The Influence, Form, Content, and Stlye of Victorian Villa Gardens

Julián Huertas

1 May 2015

Professor Musgrave

Garden Art in European History

Blog Post Eight:

Describe the form, content and style of the Victorian villa garden. Include in your answer the inspirations for this garden type.

            The Inspiration for the Victorian garden type derives on a whole from the rise of Britain as the world’s first super power. As the United Kingdom colonized other regions of the world, industrialized, and accumulated a mass amount of wealth, there was a substantial redistribution of wealth among different socioeconomic classes that led to new trends of urbanization and suburbanization in the UK. The middle class gained more money and expanded, and there was greater emphasis on family life and homely privacy in lifestyle. This change brought about new form, content, and style to Victorian villa garden design in the UK.

            A new profession developed in the UK for workers in garden design – the florist/commercial flower grower. This development occurred as plants and gardens became viewed as household decorations.  This synched with the increase of family life and homely privacy. The form and content of gardens and plants became quite ornate as it was a representation of wealth and taste, education, and good taste in the contemporary fashion.  Specifically in regard to style, bedding, complex geometric patterns, and gravel paths became key components of Victorian gardens. The invention of the lawnmower in 1832 and importation of artificial fertilizers allowed for ornate styles to be created and mass-produced.  Additionally, arboretums and conservatories became popular as ways to experiment and display the growing of foreign, exotic plants, such as ferns, evergreens, foliage plants, tropical rhododendrons, and – especially – orchids. These types of plants displayed education and worldly knowledge as they were both native and non-native species to Britain.

            The form and content of Victorian gardens can be traced to Biddulph Grange and Chatsworth garden.  In 1840, James Bateman began his work at Biddulph Grange. In this garden, Bateman went all in to the point that he went bankrupt after twenty years from financing the garden. He made the garden resemble more like a theme park, with different areas representing different locations of the world, such as plants and styles from Egypt, Italy, and Japan. Art and nature contrast in this type of garden. In Chatsworth garden, however, art and nature coexist. In 1824, Sir Joseph Paxton began his expansion of Chatsworth that came to include the arboretum, Great Conservatory, Rockwork, and Emperor Fountain over the next twenty years. The arboretum had the largest collection of trees in Europe, and the Great Conservatory had the largest glass building of the world at the time that also happened to be heated.  These two gardens influenced the form, content, and style for Victorian gardens. They demonstrate the focus on beauty, ornateness, novelty, the foreign and exotic, and education and knowledge.

Here is a website/article that discusses a theme similar a to a video we watched in class - the symbolism behind different flowers in the Victorian Era.

The Industrial Revolution in the UK changed anything in specific regard to the UK, there was a substantial redistribution of wealth among different socioeconomic classes that led to new trends of urbanization and suburbanization in the UK. This significantly affected Victorian villa garden design.

A Victorian villa garden. The form and content of gardens and plants became quite ornate as it was a representation of wealth and taste, education, and good taste in the contemporary fashion.  Specifically in regard to style, bedding, complex geometric patterns, and gravel paths became key components of Victorian gardens.

A part of James Bateman's Biddulph Grange, representing the influence of Japan garden design.

Map and layout of Chatsworth House after its expansion. The the arboretum, Great Conservatory, Rockwork, and Emperor Fountain are the most prominent features of the garden.