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Gothic Styles

The heyday of Gothic styles in architecture was about 1180-1500 or possibly 1550ish in some regions.

Gothic styles – and the movement was above all architectural – became increasingly ornate and elaborate after about 1380-1400. The style was most fully developed in Northern and Central Europe – France, Britain, Central Europe (as far east as Transylvania) – and also parts of Italy, Spain and Portugal. Key features included: flying buttresses to support the walls and roofs. This allowed for large stained glass windows. Another key feature was the pointed arch (as opposed to the round arch inherited from ancient Rome); also large areas devoted to the choir, screens shutting off the choir and sancturary from the nave; spire (on top of towers).

Gothic architecture (except perhaps at the end, when it became playful) tended to make churches dark and mysterious places of awe, sometimes even with a whiff of the uncanny.

In painting, ‘Gothic’ art sometimes tended to be two-dimensional.

Note that the term ‘Gothic’ was first used after about 1530 and meant something like ‘barbaric’.

From about 1770 onwwards there was a ‘Gothic revival’, with Gothic and pseudo-Gothic styles again popular. Two outstanding examples in Britain are the Houses of Parliament and St Pancras Station.

The Victorian Style.

The Victorian style provided for  a garden of seclusion
and natural beauty, a created
segment of nature.

A good Victorian garden  would have a luxurious
lawn and in addition, flower beds,trees and shrubs.

Shrubbery and flowering plants came into vogue in the
Victorian garden as people began to recognize the
 beauty and wonder of nature  and wanted
 a closer union with it.

The terrace walk was incorporated into the more
 intimate house gardens.
The walk was generally  a paved area between house
and the garden beyond.

 The Victorians had started to enjoy nature, it is true, and
they wanted a closer contact with plants
 but they still wanted some remnant
 of separation between themselves and the
 unknown, and the terrace provided
 this.

Black Flowers.

 What is it about black flowers? Why does everyone get
 excited about them?

 I really don’t think that the appeal for black flowers  has
 anything to do with mourning flowers at funerals.
 I used to work in a flower shop, and we hardly ever got
asked for black flowers in a wreath.

I think the rich color and the soft and velvet feel of these
blossoms are what attract us. Many have lovely shadings
of burgundy and red, and are so elegant in their color
schemes, each petal seems to have a different texture.

The gardener’s desire for black in the garden, does not
stop with the flower color but also applies to foliage.
When thinking of that, who can overlook the wonderful
coleus” Inky Finger” and ” Black Dragon” .

Annuals also present some lovely and exciting black
flowers, there is;

Amaranth            ” Hopi Red Dye”
Cornflower          ” Black Gem’
Baby Blue Eyes  ” Pennie Black”
Poppy                  ” Black Peony”
Artropurpurea   ” Beefsteak Plant”
Scabiosa              ” Ace of Spades” and” Chile Black”
Strobilanthes     ”  Persian Shield”
Viola                   ” Bowles Black”

There are many many more, perennials, shrubs and other plants
that would also fit in  a Gothic Garden,  so if you would like to find
a few, just get in touch with me.

 Black Flowers are beguiling and bewitching, does that mean that
 we are under a spell?  Who knows?  

I don’t. do you

meet you on the dark side.

Check out my Slide Show!

Design Your Gothic Garden

When you design your Gothic garden, remember
to include a few pumpkin seeds in your vegetable
patch.
Pumpkins were used as lanterns at Halloween
as the best containers for holding candles.
In Ireland and in northern parts of England, 
turnips were hollowed out to light the way of
late night travellers, so you may also want to
consider the lowly Rutabaga as a vegetable
 in your Gothic garden.

There were other plants associated with ill luck
or death, take for instance, cacti ( in Hungary)
lilacs, and any flower that is usually associated
with funerals, these being mostly chrysanthemums
and of course,lillies.
It is deemed unlucky ( I don’t know why!) to pick up flowers
that have fallen to the ground, and any flowers that bloom
out of season are considered to be “touched by the devil”
so you may want to keep a track of those, in your Gothic
garden!!

Black Dragon Coleus, is a must, for Gothic Gardens.

Since Alexander Dumas published ‘The Black Tulip’ in 1850  the
lure of black plants does not seem to have waned, although, as I
 have mentioned before, they are really not black
 but a very dark maroon.
 .

 You can let your imagination run riot
 with a Gothic garden theme as there
are no rules.

You could have a skull as an ornament,
or maybe many dark blooms planted together,
you can go wild and just enjoy your Gothic garden,
as gardening should not be a grave thing!

Meet you on the dark side!

The Victorian Garden

The Victorian era brought many changes to social habits,
and it also brought about a new concept in gardening.

Due to the Industrial Revolution, there was a great increase
in population, especially in urban areas and the wealthy
class that emerged were distinct in background from the
landowners who created the English gardens.

In a book printed in 1806, Humphrey Repton stated that the
four principles of landscape gardening should be;
1. The garden should display natural beauty but hide natural defects.

2. The garden should give the appearance of freedom by disguising
    or hiding boundaries.

3. The garden should carefully conceal every interference of art,
    making the whole look as if it were totally produced by nature.

4. The garden should have no objects of mere convenience or
    comfort.

It is interesting to note that these principles went against the
views of ” Capability Brown“, the reigning horticultural planner
of the Victorian garden.

Mr Brown, operated on a grand scale, he said that his work was
done  with a poet’s feeling and a painter’s eye. 
He was the master garden artist, under his influence parklike
gardens abounded, and he liked to incorporate lakes and hills
into his designs.

However Mr Reptons idea was to take the idea of a garden park
and miniaturize it, making it every person’s own floral and
foliage display.

John Claudius Loudon , a Scot, with his wife, published the
Suburban Gardener( 1838) for many years the bible of the new
and rapidly rising middle class.
It was becoming clear that the garden was no longer the exclusive
domain of the privileged few, but the delight of the middle class.

The flowering gardens in present day London and its suburbs,
owe a great deal to this one man.

 A typical Victorian Garden of yesteryear, would have  a green
 lawn, shrubs appropriately placed for mass
 and dimension, and an incredible array of
 walls, levels, and steps all combined to
 create a pleasant scene.