20 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES 



The use of pools was not as general as that of fountains. Nearly 

 every garden had a "grand fountain" in the center of the formal gar- 

 den. Many small surprise fountains were arranged in various parts 

 of the gardens, as iron trees whose twigs would suddenly rain streams 

 of water on the persons walking beneath, sundials which suddenly 

 jetted up water when one stopped to read the time of day, etc. 



The greatest characteristics of the people of this time was their 

 love for growing plants for decoration and for the plants themselves. 



It was the excesses for gardening, particularly in the use of topiary 

 work that caused the springing up of what came to be called the 

 "naturalistic" style of gardening, but before this area of gardening 

 began, there came what was much more harmful to beautiful gardens 

 than a war could ever be, — a period which we have come to call the 

 "period of garden craze". At this time the influence of the gardens 

 on the continent became more marked. People began to lose all 

 originality of style and slavishly copied these gardens. Not content 

 with copying the details of these gardens, they introduced the whole 

 garden into their estates and came to be content with no less than four 

 or five different styles. This garden craze period came about 1 675 

 and lasted until the time of Repton. 



The first type of continental garden to influence the English gar- 

 den was the Italian garden and with its influence was brought the worst 

 features of the rococo period. Loggies, vases, fountains, carpet bed- 

 ding, etc., appeared at this time as did also grottoes and other water 

 features. Little attention was paid to the proper arrangement of these 

 details, the aim being simply to include them. 



Because the French gardening had received much of its stimulus 

 from the Italian example, although worked out on different lines, never- 

 theless the French influence was largely responsible for the influence 

 of the Italian garden, because the later French and Italian gardens 

 were both addicted to rather florid ornaments. 



Through the French also came the Dutch influence with its excessive 

 use of topiary and bedding plants. The Dutch was much like the 

 French in general. The French gardening at this time was character- 

 ized by large, open areas, artificial hills and valleys; that is, they 



