Reflections

I've been thinking about color in the garden after my post yesterday on that topic. Monty Don's wonderful BBC series on  Italian gardens made an interesting point. The assumption is often made that that the key Italian design principle is monochrome formality:  using the green of  bushes, shrubs, trees and plants without flowering plants. When Renaissance and post-Renaissance villa and palace owners 'restored' earlier Italian gardens, they took their clue from what had survived---geometrically planted and pruned hedges. This could have given the impression that flowers were not part of the picture. Experts believe that both flowering planters and in-ground perennials were used in Italian garden design. But since those flowering plants were the most fragile, over time their legacy was lost. A similar misconception exists  about ancient temples and buildings themselves. All that austere white marble gives a false impression about the original design that simply is not accurate. Originally most of those buildings were brightly colored, so much so that seeing reconstructions of the ancient paint schemes actually can seem shocking. Photos from a Wisconsin museum garden illustrate how vivid color contrasts can give a playful air to even the most severe formal garden design.  Kudos to the gardeners for making relatively small formal gardens lively and fun.