| When we imagine the typical Tuscan garden images | | | | nothing more modern than the past!! New interest in |
| of elaborate, formal Renaissance gardens often | | | | organic foods and alternative, homeopathic medicines |
| spring to mind, like Boboli in Florence or La Foce, near | | | | has led to a wave of interest in 'the way things used |
| Montepulciano... | | | | to be done'- and nowhere has this been felt more |
| These gardens displayed the power and control that | | | | than in Tuscany with the latest garden style being a |
| man wished to exert over nature in the glorious | | | | fusion of past and new and formal and informal. |
| Renaissance period of the 16th century. Now, | | | | So if I were to define a Tuscan style garden for |
| although this is a true image, and does reflect well | | | | today's home buyer I would say that it is, most |
| the origins of the Tuscan garden, it has to be said | | | | definitely, a garden that focuses on a fusion style. |
| that more than four centuries have passed since this | | | | This adopts formal, modern innovative design |
| garden design concept was first laid down by the | | | | techniques near the house that extend into and |
| Tuscan Aristocracy. Clearly in four hundred years a | | | | connect naturally with the informal areas of the |
| lot can happen and the principles of Tuscan garden | | | | garden- such as wild flower pastures- based on the |
| design have been adapted by social changes and | | | | techniques once used by the local farmer, or |
| horticultural advances in general. The link between | | | | 'peasant'. These areas could include organic vegetable |
| man and nature here in Tuscany is a very strong one | | | | gardens, meadows that provide beauty in the form |
| and several social revolutions, political changes and | | | | of stunning poppy-fields and other indigenous wild |
| increased tourism have led to the real custodians of | | | | flowers... |
| the land (Tuscan farmers) having their say too... | | | | ... and areas of formal, Italianate, contemporary |
| The onset of international tourism has meant that | | | | garden design near the house that address both the |
| the poverty-stricken farming culture has become | | | | problems of water shortage and frustrating |
| suddenly fashionable and has propelled the rustic | | | | maintenance routines in this fast and frenetic world in |
| farmers style out from the farmyard and onto the | | | | which we live, yet remain loyal to their Renaissance |
| international scene. The 'Tuscan peasant style' (as it is | | | | origins... |
| known) has seen a massive leap in the interior design | | | | The world is changing at an alarming rate and modern |
| sector, with 'Peasant' furniture (kitchen tables, chairs | | | | garden designers in Tuscany are perceiving and |
| etc), having become the most sought after items for | | | | addressing these changes in the same way as the |
| the 'house in Tuscany' feel. | | | | garden designers of the 16th century perceived |
| This development has also clearly been felt in the | | | | addressed the social aspects relevant to that era. |
| garden sector too and has taken Tuscan garden | | | | This all goes to show that in 400 years an awful lot |
| design into a new era of rustic innovation- where | | | | can change- and rightly so...! |
| natural is better and where it seems that there is | | | | |