Shrubbery

History

Generally described as an arrangement of shrubs with the possible inclusion of flowers or trees, the term shrubbery emerged in American usage after 1750, with the fullest descriptions of the feature appearing in the early nineteenth century. This corresponds with the history of shrubbery in Britain, where in the eighteenth century it evolved from other related features, such as wilderness, which also employed shrubs, trees, and flowers (see Wilderness).1 The term “shrubbery” was sometimes used to describe a collection of shrubs (a category of low woody plants with multiple branches). This use of the term is evident in Fanny Kemble’s 1839 account of Butler Island, Ga. More frequently, however, it indicated a distinct ornamental feature that included not only shrubs but also trees and possibly flowers, and it is this use of the term that this study focuses upon.

Given that wildernesses, groves, thickets, and clumps could all be composed of the same materials as shrubberies, it is not surprising that a certain degree of ambiguity surrounded the term in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century gardening literature. This confusion is exemplified by the elision of the terms “shrubbery” and “bosquet” in 1800 by an observer of Adrian Valeck’s estate in Baltimore. As late as 1841, Robert Buist conflated these terms in his reference to thicket as a mass of shrubbery. As John Abercrombie and James Mean noted in 1817, this ambiguity was compounded by the difficulty in determining the boundaries of the flower garden and the shrubbery since the two features often adjoined each other and employed similar plant materials (see Flower garden). For Abercrombie and Mean, shrubbery was characterized by a predominance of shrubs with only a few flowers, a distinction that also made shrubberies different from groves (see Grove).

The key elements that distinguished shrubberies from wildernesses (both of which utilized shrubs and flowers), were siting, plant arrangement, and treatment of plant material. In general, wildernesses were composed of trees under-planted with shrubs and cut through by walks. In contrast, shrubberies featured plants arranged in graduated heights (from lowest to highest) and were intended as frames or borders to walks. Such distinctions help to clarify Alexander Gordon’s 1849 comment that the way to transform “magnificent groves of magnolias” into “a perfect facsimile of an English shrubbery would be to introduce walks, and judiciously thin out and regulate the mass.”

The graduated plantings commonly featured in shrubberies allowed the maximum display of plants, a technique that derived from eighteenth-century flower borders and wilderness fringes. In 1804, for example, Gardiner and Hepburn recommended planting shorter shrubs in front of taller ones, in order to exhibit each “to most advantage.” In 1841, Buist instructed his reader to keep each plant “distinct, one from another, in order that they may be the better shown off.”

Although the term “shrubbery” was often ambiguously used, examples of specific uses abound in American gardening literature, as demonstrated by the case of Mount Vernon. George Washington planted shrubberies along the serpentine walks that outlined the west lawn. These shrubberies not only bordered the walks to the north and south, but also connected the wilderness area (adjacent to the western terminus of the lawn) to the house and its outlying structures. This use of shrubberies was consistent with the guidelines set forth by prevailing treatise writers, such as William Marshall, whose On Planting and Rural Ornament (1803) Washington owned. Marshall maintained that shrubberies were more appropriate for establishing connections among garden features than were woods, groves, or thickets, which belonged to the broader landscape of hills and valleys. Similarly, the American garden writer Bernard M’Mahon, in his American Gardener’s Calendar (1806), explicitly stated that shrubberies should be used to frame walks or lawns. The curving sweeps of Washington’s shrubbery also exemplified the modern (or natural) style espoused by most late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century treatise writers.

At Mount Vernon, Washington also designated a second area as a shrubbery, as revealed in the instructions he sent in 1776 to his nephew and estate manager Lund Washington. In his letter, the elder Washington recommended that groves of trees be planted on each side of the house. He also referred to the southern grove, which was made up of ornamental trees under-planted with “wild flowering shrubs,” as a shrubbery. In its massing of vegetation and distinct shape, this shrubbery harked back to wildernesses. But the varied plant material of the shrubbery—ornamental trees interspersed with evergreens and shrubs—suggested a graduated arrangement in accordance with the directions of contemporary treatises.

Washington’s desire for the “clever kind of Trees” in his shrubbery illustrates the frequent use of shrubbery to draw attention to exotic, rare, or highly ornamental shrubs. Treatise writers underscored how a shrubbery could, in Bernard M’Mahon’s words, “display a beautiful diversity of foliage and flowers,” by including a list of recommended trees, shrubs, and herbaceous flowers. The inclusion of a shrubbery in Solomon Drowne’s plan (1818) for a botanic garden exemplifies this use [Fig. 1]. This notion of a shrubbery was most fully developed by J. C. Loudon in his theory of the gardenesque (see Gardenesque), which dictated graduated plantings, arranged from low herbaceous plants to taller ornamental trees, and a distinct separation of each specimen in order to emphasize the “display of shrubs valued for their beauty or fragrance.”

Loudon’s 1826 text also alerts us to the wide range of style terminology used in the early nineteenth century to describe different methods of arranging and situating the shrubbery, such as “geometric,” “systematic” (or “methodical”), “Chinese,” “gardenesque,” “mingled,” and “select” (or “grouped”). The latter two styles were the most significant: “mingled” referred to rhythmically mixing species according to blooming schedules within each carefully graduated row, whereas “select” referred to massing by genus, species, or variety with gradual blending from one type to the next. In America, such terms were not always used with great precision. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that references to “mixed” or “mingled” arose much more often in garden literature than in common usage.

Loudon’s commentary also points out the predominant use of shrubberies in order to frame the sides of walks, to screen out unpleasant views, or to link together visually certain aspects of the pleasure ground or flower garden. The function of screening is clearly illustrated by John Trumbull’s inscription of his landscape plan for Yale College (1792), where he instructed to “conceal as much as possible,” the privies, or, as he called them, “The Temples of Cloacina,” a reference to the ancient sewer in Rome. André Parmentier placed shrubberies along the walks at his nursery, particularly those connecting various ornamental features of the garden, such as the rustic arbor and the “French saloon.”2 These shrubberies also screened out the nursery beds and vineyards.

James E. Teschemacher, writing in the Horticultural Register in 1835, explained at length the appropriateness of using shrubbery to hide the vegetable or kitchen garden and to obscure the boundaries of a property, making the grounds appear larger. Teschemacher’s lithograph [Fig. 2] illustrates the use of shrubberies positioned along walks to lead the viewer’s attention away from undesirable working areas, such as the vegetable garden, and toward the more appealing flower garden. Like his predecessors, mid-nineteenth century garden designer William H. Ranlett positioned shrubberies along walks, roads, or around the perimeter of houses, thus ensuring that homes built in an urban or suburban context could enjoy a display of flowering vegetation.

By the 1840s, shrubbery had developed as a distinct garden feature defined by graduated, intermixed vegetation; placement along walks, roads, flower gardens, and lawns; and use as a linking and screening device. The latter two characteristics were shared with hedges, but hedges were understood to be generally uniform in size and species and densely planted to create an impenetrable barrier. More importantly, unlike the hedge, the formation of the shrubbery was driven by the impulse to display prized plants (see Hedge).

-- Anne L. Helmreich