17th-19th Century Gardening
European gardens in this era started out as balanced and symmetric, with the notable designs of French bosquets -- that is, a formal garden governed by geometric rules. As the 18th century approached, however, landscape paintings served as an increasingly popular muse, influencing the stylistic choices of scattering trees and clumps of plants amongst an open field.
This emulation of an idealistic natural world eventually grew into the gardenesque style, or in other words, the mode of planting a rich array of flora in a smaller setting. With trade and travel, this type of gardening flourished in admiration and became commonplace in Western countries, including the United States.
