A theory about the use of native and exotic plants in garden and landscape design

The Gardenesque Style was launched by John Claudius Loudon in 1832 and explained at length in 1834. At this time the basic idea was to use Picturesque compositional principles with exotic plants instead of native plants. Loudon did not advocate this because he had any dislike of wild plants. He loved them. His point, inspired by Quatremere de Quincy, was that for a design to be a work of art it must be something more than a ‘facsimile’ of wild nature: it must be ‘recognisable as a work of art.’

From 1832-4 Loudon’s recommendations were to use exotic plants instead of native plants or to use the ‘ancient or geometrical style’. In the second half of the 1830s Loudon expanded this principle to planting beds, water bodies and keeping plants from touching each other.

See also:

Chapters 4 and Chapter 10 of The Claudians