What is the Rococo garden design style?

Discussion in 'Garden Design and Plant Suggestions' started by Weekend Gardener, May 3, 2008.

  1. Weekend Gardener

    Weekend Gardener Active Member 10 Years

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    What is the Rococo garden design style. I understand that it's a combination of French and Italian design styles, but what are the principles elements that defines this style?
     
  2. LilyISay

    LilyISay Active Member

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    Rococo garden style is based on a strict formal outline, with lots of "frilly bits" in the way of statues, fussy garden furniture, scrolled ironwork, grand architectural details with an eastern european flavour, shell-shapes. Strong accent on spiral and shell-shapes. Sort of like a cross between english estate style and moroccan style. It was a transition period between formal and informal garden settings. Check out Painswick Rococo Garden.
     
  3. Weekend Gardener

    Weekend Gardener Active Member 10 Years

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    Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Much appreciated.
     
  4. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    You can also check out the Baroque garden style, which is slightly more formal and a bit less fussy - it is what came directly before the Rococco, and it really informs the structure if not the tangled feel of the Rococco gardens.

    Both garden styles emphasise curved shapes, but Baroque focusses on circles and ovals (closed curves) as its basis, while Rococco takes spirals (open curves.) Statuary of the earlier style was more Greek-influenced, while the later is more ornate - think Egypt. Mosiacs were also more prominent in Rococco gardens, especially those informed by intricate Moorish or Islamic tile design. The Rococco garden also typically included hedge-mazes.

    The overarching design concept, regardless of application (ie gardens, houses, fashion), of the Rococco period is detail and decoration carried past excess. If you want something even more loaded with decoration, look at Barococco, the style that came directly after Rococco, and which provoked Neoclassicism and Romantic design (less fussy and formal.)
     
  5. Weekend Gardener

    Weekend Gardener Active Member 10 Years

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    Thanks - that's a lot of information, but pretty clear explanation.

    Is there a garden design on a similar vein, but which is one or two steps less detailed and intricate?
     
  6. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Classical and Neoclassical gardens preserve the curves of the more ornate Baroque and Roccoco gardens, but strip the ornamentation off. There's a better blend of straight lines and curves in this style, and although the hedge mazes remain they are less intricate; more often a series of interlocking 'C' shapes than the true mazes of the earlier periods. They tend to have one strong focal point in each bed (in Ecuador, there is normally a very large central tree, like a Canary Island Date Palm, and smaller beds are anchored with Yucca or Agave), and Neoclassical plantings were often grouped by colour as well as pleasing height ranges. Both styles typically have statuary as well, but the lines are far less ornate - think Roman style sculpture, and not Art Nouveaux or Egyptian. The Royal Gardens at Buckingham Palace are a good example of Classical garden design, as are the gardens at Versailles. The latter presents the continental approach, and the former the British approach; they are slightly different as the Continental Classical or Neoclassical gardens often have large water features (fountains etc) while the British tends to feature large planted beds. The Spanish take is unique in featuring semitropical plants, as mentioned above.

    You can also look at the Arts and Crafts / Art Deco style of gardening, which is a step less formal and tends towards clean lines and curves, and plantings grouped by function (ie Herbs, Bulbs, Lilies, etc.) Roses are normally the focal point. This is a slightly more overgrown look and requires a bit less maintenance than a formal garden. Look at the work of architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh to get an idea of the general style.

    And in the non-western grouping, Japanese-style as well as formal Indian and Chinese gardens are very striking in their simplicity and use of space.

    How big is the space you're landscaping?

    Can you tell what I do as part of my job?
     

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