Loudon Encouraged the Flower Garden

Loudon encouraged the flower garden.

English landscape gardener and writer John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843), who followed Humphrey Repton, encouraged a landscape design with a picturesque look.

He also added the flower garden.

In 1836 he drew this plan [below] for N. M. Rothchild in which he included a serpentine or winding road into the property and trees spotted throughout the lawn to hide the public road. 

The plan reflected elements of the picturesque garden style that Loudon inherited from earlier landscape gardeners (designers) including William Kent and Capability Brown.

The plan also included a flower garden.

Flower gardens were not generally considered a part of the picturesque or naturalistic tradition, originating in the early 18th century. The sweeping lawn dominated the view.

Mark Laird, however, in his book The Flowering of the Landscape Garden: English Pleasure Grounds 1720-1800 makes the point that flowers were indeed part of that picturesque tradition.

Throughout his designs, beginning at Scone in Scotland, Loudon advocated  for flowerbeds in the landscape.

He maintained a prominent role as an English garden designer who also inspired American landscapes though the work of Andrew Jackson Downing, who considered Loudon his mentor.

It was thus no surprise that Downing also  included the flower garden in his design for the home landscape.

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