Gardens can be categorized into types, just as we learned golf courses are too. One of the best places to get an overview of the main categories is the Gardenvisit website. Follow this link and look at their page of Styles of Garden Design since 1650. Fourteen styles that have influenced and are found in British Isles garden and landscape design are described, with an index of gardens which exemplify each style. In particular, the French Style and the Italian Style in the British Isles should be looked at closely, because these styles strongly influenced the formal gardens originating in Ireland during the 19th century.

J.C. Loudon is credited with greatly influencing the direction of Irish landscape gardening in the 19th century. Loudon introduced new styles of gardening to Ireland through the wide influence of his many encyclopedic works. Loudon's contribution is seen as "both a symptom and a cause of the gragmentation of style in the early nineteenth century.

Following is the section on Loudon from a History of Horticulture prepared by OSU University Professor of Horiculture the late Freeman S. Howlett:

Loudon, John Claudius (1783-1843) Loudon was an outstanding landscape gardener and horticultural writer. He rented a large farm where he took pupils in agriculture but after making considerable profit on this venture, gave up the farm, dismissed his pupils and traveled extensively in Europe. His works on every branch of horticulture raised the field to a higher position than it had ever enjoyed. He gave clear, accurate and complete information concerning the details of the various practices. Encyclopedia of Gardening (1822) and Arboretum et Fruitcetum Britannicum (1838) are examples of his industry and became valuable works of reference.

Other books included:

Encyclopedia of Plants (1802)
A Short Treatise on Hothouses (1805)
A Treatise on Country Residences (1806)
Hortus Britannicus (1830)
The Suburban Gardener (1838)
The Suburban Horticulturist (1843)
Self-Instruction for Young Gardeners (1845)

He began to publish the monthly Gardeners Magazine in 1826 and continued with it until his death. Its circulation declined after 1831 with the appearance of Paxton's Horticultural Register. At one time he actually edited five monthly publications. He became so heavily in debt in preparing and publishing Arboretum that he resumed work as a landscape gardener, while two of his sisters learned wood engraving and his wife began to write books on her own account. He published a work on the laying out of cemeteries in 1843. His last book, Self-Instruction for Young Gardeners, was dictated to his wife until midnight of the day before he died. He had taxed his health far beyond his capacity in order to pay off his debts. Probably few horticultural writers have worked against such severe physical handicaps.

Another prominent figure of 19th century gardening, William Robinson (1838-1937; see bio below) published a revolutionary book in 1870 titled The Wild Garden that was instrumental in returning the Irish garden and landscape style to a more natural and less formal style. It is in fact known as "the Robinson style" and its influence is felt to this day in garden and landscape tastes througout the world. Malins and Bowe describe the Robinson style:

It took the form of a house standing on a spreading lawn, which was conceived of as an 'improved' meadow, planted with groups of naturalized bulbs and field flowers. This lawn was enclosed by mixed borders of trees, shrubs and flowers, conceived in its turn as an 'improved' country hedgerow or natural shrubbery. An occasional errant tree would break the general shrub line, and colonies of herbaceous plants grow up in summer at its feet. A garden to Robinson was not an outdoor room, nor a decorative promenade, nor a museum of architectural ornament.

An interesting aspect of Robinson's belief was the importation of plants from around the world into the 'naturalized' garden environments he created. He is responsible for introducing many exotic species to Ireland.

Some Landscape Gardening Terms

Parterre - A level space in a garden occupied by an ornamental arrangement of flower-beds of various shapes and sizes.

Demesne (pronounced de-man-ay) - in modern use, the land immediately attached to a mansion, and held along with it for use or pleasure; the park, chase, home-farm, etc.

Jardin-potager - French for "kitchen garden", usually located near the home and features flowers, fruit, herbes and vegetables, in a formal setting in edged beds.

Tapis-vert - another French term, literally green carpet; in formal gardening a wide expanse of lawn turf, with the purpose both of serving as a design element and providing space between plantings.

