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| William Robinson |
During the last quarter of the 19th
century, there was a Battle of the Styles over the future of garden designs.
The main two characters in the Battle were William Robinson on one side, and
Sedding and Sir Reginal Blomfield on the other. Robinson believed that horticulturists
should be the ones responsible for designing gardens, not architects. As a
gardener himself, he thought gardens could be independent and not simply stand
as ornamentation to the architecture of a house. He also was very interested in
having more natural looking gardens. Now that is not to say he wanted
landscapes like Kent, because he certainly did not. Rather, he wanted to stay
away from the highly formalized garden structures. He believed Versailles and Crystal
Palace represented the evils of gardening. Robinson also had a vested interest
in naturally grouping hardy plants, and he also enjoyed having exotic plants in
gardens.
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| Sir Reginald Blomfield |
On the opposing side of the battlefield were
the architects. J. D. Sedding and Sir Reginald Blomfield believed that garden
design should be based around the architecture of the building. They also
believed in more formal gardening styles and techniques. Unfortunately, Sedding
died before the publication of his book Garden
Craft Old and New. Therefore, he was not able to defend Robinson’s attack
on the work. Then, Blomfield came to play and stood up for the architects in
this battle.
Both sides were very invested in their cases
and refused to compromise. Therefore, in the end, it was not an architect or a
gardener that won, but the collaboration of architects and gardeners. Gertrude
Jekyll and Sir Edwin Lutyens represent this perfect union of architect and
gardener. They were able to achieve something greater than what either side
could have achieved on their own.
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| Sir Edwin Lutyens |
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| Gertrude Jekyll |
Image sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Blomfield-1921.jpg/220px-Blomfield-1921.jpg
Great overview on the works of Robinson versus those of Blomfield and Sedding. Robinson definitely was more interested in how gardens could be naturalistic, despite being designed. Blomfield and Sedding were more interested in how gardens should continue to be formal, while also appearing naturalistic.
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