Gardenesque: Past & Present

Gardenesque is more than just a brand name, it is the foundations of our inspiration and a cornerstone in the development of our products.

The term itself references a style of English garden design which evolved during the 1820s and has since influenced horticulture across the decades. Coined by John Claudius Loudon, the vision for the Gardenesque garden movement was to create more artistic, rich and exotic gardens, accentuating detail rather than vast natural landscapes. Loudon strived to create accessible beauty for people in urban and suburban environments, encouraging public ‘green spaces’ that acted as sanctuaries from city life.

The Gardenesque design style saw trees, shrubs and other plans positioned to maximise and accentuate their character and form. When previously new plants would have seemed alien and bizarre, the Gardenesque movement welcomed unusual varieties and exotic plants in a style associated with plant collectors and explorers. Botany was becoming more popular, and the 19th century gardeners built greenhouses or conservatories to showcase plants and provide suitable environments. The Gardenesque style aimed to show a wide variety of plans in a limited space, creating small-scale innovative landscapes that were accessible to all.

While foreign plants were being brought into the lives of English people there was a need to record their existence. Before photography, the most accurate form of documenting flowers, foliage and seeds was through botanical drawings, which are still extremely popular as illustrative designs today.

At Gardenesque, we share John Claudius Loudon’s infatuation with botanical detail, as well as the need to make gardens and plants accessible to those within the city and suburbs. By providing our customers with the simplest extraction of new ideas combined with traditional concepts, our products bring horticultural beauty into homes and gardens, regardless of size and location.

Gardenesque is a fascination, an artistry and a lifestyle – which we hope you will share with us.