In and out of fashion – EDP Newspaper Sept 27th 2008
Posted on | September 27, 2008 | No Comments
In the mid 19th century, a craze had begun for planting exotics outside as well as in. Fabulous displays were created in the larger cities, with massed beds of flamboyantly coloured plants laid out in intricate, often geometric patterns.
One of the earliest Victorian proponents of the new style of bedding was John Gibson, who produced large foliage displays in Battersea Park, one of London best known public gardens. Gibson had been a pupil of Joseph Paxton, the remarkable head gardener to the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth who also designed one of the first public parks at Birkenhead.
Paxton not only taught Gibson to understand design and planting, but in 1835 he had sent the young man on an extraordinary plant-hunting mission to India, which inspired one of Battersea Park’s horticultural highlights, the Sub-Tropical Garden.
As well as the more familiar bedding plants that we use today, he presented a dazzling array of exotics such as bananas, cannas and tree ferns, all bedded out for the summer. The park was laid out between 1846 and 1864 to the grand designs of James Pennethorne and John Gibson.
In 1871 William Robinson, who disliked the more formal, regimented planting styles that had gone before, wrote The Sub-tropical Garden, in which he discussed the use of many different types of tropical and sub-tropicals that could be successfully planted out during the warmer months of the year. He, and later Gertrude Jekyll, preferred the more naturalistic look.
He also maintained that exotic-looking gardens could be created using hardy plants that had the appearance of their more tender sub-tropical counterparts, plants that would look visually pleasing yet were capable of surviving throughout the year and which revelled in our cool maritime winters.
The sub-tropical garden was quite a novelty when originally introduced in England and caused much interest to horticulturalists and landscape gardeners. Robinson grouped hardy plants of a tropical appearance such as aralias, acanthus, grasses, bamboos and palms.
During the summer, cannas, tobacco, various palms, bananas, and other tender exotics were added to the collection, causing much excitement when they first appeared at Battersea Park. Though still planted up in the present day during the summer, much of the old charm and originality of the early planting has been lost.
Unfortunately the present, official idea of what sub-tropical gardens should contain, carries a certain stereotyped stiffness with it, creating a sad reflection of past glories. Gardeners, in general, soon discovered from the likes of Robinson that many exotic plants would actually thrive in our gardens with a mixture of hardy exotics and the more tender summer bedding, with the larger sub-tropical species and their cultivars kept under glass for the cold winter months.
It’s a style I emulate at the Exotic Garden in Norwich. One of the benefits discovered in this style of gardening was that it greatly lengthened the garden’s season of interest. Plants of this nature could be enjoyed for a far longer period compared to the more traditional style of the cottage garden using herbaceous perennials which reach a flowering peak in June and early July, before rapidly going over.
The new style carried on through high summer to autumn, often creating an explosion of riotous colour and large leaves, with the use of such plants as cannas and gingers. The fashion for this sumptuous style of planting started to wane towards the end of the 19th century with the loss of the larger estates and their patrons, who had suffiucient wealth to pay for their rather expensive upkeep.
The once praised glasshouses became far too expensive to run with labour costs spiralling and the price of fuel soaring. Many of the people who helped establish the first sub-tropical gardens were growing old and becoming either satisfied with the spectrum of plant material they already had, or were losing enthusiasm.
A return to a more traditional style of gardening was gaining popularity once again, especially in the cooler parts of Britain where it was deemed impractical to maintain a sub-tropical garden in the political and social climate of the time.
Noted gardeners like Gertrude Jekyll (1843- 1932) praised the virtues of the cottage garden style, thus hailing the end of bedded-out plants. Hence the fashion for exotics came to an end, like so much else, at the outbreak of the first world war in 1914.
Following the second world war, the use of bedding plants returned in the form of fairly low growing, regimented bedding plants such as blue lobelia, red salvia, white alyssum, heliotrope and bedding begonias which were especially used by parks and gardens with the odd well-spaced solitary canna thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, it was a style still extremely popular with local councils.
These plants were comparatively cheap and could be grown from seed, creating a splash of colour fairly quickly, though they looked rather bland, lacking any real interest or excitement. The latter part of the 20th century, however, saw exotic plants slowly regain their old popularity, with public interest in them boosted by wider travel to the Mediterranean and even more far-flung places.
These new travellers saw many exotic plants and returned home with the notion of trying to recreate a small part of their holiday location in their very own garden. Suddenly, the traditional herbaceous borders and prissy summer bedding familiar since the war appeared boring and rather tired.
It was time for exotica to flourish once more…
Next week Will Giles takes the story of exotica from the late 20th century into a future affected by our ever-changing climate.
for planting exotics outside as well as in.
