The interestingly, beautiful English garden founded at Castle Howard and Stowe became popular in the 17th and 18th century. This is when William Kent and Charles Bringmam started designing landscapes. These landscape artists were inspired by the paintings of Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin.
English gardens utilize curved paths, sloping hills, ponds, trees, and ruins. Ruins that include benches, small houses and bridges. All these aspects come together to convey an idea of romance and serenity. Wonderful examples of English gardens can be seen at Versailles, with carefully planned and executed flower gardens, stone pathways, beating, and fountains.
The landscape design in Ottawa has plenty of variety and highlights the possibilities of how a garden can be created using different colours, textures and floral heights. These elements, combined with trees and stone create unique landscape designs. For instance, shrubbery and small trees are extremely popular in Ottawa landscaping. They are used to obtain a look of seamless design behind a flower bed or mixed in with flowers. An interesting thing to note is that landscaping design in Ottawa does not often use wood in gardens. Rather, the preference is to use stone or metal to complete a design. This is likely a result of the wood not blending in as seamlessly with the overall concept that most architects are trying to achieve.
Ottawa landscaping creates a garden using curved pathways and specific placement of each element in the overall design. The flower beds are constructed with ferns, flowers and bushes modelled around a centre theme; such as a patio or lily pond.
Architects create the common landscape design in Ottawa by first choosing a focal point. This focal point can be a patio, stone path, or river that will be surrounded by a garden. Benches are added around trees and shrubbery to give the appearance of a secluded area.
Ottawa landscaping also employs arches, tables, chairs, benches, and stairs to accentuate the effect of being surrounded by a variety of flowers and shrubbery.
A staple in the landscape design of Ottawa is the stone staircases that lead up to a house or driveway. The stones can vary in colour, size or arrangement depending on each individual architect’s design concept.
In 2008, following a successful career as a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, Jonathan Robert stepped into the landscaping industry, starting Jonathan Robert Landscapes. In the years since he’s quickly earned a reputation for high-quality work with creative designs and has been recognized in several industry-leading publications. Jonathan’s always got an eye on innovation and is always looking ahead to see what’s on the horizon in the industry. He works hard to stay on top of current guidelines, practices, and regulations. Jonathan is a member of Landscape Ontario, the International Concrete Paving Industry (ICPI), Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA), and is a Tech-Pro contractor.
