Garden art has gained a rightful place in a treasure-house of world`s culture. The power of its influence is in indivisible unity of the nature and man`s creative spirit. Spending time with the beauty affects people in a positive way and makes them love the nature.
In the eighteenth century English gardens and parks became a favorite place to stay for the writers, philosophers, painters. The principles that lay behind the new artistic view of the designers were naturalness to nature and free growth of the plants (under strict supervision). In fact, free parks and gardens take more efforts and control but it might be the desire of freedom and liberalism of that time. Lancelot Brown (1716–1783) who was a revolutionary designer in the field of English gardening convinced the owners of the estates to change their well-planned symmetrical parks in the French style into famous English gardens [1].
Brown was aware that his great efforts will be rewarded in the future. While creating new English style many unique techniques and means of landscaping were used. The new approach of making the area of the park endless allowed creating a view without boundaries where the garden merged with the countryside.
At the beginning of the Victoria`s govern many various English flowerbeds came into fashion. They were definitely indispensable in the cities, especially in London. A lot of great species of all different colors and forms were brought from abroad (South Africa, South America, Mexico).
Nowadays conservatism and tradition are prevalent in gardening. Modern English gardens keep the old but at the same time recreate much from the past. Today there are many gardening societies and groups in England. The passion for gardening spread over all the classes of English society. The area that the gardeners are very proud of is a back garden. It is frequently decorated with small climbing roses, has a little pond filled with little fish and of course a little fountain. For the English it is not a request for praise, it’s their heart.
If you have a chance visiting Chelsea flower show you won`t get disappointed. It is one of the most important society events in England. It should be mentioned that prince Charles is an active participant of it. Every year he represents something new on the flower contest and once even won the first prize. English gardens and parks are unforgettable and they are the pride of the Englishmen. In spite of the fact that they were influenced by Italian and French garden designers the Englishmen created something really unique and unrepeatable we admire today.
According to the scientific research spending time in nature promotes tight social bonds, optimism, creativity, generosity, helps to mitigate ADHD and obesity, and can have an impact even on academics. When you spend your spare time in nature, you feel happier and more relaxed. Creating magnificent works of garden art people hand down from generation to generation their understanding of beauty that finds its reflection in man-made landscapes. They can be presented as various water systems, protecting structures, parks picturesquely spreading out along gardens and settlements etc. Sometimes, observing magnificent man-made landscape it is hard to define the difference between the nature and the result of a man’s creative work.
A park being a city social area historically performs different functions. In the morning it is visited by sportsmen and people from neighboring houses hurrying to their jobs. During the day-time children and aged people come there. In the evening young couples, families, dogs’ owners, schoolchildren and students enjoy walking in the parks. The main valuable feature of the Nizhny Novgorod gardens and parks’ ensembles are decorative and fruit trees, spacious recreational areas its simplicity and clearness of forms. Needless to say that it would be good to have more parks in the city so the city lovers could have a rest among the beautiful green vegetation. Parks should provide ate all conditions for the men’s rest. There should be fresh air, clean recreational facilities, well-groomed flower-beds and lawns because all these conditions give the city dwellers and its visitors to relax and enjoy the spare time.
Landscape gardening art is the art of creation gardens, parks and other planted trees and shrubs territories. Here we consider: planning and lay out gardens and parks, plants selection for various climate zones and soils, placement and grouping the plants in combination with architecture, roads, reservoirs and sculptures [2].
The park is the open green territory which serves as a place to rest. Usually parks are created at the expense of the state and are provided for everyone. Many residents of the big and noisy cities consider that parks are the real city treasures because it is possible to find shelter from the hustle and bustle of the city and an active rhythm of life, to hide from noise and dust. They are right because these places are the real shelters for rest and relaxation, food for thoughts, delightful mix of culture and the nature [3].
For example, the Hyde Park in London, (the Great Britain) is the most known of all parks of the world. There are a lot of open spaces and exuberant tangled vegetation, two ponds (one of them is very known under the name Serpentine), fountains, palaces and many various sculptures in the park. As a result it is visited by more than 5 million people every year, it is more than any other sight of England! The most remarkable object of the park is undoubtedly the Speaker`s Corner. Speakers’ Corner is located on the north-east edge of Hyde Park (nearest Marble Arch and Oxford Street).
In 1872, an act of parliament set aside this part of Hyde Park for public speaking. Even today, on a Sunday morning, it’s not unusual to find crowds gathering at Speakers’ Corner to listen to enthusiasts expounding their views. Anyone can turn up unannounced to speak on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful. On Sundays speakers of absolutely different beliefs, not only political, in any language has a chance to address public here. It is a symbol of freedom of speech worldwide. Many historic figures such as Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and George Orwell were known to often use the area to demonstrate free speech.
The Garden of space reflections is the most amazing and mysterious place in Scotland and carries out the status as one of the most original and interesting gardens on the planet. It has been created at the end of the 20th century. Two Scottish scientists and a landscape designer Charles Jenks and Maggie Kevsik have decided to create the park repeating Universe model. The idea to systematize knowledge of cybernetics, physics, mathematics and biology and to create the visual pattern which would illustrate difficult formulas from multivolume textbooks has come to their mind. As a result this «miracle» was designed on 40 acres in the Scottish city of Dumfries. The exotic landscape of a garden consists of five areas filled with the reservoirs of various geometrical forms, unusual emerald hills, valleys and wired sculptural compositions displaying difficult scientific ideas. The space park has several levels reminding a ladder. Each step symbolizes a certain stage of the Universe development. Artificially created landscape doesn’t repeat twice in all territory. By the means of deep wells, helicoid hills, breaks and ponds the architects reproduced black holes, congestions of stars, fluctuations of physical waves and many other things.
Charles Jenks is one of the most authoritative architectural critics and theorists of the present. He thought over the design of the Garden of space reflections so that the person will use not only his intelligence, but also the organs of sense so he would feel himself as the pioneer of the world. Here everything represents the Universe, moreover, the garden is filled with the objects resemble formulas, theories and forms of the self-organized structures. In each corner of the garden there are symbols of various scientific discovery and achievements [4].
As a result of studying these parks, it is possible to reveal some features which attract people to these places of interest. The most essential part which can be observed practically in all the parks is a reservoir of natural origin or manmade ones. It can be some lake, a pit, a river or a pond. It is a well-known fact that people take water as something pacifying, quiet, and strong, it renders the calming effect on some people. The park is used by people as the vacation spot and a resource for getting new impressions and pleasant feelings.
Conspicuously, modern understanding of a park art concept suffered some changes. The abundance of curvilinear forms, lines which are traced up to from the pavilions and paths to the drawn with paint on the earth and facades also draw great attention. Bright colors, accents give vivacity, cheerfulness and interest to the parks. All this demonstrates that people are tired of sad and gray colors of the city and straight lines of the houses and streets and they want brightness, uniqueness, something what calms them down, attracts their interest, to something what helps them to have a rest from monotonous everyday life.