dutch had small gardens. Even a fairly big garden was divided into small enclosures. The view of the crisscrossing canals were all that the Dutch gardener was interested in.

The Japanese who  also garden small try to express nature with a distillation of her attraction – a rock, a tree, or a fern. The Dutch took the opposite view – filling their yards and elaborate furnishings such as marbled, frilled double stripped flowers.

The containers for the flowers had flowing designs. These were punctuated with obelisks, statues and topiary.

Where the scale ruled out tall trees, the clipped hedge was a common feature. Water was a major feature since the country was crisscrossed with canals. Swans paddled the canals close to houses or in moats if the canals were not too close.

Tall jets in fountains were not possible because of low pressure in flat country. Small falling arcs did not accommodate glitter and hence gilt-edged fountains were common.  Fountains, statues and gates were painted gold. Topiary in the form of wedding cakes or chess pieces was common.