Landscape- Additional quick research to accompany your reading on Eccentric Spaces

What's in a wall? A simple structure, built to serve a purpose - surely that's all there is to say? Not so in the case of the quirky breed of walls called ha-has, built in the 17th and 18th Century on country estates of the landed gentry.

Ha-ha walls typically formed a boundary between the estate's gardens and grounds. These walls were constructed  as to be invisible from the house, ensuring a clear view across the estate. Ha-ha walls consist of a sunken stone wall-its top level with the garden, with a deep ditch on the far side: an effective barrier to livestock.

The Park of the Monsters, or “Parco dei Mostri,” in the Garden of Bomarzo was not meant to be pretty. Commissioned in 1552 by Prince Pier Francesco Orsini, it was an expression of grief designed to shock.The park is filled with bizarre and fascinating sculptures for which only the accompanying inscriptions provide any explanation. Among the pieces are a war elephant, a monstrous fish-head, a giant tearing another giant in half, and a house built on a tilt to disorient the viewer. Perhaps the most frightening piece in the garden is an enormous head, mouth opened wide in a scream. The accompanying inscription reads “all reason departs.”

An impressive – if rather confusing – sprawl of ruins, the Roman Forum was ancient Rome's showpiece centre, a grandiose district of temples, basilicas and vibrant public spaces. The site, which was originally an Etruscan burial ground, was first developed in the 7th century BC, growing over time to become the social, political and commercial hub of the Roman empire. Landmark sights include the Arco di Settimio Severo, the Curia, and the Casa delle Vestali.

The Garden that extends from the hill behind the Pitti Palace as far as Porta Romana, reached its current extension and appearance, becoming one of the largest and most elegant Italian style gardens, through several stages of enlargement and restructuring work carried out at different times. The first works initially affected the area that was closer to the palace, after the building had been purchased by Cosimo I de´ Medici and by his wife Eleonora di Toledo, who had chosen this place for new grand ducal palace. The initial plan was drawn by Niccolò Tribolo, although the works were completed, after his death in 1550 by other architects including also Giorgio Vasari (from 1598 to 1561) along with Bartolomeo Ammannati and Bernardo Buontalenti under the reign of Francis I, who succeeded to his father Cosimo.The Medici and the Lorraine families continued to enrich and enlarge the garden also in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Besides adding lovely meadows, avenues, small groves and beautiful panoramic views, they made the garden more precious by including extraordinary decorative complexes, thus forming an outdoor museum that exhibited both Roman and 16th and 17th century statues.

The park was originally owned by the duke of Luxembourg, hence the name. The domain was purchased in 1612 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV. After the king was murdered in 1610 she decided to move out from the Louvre to a new residence.In the middle of the park is a large octagonal pond, known as the Grand Bassin. Here, children can rent small boats. The Jardin du Luxembourg boasts many other attractions for children such as a puppet theater, pony rides, a merry-go-round and a large playground. Around the pond are nice lawns, paths, and some of Paris's most beautiful flower beds, all laid out in a geometrical pattern and enclosed by a balustrade. Numerous statues adorn the park. This is also one of the parks where you can simply get hold of one of the many chairs and take it to the exact spot where you want to sit. The park is also popular with chess players and jeu de boules players. There's also a tennis court, a music pavilion and an orangery in the park. Right behind the orangery is the Musée du Luxembourg, a museum that is only open for temporary exhibitions.

Tivoli Gardens amusement park in Copenhagen is a must for all visitors to the city, young and old. Tivoli is located just a few minutes walk from City Hall, and with the Copenhagen Central Station as its nearest neighbour it is very easy to get to.
Tivoli Gardens was founded in 1843 and has become a national treasure and an international attraction. Fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen visited many times, as did Walt Disney and many other celebrities, who all fell in love with the gardens.Part of Tivoli Gardens' secret is that there is something for everyone. The scenery is beautiful with exotic architecture, historic buildings and lush gardens. At night, thousands of coloured lights create a fairy tale atmosphere that is completely unique.m

Rome’s love affair with fountains goes back to antiquity, whilst the city today can boast a collection of public fountains that has no parallel to any other city in the world! In Baroque Rome, fountains were seen as a reflection of the generosity associated with papal families.
The play of water over marble, no matter how humble the design, provided local Romans with entertainments and a much needed, secure supply of water which could easily be carried home. The popes saw this art form as an excellent PR exercise and exploited the concept to the advantage of their standing with the local people. Pope, Innocent X Pamphilj (reigned 1644-1655) eventually commissioned Gian Lorenzo Berninito sculpt Rome’s greatest achievement in this genre, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, located in Piazza Navona, the ancient stadium of the Emperor Domitian and the site of the Pamphilj family palace. As early as 1647 Innocent had decided to erect an obelisk as a central ornament for the piazza in tandem with a fountain, as he methodically cleaned up and beautified what was one of Rome’s most squalid neighbourhoods.