Other Famous Figures (from History of Horticulture at Ohio State University's WebGarden.)

M'Mahon, Bernard 1775-1816 (approx) M'Mahon was born in Ireland but came to America in 1796 because of political instability in that country. He settled in Philadelphia and established a seed and nursery business. Very shortly thereafter he began to collect and export seeds of American plants. By this means many nature plants became established in Europe. In 1804 his catalogue of seeds included 1,000 "species." He became acquainted with Thomas Jefferson as well as other distinguished men of his time. It is said that the famous Lewis and Clark expedition was planned in his home. His horticultural interests were very broad and his seed store became a meeting place for botanists and horticulturists. M'Mahon and Landreth distributed the seeds collected in the Lewis and Clark expedition. He published in 1806 the first really important horticultural book which was entitled, American Gardeners Calendar. This was a standard encyclopedia for many years. The 11th edition was published in 1857.

William Robinson was born in Ireland either in the Queen's County or in County Dublin. He was a Protestant with a very "humble" background and nothing known of his earliest years. He is thought to have had an elementary education at the parish school.

Robinson became a "garden-boy" to Sir Hunt Johnson-Walsh, a graduate of Dublin University and an outstanding vicar. Robinson became the foreman of the garden at the ate of 21 years and thereby had control over large conservatories and hothouses. At the age of 23 he went to London and shortly became foreman of the herbaceous section of the Royal Botanic Society's Garden in Regents Park. At 29 he became a representative of the great nursery garden firm of Veitch. He also became special horticulture correspondent of the London Times to the Paris Exhibition in 1867. His articles in the Times made him the outstanding gardening authority in Great Britain.

He published:
Gleanings from French Gardens, Parks, Promanades and Gardens of Paris (1869)
Alpine Flowers for English Gardens (1870)
The Wild Garden or Our Own Groves and Shrubbery's Made Beautiful (1870)

He founded a weekly paper called The Garden which went through more than 50 half-yearly volumes. In 1879 Robinson founded a second weekly paper called Gardening. It was an immediate and overwhelming success.

He published in 1911 a folio volume provided by the Oxford University on hand made paper bound in white vellum called Gravetye Manor or Twenty Year's Work Round on Old Manor House. This book is comprised of extracts from his diary. In 1883 he published the first edition of The English Flower Garden. The preparation of new editions kept him continuously busy for the remaining years of his life. In 1899 he gave up the editorship of The Garden and established a periodical entitled Flora and Silva. This was discontinued in 1905. The last edition of The English Flower Garden was edited and revised by Roy Hay, Editor of Gardener's Chronicle in 1956.

Robinson's work was a guide to real gardeners from the time of its publication in 1883 for more than 30 years. Actually the 16th and last edition revised and edited by Hay contains an excellent discussion of gardens and various species and cultivars of plants grown in English gardens.

Roy Hay in the 16th edition states that "William Robinson initiated a revolution in gardening. In his own inimitable way he poured scorn on the formal bedding out of plants of the Victorians; and directed the thoughts of gardeners towards the more informal and natural trends of garden making. Robinson's teachings are more appropriate today than they ever have been. There is less money available for garden maintenance than ever. Laborers are more difficult to get. Thoroughly trained gardeners are becoming scarcer as that the elaborate bedding schemes of the Victorians are even further out of our reach than they were when Robinson began to present his famous doctrines."

I have found Robinson's 16th edition (1956) very valuable in presenting the adaptability of many species of plants and cultivars to soil and climate. No student of British or American horticulture is well-informed unless he knows something of the life and times of William Robinson and his influences of changing English horticulture. Robinson's translation of a vegetable gardening book entitled The Vegetable Garden is also a very interesting textbook.

The photos on this page have been selected to show the importance of religious imagery and iconography in the landscapes and gardens of Ireland. As you travel around Ireland you'll notice many Celtic Crosses. And in the upper right photo notice how the reflecting pool is cross shaped. You will see this feature in many Irish gardens, both formal and informal.