MINGLE, MASS AND MUDDLE: THE USE OF PLANTS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GARDENS

摘要

This article demonstrates that by integrating the documentary and field evidence with a knowledge of eighteenth-century estate maintenance, it is possible to refine one's understanding of the way in which garden plants were used. To begin with simpledefinitions, the eighteenth century had three ways of grouping plants. First, 'dotting' or planting single specimens; second, 'mingling' or mixing plants of different species; and third, 'massing' or planting a group of the same species or cultivar.3 These basic models could be further modified: most obviously 'mingled' planting could be ranked (lowest plants in the front and the highest at the back) in rows, with rhythmic planting of a variety of species. This is 'graduated' planting, discussed at length by Mark Laird. Of additional ways of mingling plants, the most often tried was ordering by colour, either to produce beautiful effects, or to create the illusion of distance and space through aerial perspective. Humphry Repton regarded the random mixing of colours as 'cheerful' and sometimes recommended it on that account, but Thomas Whately was more thoughtful, considering that: