Tips for Designing Tuscan Gardens
When we imagine the typical Tuscan garden- images of elaborate,
formal Renaissance gardens often spring to mind, like Boboli in
Florence or La Foce, near Montepulciano...
Gardens such as these displayed the power and control that man wished
to exert over nature in the glorious Renaissance period of the 16th
century. This is a justified image, and does reflect well the
origins of the Tuscan garden, it has to be said that more than four
centuries have passed since this garden design concept was first
laid down by the Tuscan Aristocracy. Clearly in four hundred years a
lot can happen and the principles of Tuscan garden design have been
adapted by social changes and horticultural advances in general.
The link between man and nature here in Tuscany is a very strong one
and several social revolutions, political changes and increased
tourism have led to the real custodians of the land (Tuscan farmers)
having their say too...
tuscan countryside
The arrival of international tourism has meant that the
poverty-stricken farming culture has become curiously fashionable
and has subsequently propelled the humble, rustic farmers way of
life out from the farmyard and firmly onto the international scene.
The 'Tuscan peasant style' (as it is known) has seen a massive leap
in the interior design sector, with 'Peasant' furniture (kitchen
tables, chairs etc), having become the most sought after items for
the 'house in Tuscany' feel.
This development has also clearly been felt in the garden sector
too and has taken Tuscan garden design into a new era of rustic
innovation- where natural is better and where it seems that there is
nothing more modern than the past!! New interest in organic foods
and alternative, homeopathic medicines has led to a wave of interest
in 'the way things used to be done'- and nowhere has this been felt
more than in Tuscany with the latest garden style being a fusion of
past and new and formal and informal.
So if I were to define a Tuscan style garden for today's home buyer
I would say that it is, most definitely, a garden that focuses on a
fusion style. This adopts formal, modern innovative design techniques
near the house that extends into and includes the informal areas of
the garden- such as wild flower pastures- based on the techniques
once used by the local farmer, or 'peasant'. These areas could
include organic vegetable gardens, meadows that provide beauty in
the form of stunning poppy-fields and other indigenous wild
flowers...
tuscan wild garden
...and areas of formal, Italianate, contemporary garden design near
the house that address both the problems of water shortage and
frustrating maintenance routines in this fast and frenetic world in
which we live, yet remain loyal to their Renaissance origins...
tuscan backyard
The world is changing at an alarming rate and modern garden designers
in Tuscany are perceiving and addressing these changes in the same
way as the garden designers of the 16th century perceived and
addressed the social aspects relevant to that era. This all goes to
show that in 400 years an awful lot can change - and rightly so!
Check out more Garden Design and Photos
here!
By Jonathan Radford
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