French Garden: Style and Design

Creating a garden is like creating a piece of art. French gardens are highly organized and formal and are defined by classic geometrical shapes, borrowed from Roman architecture.

Traditional French garden style was developed between the 17th and 18th centuries. The gardens were created as extensions to the chateaux they surrounded and as a means of exhibiting wealth, power and royalty. The range and enormity of the elements of the garden such as orangerie, fountains, menagerie, sculptures and aviaries reflected the riches of the owners of the chateaux.

The garden of Versailles, located just outside Paris, France belonging to King Louis XIV is one of the most lavish gardens in France, reflecting the princely status of its royal inhabitants. Landscape architect Andre Le Notre created the Versailles Gardens in 1661 on the far left of the Chateau de Versailles. The gardens have meticulously manicured lawns, geometric shapes, abundant blooming flowers, valuable statues and sculptures and impressive 1,400 water fountains.

The most notable feature of a French garden is its geometrical designs. Squares, rectangles, triangles and circles are created using low clipped hedges of shrubs and bushes. These geometrical beds are then filled with lawn grass, flowers, vegetables and herbs, keeping the color scheme in mind.

An important feature of the French garden is that except for the hedges, no other flowers, vegetables or herbs are grown permanently in the same place. The plants in the beds are changed every season. Flowers with pastel colors and hues of yellow, red, lilac and blue are used predominantly in French gardens along with different colored hedges.

Water fountains, cascades, canals with bridges across them and pools are an important aspect of the French garden designs. The flow of water creates a cooling effect in the large expanse the gardens are built upon and provide the garden with a fluid flow in its designs.

Since French gardens are built on vast areas, they include pathways leading to another element or component in the garden design. These pathways are usually laid with stones and bordered with trees, neatly clipped hedges or even a wall covered with a trellis of roses or some another fragrant flowers. One can either walk on the pathways or ride a horse-drawn chariot on it. Along the way one can find many statues, sculptures, sundials, columns, birdbaths and more garden ornaments.

Traditionally, a terrace overlooking the garden or small gazebo made of cobblestones with wrought iron chairs painted white along with matching tables, where guests could enjoy a glass of French wine viewing the beauty of the garden, were also incorporated in the garden's architecture. To enjoy the garden during the harsh winters, an orangerie (a large glass-enclosed room full of blooming lemon, lime and orange trees) was also a part of the French gardens.

French garden designs were strongly influenced by their creators and their owners' way of life and thought. The designs were characterized by their control and manipulation of nature, by instilling strong geometrical elements in them. The French garden designs have undergone changes over the years, but what still remains unchanged is the beauty they fill in the beholder's soul.