FRENCH GARDENS

Tanmay Bhatnagar
2013UAR1063
 INTRODUCTION
A French landscape is also a formal landscape, and therein lies its appeal.
Symmetry and order are the heart of French
garden design. The gardens are also meant to be
viewed from a distance, so form and design play a
major role. They’re meant to highlight the
centerpiece of the entire space, which would be
the house or the chateau. They are known for
their beautiful color palette, with an emphasis on
whites, greens, blues and purples. Boxwood
hedges, intricately clipped shrubs, neatly planted
garden beds and planters, and fields of lavender
aresome distinct features of this style. We also
find a great use of stone, whether for pavings,
edgings, a terrace or decorative elements, and
places where you can enjoy the view.
 DESIGN CONCEPTS
1. A geometric plan using the most recent discoveries of perspective and
optics.
2. A terrace overlooking the garden, allowing the visitor to see all at once
the entire garden.
3. All vegetation is constrained and architecturally designed, to demonstrate
the mastery of man over nature. Trees are planted in straight lines, and
carefully trimmed at a set height.
4. The house/ palace/ chateaux serves as the central point of the garden, and
its central ornament. No trees are planted close to the house; rather, the
house is set apart by low parterres and trimmed bushes.
5. A central axis, or perspective, perpendicular to the facade of the house, on
the side opposite the front entrance. The axis extends either all the way to
the horizon (Versailles) or to piece of statuary or architecture (Vaux-
leVicomte). The axis faces either South (Vaux-le-Vicomte, Meudon) or
eastwest (Tuileries, Clagny, Trianon, Sceaux).
6. This principle axis is composed of a grass, or a basin of water, bordered
by trees. The principle axis is crossed by one or more perpendicular
perspectives and alleys.
 ELEMENTS
PARTERRE - A planting bed, usually square or rectangular containing an ornamental
design made with low closely clipped hedges, usually laid out in geometric patterns,
divided by gravel path, meant to be seen from above from a house or terrace.

EMBROIDERY - curling decorative pattern within a parterre made by trimmed yew or

box or made by cutting the pattern out of a lawn and filling it with colored gravel.

BOSQUET - A small group of trees usually some distance from the house, designed as
an ornamental backdrop.

ALLÉE - A straight path often lined with trees.

TOPIARY - Trees or bushes trimmed into ornamental shapes, were usually trimmed
into geometric shapes.

GOOSE FOOT “PATTED'OIE” - Three or five paths or which spread outward from a
single point.
Parterres of Vaux-le-Vicomte
Parterres of the Orangerie at the Palace of Versailles
 3.

2.
1.
4.
5.

KEY
1- PARTERRE
2- EMBROIDERY
3- BOSQUET
4- ALLÉE
5- TOPIARY
6- GOOSE FOOT