A work of art that you can touch, that you can walk through, in which you are even allowed to play*! The world-renowned Jardin d’émail by Jean Dubuffet leaves an indelible impression on many visitors, young and old.The artificial, walled ‘garden’ was designed specifically for the Kröller-Müller Museum. The contrast between the bright white with jagged black lines and the natural surroundings is particularly stark. Once inside this art garden, the visitors can imagine themselves in a completely different world.

Stowe evolved from an English Baroque garden into a pioneering landscape park. The progression is of the greatest interest. Although the end result does not have quite the drama which one might expect from such a famous place, there are many fine buildings and composed scenes. In the 1690s Stowe had a modest early-Baroque parterre garden, owing more to Italy than to France. This has not survived. In the 1710s and '20s Charles Bridgeman (garden designer) and John Vanburgh (architect) designed an English Baroque park, inspired by the work of London, Wise and Switzer. In the 1730s William Kent and James Gibbs were appointed to work with Bridgeman, who died in 1738. Kent and Gibbs designed more temples. Stowe began to evolve into a series of natural pictures, to be appreciated from a perambulation rather than from a central point. Kent's Temple of Ancient Virtue (1734) looks across the Elysian Fields to the Shrine of British Worthies. A Palladian Bridge was made in 1744. In the 1741 Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was appointed head gardener. He worked with Kent until the latter's death in 1748 and his own departure in 1751. Bridgeman's Octagonal Pond and Eleven Acre Lake were given a 'natural shape. Brown made a Grecian Valley which, despite its name, is an abstract composition of landform and woodland. As Loudon remarked in 1831, 'nature has done little or nothing; man a great deal, and time has improved his labours'. Stowe is said to be the first English garden for which a guide book was produced. The Cobham monument has been restored and shows the owner in Roman dress.

Stourhead is the best example of a garden inspired by the great landscape painters of the seventeenth century. Ernst Gombrich suggests it should bear the signature of an Italianized French painter: Claude Lorrain (1600-82). The Stourhead garden was made by a wealthy English banker who had been buying works of art in Italy at the time he inherited the Stourhead estate. Henry Hoare II's 'Claudian' garden was made in an unusually well-proportioned valley behind the house. The Temple of Flora at Stourhead was made in 1745 and the grotto in 1748. But the key date was 1754, when the lake and the Pantheon were made. It is based on the Pantheon in Rome and the planned walk through the estate is based on the journey of Rome's legendry founder, Aeneas. The five-arched bridge was made in 1762 and the Temple of Apollo in 1765. Gothic features were added later in the century: Alfred's Tower, a Rustic Cottage and a Hermitage.The Stourhead woods were underplanted with Rhododendron ponticum after 1791 and with more exotic species in the twentieth century.

Pierre L’Enfant, DC’s first urban planner, designed “The Federal City” to be beatified by public gardens, and so it is today. You’ll find scenic landscaping around the National Malland the federal buildings in Washington, DC, along with dozens of gardens and parks within the nation’s capital.o

One of those is the U.S. National Arboretum has one of North America’s largest collections of bonsai trees. These small-scale trees are on display at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, just across from the National Herb Garden. With its former U.S. Capitol Columns and miles of trails, the National Arboretum is a great place for a scenic hike.

Vizcaya’s European-inspired gardens are among the most elaborate in the United States. Reminiscent of gardens created in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italy and France, the overall landscape design is conceived as a series of rooms.The central space is dominated by low hedges, or parterres, in a geometric arrangement. Beyond that are the evocative Secret Garden, the intimate Theater Garden, the playful Maze Garden and the once-watery domain of the Fountain Garden. On either side of this designed landscape, James Deering preserved the native forest.Horticultural innovations were common at Vizcaya, including the use of subtropical plants compatible with Miami’s heat and humidity. Deering was partial to orchids, and he had them displayed throughout the estate. Today, orchids are on view in trees and in the newly rebuilt David A. Klein Orchidarium next to the Main House.Vizcaya’s exuberant gardens are characterized by an abundance of architectural structures and details, elaborate fountains, and antique and commissioned sculptures. The use of sculptures that were already old and of soft and porous coral stone resulted, quite intentionally, in the gardens having a weathered appearance soon after their completion. To further the appearance of age, Deering and Paul Chalfin planted numerous mature trees, along with vines and plants that would drape themselves over the garden structures.Landscape architect Diego Suarez referenced many places in the design of Vizcaya’s formal gardens; most are around Florence and Rome. In the outer gardens that no longer exist, Vizcaya’s creators instead looked to the Everglades, North Africa and even Asia for landscape and architectural inspiration.

Fairchild gets its name from one of the most famous plant explorers in history, David Fairchild (1869-1954). Dr. Fairchild was known for traveling the world in search of useful plants, but he was also an educator and a renowned scientist. At the age of 22, he created the Section of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the United States Department of Agriculture, and for the next 37 years, he traveled the world in search of plants of potential use to the American people. Fairchild visited every continent in the world (except Antarctica) and brought back hundreds of important plants, including mangos, alfalfa, nectarines, dates, cotton, soybeans, bamboos and the flowering cherry trees that grace Washington D.C.