This year, at the RHS’s Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, Hartley Botanic, England’s most historic and respected Glasshouse and Greenhouse manufacturer, tapped-into the timeless charm of a Victorian English garden with its ‘Simple Elegance – A Traditional English Garden’ tradestand. The manufacturer showcased its beautiful, handmade Glasshouses within a design and planting scheme inspired by the English gardens of the Victorian period, a nod to the longevity of its structures, and a celebration of the era’s opulence and elegance.
Landscape Architect Rachel Sampson (BA(Hons) Dip. CMLI,) who designed the planting scheme, shares how you can achieve this iconic look in your own garden.
Key Characteristics of a Victorian English Garden
Quintessential English, Victorian-style gardens are known for their ornate and lush aesthetics, geometric and symmetrical planting and their abundance of flowers – with roses being a staple. Throughout the summer, these gardens are a riot of colours and scents. They capitalise on beauty and fragrance, creating a lush and inviting outdoor space which appeals to the senses.
- Planting Techniques
The way plants are arranged can significantly influence the garden’s overall look. Here are some techniques to consider:
– Structure with Topiary: Start by incorporating clipped topiary, such as cubes, spirals, pyramids, domes, and beehives, to create a strong framework.
– Layered Planting: Infilling with groups of plants, layering perennials for varying heights and foliage, and ensuring overflowing borders.
– Plant in Odd Numbers: Use groups of odd numbers (3, 5, 7) to create a natural and soft appearance, with a “one that got away” to avoid overly rigid symmetry.
- Geometric Shapes and Structure
Victorian gardens often feature symmetrical layouts with precise, geometric designs. Paths, flower beds, and lawns are arranged in orderly patterns, often centred around a focal point like a fountain, Glasshouse or statue.
– Clipped Topiary: As mentioned above, use topiary shapes like cubes and spirals for structure.
– Curved Flower Beds: These create a softer, more organic look.
– Linear Paths and Lawns: Defined by perennial borders that overflow with plants.
– Vistas and Focal Points: Utilise classic geometry to create interesting views and focal points throughout the garden.
- Essential Plants to use
– Roses – The heart and soul of an English garden, offering both beauty and fragrance.
– Peonies – With their large, lush blooms, Peonies add a touch of opulence.
– Dahlias – These vibrant flowers contribute a range of colours and intricate shapes.
– Foxgloves – Tall and elegant, Foxgloves add height and a cottage garden feel.
– Hollyhocks – These towering plants bring a sense of old-world charm and grandeur.
– Full Green Foliage: Ensure ample greenery to fill in spaces and create a lush backdrop.
- Colour Palette
A Victorian-style English garden often features a harmonious mix of whites, purples, and pinks, with bursts of hotter yellows and oranges in late summer. This palette provides a stable yet dynamic structure, ensuring year-round visual interest.
- Tree Choices
Choosing the right trees is crucial for adding both structure and seasonal interest to your garden. Native British species are a great choice, including:
– Malus (Apples) – Offer spring blossoms and autumn fruit.
– Acer campestre (Field Maple) – Known for its autumn colour.
– Fagus sylvatica (Beech) – Provides excellent foliage.
– Carpinus betulus (Hornbeam) – Adds a structure in winter.
- The Role of a Glasshouse
Glasshouses were integral accessories and status symbols for the most elegant and wealthy gardens of the Victorian era in England. They were used to display the tropical and subtropical plant collections which were brought back from around the world by explorers and Botanists.
In a Victorian garden scheme, a Glasshouse serves as both a beautiful centrepiece, anchoring the garden’s design, and a functional space for cultivating a variety of plants which would otherwise be limited by the local climate. It adds both aesthetic and practical value, reinforcing the garden’s overall theme. Within larger Hartley Botanic structures, partitions can separate growing and lifestyle spaces – allowing you to entertain or admire your Victorian-style garden under glass.
All Hartley Botanic’s Glasshouses and Greenhouses are handmade, bespoke, and made to order. Customers interested in purchasing a Hartley Botanic Greenhouse should visit http://www.hartley-botanic.co.uk or call 01457 819 155 for more information.
Why Hartley?
In many respects what we say about our Glasshouses and Greenhouses is immaterial. It’s what you say that matters. It’s your inspiration that guides us. The conversations, the compliments, our collaboration that together create the world’s greatest Glasshouses and Greenhouses – Hartley Botanic:
Structurally Superior
Every Hartley Botanic Glasshouse and Greenhouse is handmade in England – each a labour of love.
A time-honoured celebration of expert craftsmanship, the very finest materials and matchless attention to detail, that together create the ultimate in durability, safety and beauty.
Structurally superior work that will leave you as confident in your new Hartley as we are in giving every one of them a 30-year Lifetime Guarantee.
Astonishingly Beautiful
When only the most refined, sublime, most heart-stoppingly beautiful design will do – we’ve got just the Glasshouse or Greenhouse for you.
Some gardeners dream of our classic Victorian styles, others our Heritage, or maybe our Modern collection. Perhaps you dream of your own bespoke design.
Distinctive, unique and unfailingly gorgeous, whatever you dream of most, your dream Glasshouse or Greenhouse is here.
Knowledge Beyond Compare
There’s so much more to a Hartley than will ever meet the eye.
You won’t see the years of hard-won knowledge passed from generation to generation. The customer conversations. The incomparable care. The consideration. The decades of continual refinements, finessing and fine-tuning.
When you buy a Hartley Glasshouse or Greenhouse you won’t see any of that. But you will feel it all.
A Reputation Second to None
85 years designing the finest Glasshouses and Greenhouses that money can buy, a unique and prestigious Royal Horticultural Society endorsement, with thousands of beautiful installations for thousands of delighted customers the world over. Our plaudits don’t make our reputation – they reflect it.
A reputation built on a devotion to the very highest standards, vast experience, peerless craftsmanship and customer service that’s literally second to none.
