The Edwardian Garden

The Edwardian garden, with is formal enclosures and exuberant informal planting, is one of the most evocative features of pre-First World War Britain. During this era, staid and geometric Victorian landscapes gave way to picturesque gardens that were laid out architecturally but also contained imaginative touches such as pergolas, trellised roses, herbaceous borders, water gardens, and exotic species imported from the East. The change was greatly accelerated by social and economic developments that provided both a material basis and a social context for the new generation of amateur gardeners.This book by David Ottewill—the first comprehensive study of the Edwardian garden—is both a beautifully illustrated tour of some of the finest gardens of this period and a survey of the people, attitudes, and theories that influenced their design. Ottewill discusses the politicized beginnings of the Edwardian garden by analyzing the Blomfield-Robinson feud of the 1890s, in which a number of architects led by Reginald Blomfield pioneered a revival of the seventeenth-century formal gardener William Robinson, a proponent of the natural garden. After presenting some of the intellectual influences on the movement, Ottewill then recreates in word, layout plan, and picture some of its most significant examples in Britain and elsewhere. He describes Robert Lorimer's revival of the Scottish pleasaunce, the garden art of Gertrude jekyll and Edwin Lutyens, the gardens of prominent Arts and Crafts designers, and the larger and more classical gardens influenced by the Italian villa or the Beaus Arts. He concludes by describing some of the post-war survivals of this last grand style.Ottewill has written a pioneering work of architetural and garden history research, one that will make an original and attractive contribution to both fields.