What is an English garden?

The English landscape garden, or English garden for short, is a landscape garden whose form and style developed in 18th century England. It was designed as a deliberate contrast to the formerly dominant, precisely structured French-style Baroque garden with its trimmed hedges and strict geometric forms. The English garden is intended to replicate a natural landscape, which, despite the aspired "naturalness", needs to be planned down to the smallest detail. Artificially created vista lead the eye through winding, dreamy paths towards embellishing small-scale architecture that playfully blends into the natural ensemble. Essential elements at this are the emphasis on the horizon and the open view in all directions, as well as small, dreamy elements of water.

The landscaper Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785 - 1871) was the most influential for the English garden style in Germany. Various gardeners implemented his concept during the heyday of the princely garden from 1826 to 1929. Pückler divided his gardens into the "pleasureground" and the actual park. The latter was to have the character of untouched nature, so that the hand of man should be little visible. The "pleasureground" on the other hand was defined as the more immediate surroundings of the house in the sense of an extended dwelling: It was a particularly delicately designed section of the garden with a distinctive spatial structure, adornments with plants and flowerbeds, astonishing views, as well as an elaborate network of paths and seating areas. In the course of the implemented park maintenance concept, the principle of the "pleasureground" will prospectively become increasingly recognizable again in the princely garden around the Villa Eugenia.