Poundridge Nurseries, Inc. - Blog

When you plan your garden landscape there are a myriad of gardening styles to choose from, some of which are sure to strike your fancy. On the other hand you might not have any idea what gardening style suits your taste. Whatever the case, allow me to mention a few of the garden styles that are available that can be implemented; maybe you’ll get inspired.

Informal gardens tend to be large to medium sized gardens. They are best implemented on uneven landscapes and designed to accommodate slopes. One immediately thinks of tropical or cottage gardens as examples of an informal style. What also comes to mind are Japanese, Mediterranean, and Italian styles, as well as container, succulent, and native gardens, and herb, vegetable or woodland gardens to mention a few.

Informal Garden

The informal garden lends itself to many possibilities that yield a natural look and feel to a landscape. You can have more than one theme in your garden and it would feel natural. The pros for an informal garden are: low maintenance and environmental friendliness. The cons are they may look ‘wild’ and unkempt to some people.

In time to come we will make it our mission to publish more detailed information on different types of garden styles. For now, however, we will mention just a few.

 Formal gardens. Who says we have to limit ourselves to informal gardens when we can just as successfully cultivate a formal garden?

In the formal garden plants are used in much the same way that an architect would use tiles, bricks, concrete, and even wood. These gardens are usually small to medium in size and are on level terrain or terraced. Formal gardens can be classic or modern and symmetrical and geometric shapes are not uncommon for this style. Some people find that the symmetry and patterns of a formal garden sooth them in their otherwise disorganized household. Geometry reigns supreme in the formal garden. Herb garden designs are a great example of a classic, formal style.

Formal Garden

 When thinking of the formal garden I am immediately transported to yesteryear, or I should say yester-century because it was the past masters of the seventeenth century in Italy, France, and the Netherlands that took the concept of formal gardening to its peak. Consider the garden at Versailles, Villa Lante, Paleis Het Loo and Villa d’Este or look at English gardens created by “Capability” Brown and Williams Kent.