One of my favorite gardenesque gardens is on London’s Victoria Embankment between Waterloo Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridge. With my office on this street I had an excuse to walk through this garden often and was never disappointed.
Victoria Embankment is one of London’s busiest streets; it follows the Thames river. This garden is easy to miss, with only a few gates leading to the long but narrow space off of Victoria Embankment. The edges are soft with trees and shrubs planted organically; paved paths divide the narrow garden in half. A high brick wall shelters the garden from the gritty, noisy street to the south and the busy Embankment tube stop that sits at one end of the garden. In the garden, the contrast in the sound level is most dramatic and welcome.
Opened in 1865 with a design by Joseph Bazelgette, the garden provides a series of rectangular garden beds that change year round. The photos above from spring show designs typical of the gardenesque style. Notice how the planting scheme amplifies the beauty of the individual plant specimens. It doesn't try to arrange them as them might appear in nature.
This garden provides great ideas for combining colors.
See other gardenesque examples here.