English Vistas

From a piece of ephemera. The flyer announcing Stonyground Press publication in 1987 of Groves by Thomas Traherne (1637-1674). Edited by D.D.C. Chambers.

The Civil War in the middle of the 17th century destroyed many of the forests of England, but it also helped to create the landscape garden. The destruction of the old fortifications that enclosed the walled garden opened vistas into the surrounding parkland and suggested that groves of trees might form part of this new landscape garden.

Chambers is also the author of The Planters of the English Landscape Garden: Botany, Trees, and the Georgics where another part of the story is the importation of plant materials from the colonies which "led to the availability of a vast new repertory of trees and shrubs" — a quotation from the publicity provided by the Yale University Press where one can also find this view:

And so for day 877
08.05.2009