Formal gardens in your city - Page 2

Cirrus · #21 Posted **Mar 25, 2019, 6:53 PM**

I'll add Richmond, which has two good ones AFAIK:

The Maymont Park Italian Garden:

And the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden:

austlar1 · #22 Posted **Mar 25, 2019, 7:43 PM**

Fort Worth probably has the best botanical garden in Texas. Can't post pics, but here is a link to Google images. https://www.google.com/search?q=fort...w=1221&bih=722

hauntedheadnc · #23 Posted **Mar 25, 2019, 8:06 PM**

Wing Haven Gardens and Bird Sanctuary in Charlotte:

Source.

Source.

From what I understand of the history of this garden, it's basically someone's backyard that raged out of control.

10023 · #24 Posted **Mar 25, 2019, 10:13 PM**

There are surprisingly few, because “formal” gardens aren’t really an English thing. That was the French style, whereas the English prefer idealized versions of natural landscapes. Frederick Law Olmsted’s parks in the US are English-style.

A few I can think of are:

Holland Park (on the grounds of the former Holland House)
Hampton Court Palace (bonus: hedge maze!)
Chiswick House Gardens (a small part of it)
Embankment Gardens (I guess)
Some smaller squares (e.g., St James’) are more formal

Otherwise they’re generally designed to be informal.

hammersklavier · #25 Posted **Mar 25, 2019, 10:14 PM**

In much the same way as the Buckingham Fountain, Philadelphia's four squares started out as formal gardens. Three retain formal characteristics:

Rittenhouse Square

Washington Square

Logan Square Circle

There are also several -- extremely pretty -- small formal gardens embedded into the tapestry of Fairmount Park. For example, this small formal park sits squished between the Waterworks, the river, and the Cliffs:

The Cliffs themselves are perhaps more semi-formal than formal, in that the fact of the cliff ultimately determined its landscape architecture, but they are still characteristically hewn by man:

edale · #26 Posted **Mar 26, 2019, 5:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnyc

^ i would love to tour those. what a nice afternoon that would be.

does anyone have suggestions for los angeles? i mean i know getty and the hearst mansion, but what about easier to reach in town? gracias.

For LA the first thing that comes to mind is the Huntington Gardens in San Marino:

There is also the rose garden in Exposition Park, right next to the Natural History Museum, California Science Center, LA Coliseum, and the u/c Lucas Museum of Narrative Art:

edale · #27 Posted **Mar 26, 2019, 5:12 PM**

The only thing coming to mind in Cincinnati is Ault Park:

mrnyc · #28 Posted **Mar 26, 2019, 5:45 PM**

the phoenix desert gardens look really interesting too and are an unusual twist on the topic i would not have thought of.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Love Vizcaya. Hadn't heard of that one, and it looks amazing.

love vizcaya. its a solid must do in miami. if you can pull yourself away from the beaches!

ocman · #29 Posted **Mar 27, 2019, 1:48 PM**

Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.

Straight out a Thomas Kincade calendar.

hauntedheadnc · #30 Posted **Mar 27, 2019, 2:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocman

Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.

Straight out a Thomas Kincade calendar.

Straight out of a Thomas Kinkade calendar? I think not, because if it were the gardens would involve a hell of a lot more fat, middle-aged women in jogging suits getting all giggly.

Meanwhile, a Google Maps view of Butchart Gardens reveals the more formal elements of the gardens.

10023 · #31 Posted **Mar 27, 2019, 2:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocman

Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.

Straight out a Thomas Kincade calendar.

Very nice, but not a formal garden. This is more of an English garden (as one might expect in British Columbia), meant to be an idealized natural landscape. There are no straight lines.

Londonee · #32 Posted **Mar 27, 2019, 7:30 PM**

Old City in Philadelphia has a bunch that are kind of off the beaten path, yet really cool to explore. Many of these are famous for having a lot of Founding Father rumination going on in them in the late 1700s.

All images from this article:
https://www.theconstitutional.com/bl...ependence-park

The Rose Garden

18th Century Garden:

Bishop White Garden:

Magnolia Garden:

Cirrus · #33 Posted **Mar 28, 2019, 7:41 PM**

^
I figured Philadelphia had to have some little ones like that!

hauntedheadnc · #34 Posted **Apr 4, 2019, 1:00 PM**

This thread needs more posts. Hopefully someone will step up and do their SSP-minded civic duty.

Cory · #35 Posted **Apr 4, 2019, 8:22 PM**

The most obvious answer for Houston is McGovern Centennial Gardens in Hermann Park.

https://www.hermannpark.org/visit/mc...nnial-gardens/

https://tclf.org/landscapes/mcgovern...arden-pavilion

Cirrus · #36 Posted **Apr 4, 2019, 8:50 PM**

Capsule F · #37 Posted **Apr 4, 2019, 9:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnyc

the phoenix desert gardens look really interesting too and are an unusual twist on the topic i would not have thought of.

love vizcaya. its a solid must do in miami. if you can pull yourself away from the beaches!

Gotta be honest, I thought Vizcaya was slightly underwhelming. Still very nice though.

hammersklavier · #38 Posted **Apr 4, 2019, 11:22 PM**

The Ellen Philips Samuel Memorial is a series of sculpture gardens along the base of Lemon Hill between Boathouse Row and Girard Avenue in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA. It's one of the park's more extensive formal parks, consisting of three large sculpture terraces linked by a pair of fountain greens. It could frankly use some love.

Citylover94 · #39 Posted **Apr 7, 2019, 2:38 PM**

Boston does not have very many examples with the vast majority of its parks being more english style naturalist but it has some examples that I think qualify.

Christian Science Center

Copley Square is as symmetrical as possible and seems to fit the definition.

Commonwealth Avenue Mall is a linear park that was based on Parisian design and developed along with the Back Bay landfill project.

Boston Public Garden probably doesn't actually fit because it was definitely influenced by the less symmetrical more naturalist style of the English garden but there are also clear influences from the French formal gardens.

itom 987 · #40 Posted **Apr 7, 2019, 5:07 PM**

The Aga Khan garden near Edmonton is about a year old and it will take some time for the plants to mature, but it looks nice.

Aga Khan Garden by mrwalli, on Flickr