Fabulous displays were created in the
larger cities, with massed beds of
flamboyantly coloured plants laid out in
intricate, often geometric patterns.
One of the earliest Victorian proponents of
the new style of bedding was John Gibson, who
produced large foliage displays in Battersea
Park, one of London best known public
gardens. Gibson had been a pupil of Joseph
Paxton, the remarkable head gardener to the
Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth who also
designed one of the first public parks at
Birkenhead.
Paxton not only taught Gibson to understand
design and planting, but in 1835 he had sent the
young man on an extraordinary plant-hunting
mission to India, which inspired one of
Battersea Park’s horticultural highlights, the
Sub-Tropical Garden.
As well as the more familiar bedding plants
that we use today, he presented a dazzling
array of exotics such as bananas, cannas and
tree ferns, all bedded out for the summer. The
park was laid out between 1846 and 1864 to the
grand designs of James Pennethorne and John
Gibson.
In 1871 William Robinson, who disliked the
more formal, regimented planting styles that
had gone before, wrote The Sub-tropical
Garden, in which he discussed the use of many
different types of tropical and sub-tropicals
that could be successfully planted out during
the warmer months of the year. He, and later
Gertrude Jekyll, preferred the more
naturalistic look. He also maintained that
exotic-looking gardens could be created using
hardy plants that had the appearance of their
more tender sub-tropical counterparts, plants
that would look
visually pleasing yet
were capable of
surviving throughout
the year and which
revelled in our cool
maritime winters.
The sub-tropical
garden was quite a
novelty when
originally introduced
in England and caused
much interest to horticulturalists and
landscape gardeners. Robinson grouped hardy
plants of a tropical appearance such as aralias,
acanthus, grasses, bamboos and palms. During
the summer, cannas, tobacco, various palms,
bananas, and other tender exotics were added
to the collection, causing much excitement
when they first appeared at Battersea Park.
Though still planted up in the present day
during the summer, much of the old charm and
originality of the early planting has been lost.
Unfortunately the present, official idea of what
sub-tropical gardens should contain, carries a
certain stereotyped stiffness with it, creating a
sad reflection of past glories.
Gardeners, in general, soon discovered from
the likes of Robinson that many exotic plants
would actually thrive in our gardens with a
mixture of hardy exotics and the more tender
summer bedding, with the larger sub-tropical
species and their cultivars kept under glass for
the cold winter months. It’s a style I emulate at
the Exotic Garden in Norwich.
One of the benefits discovered in this style of
gardening was that it greatly lengthened the
garden’s season of interest. Plants of this
nature could be enjoyed for a far longer period
compared to the more traditional style of the
cottage garden using
herbaceous perennials
which reach a
flowering peak in June
and early July, before
rapidly going over.
The new style carried
on through high
summer to autumn,
often creating an
explosion of riotous
colour and large
leaves, with the use of such plants as cannas
and gingers.
The fashion for this sumptuous style of
planting started to wane towards the end of the
19th century with the loss of the larger estates
and their patrons, who had suffiucient wealth
to pay for their rather expensive upkeep. The
once praised glasshouses became far too
expensive to run with labour costs spiralling
and the price of fuel soaring.
Many of the people who helped establish the
first sub-tropical gardens were growing old and
becoming either satisfied with the spectrum of
plant material they already had, or were losing
enthusiasm. A return to a more traditional
style of gardening was gaining popularity once
again, especially in the cooler parts of Britain
where it was deemed impractical to maintain a
sub-tropical garden in the political and social
climate of the time.
Noted gardeners like Gertrude Jekyll (1843-
1932) praised the virtues of the cottage garden
style, thus hailing the end of bedded-out plants.
Hence the fashion for exotics came to an end,
like so much else, at the outbreak of the first
world war in 1914.
Following the second world war, the use of
bedding plants returned in the form of fairly
low growing, regimented bedding plants such
as blue lobelia, red salvia, white alyssum,
heliotrope and bedding begonias which were
especially used by parks and gardens with the
odd well-spaced solitary canna thrown in for
good measure. Unfortunately, it was a style still
extremely popular with local councils. These
plants were comparatively cheap and could be
grown from seed, creating a splash of colour
fairly quickly, though they looked rather
bland, lacking any real interest or excitement.
The latter part of the 20th century, however,
saw exotic plants slowly regain their old
popularity, with public interest in them
boosted by wider travel to the Mediterranean
and even more far-flung places.
These new travellers saw many exotic plants
and returned home with the notion of trying to
recreate a small part of their holiday location
in their very own garden.
Suddenly, the traditional herbaceous borders
and prissy summer bedding familiar since the
war appeared boring and rather tired. It was
time for exotica to flourish once more…
Next week Will Giles takes the story of
exotica from the late 20th century into a
future affected by our ever-changing climate.
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