Types and Styles of Garden

There are many different types and styles of garden throughout the UK and we have a list of gardens open to the public that have a number of examples of these types, some will be mixed and matched, others will generally be specific. But whatever type of garden you like to visit there is plenty of diversity to choose from all over the UK. All of them in their own right will offer up great photographic opportunities. The following is a list of some of the types you may come across on your travels around UK gardens.

Garden Types include:-

Botanic Gardens - The tradition at Britain's botanic gardens is to collect and display as comprehensive a range of flora and fauna as possible. See What Are Botanical Gardens for a description of what they are and their use. These include such gardens as Kew Gardens in Surrey, or the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the National Botanic Garden of Wales, but there are also more local ones. There are around 126 in the UK and Ireland - see our list, Where to Photograph Botanical Gardens, for links to those we have been able to identify.

Cottage Gardens - The creators of these gardens are passionate about flowers. They’ll squash in all the old favourites and so many more you’ll wonder how they managed it. Sweet peas clamber up willow wigwams, whilst clematis scramble over summer houses, throw in a drystone wall, a profusion of roses, geraniums and lavenders, and you have captured the essence of cottage gardening.

Contemporary Gardens - Tend to be a classification used to signify a more recent garden with modern designs, which incorporate more of a living space, making a garden an extra room to the property. This is done by using modern organic materials and combining this with garden planters, water features, garden furniture, lighting and planting.

A Cottage Garden

Herb or Medicinal Gardens - Herbs look and smell fantastic, but they’re also endlessly useful. Continuing an age old tradition, the herb gardens of today provide plants for dying cloth, flavouring food and curing common ailments. Birds, butterflies and insects are all attracted to herb gardens.

Maze Gardens - Who knew getting lost could be such fun. Some mazes have been around for a while, whilst others are recent additions to established gardens.

National Nature Parks or what we call today a Nature Reserve. Public spaces usually in the UK managed by community, private or public trusts to preserve a particular area of greenery or woodland. In doing so it usually helps to protect some of our native wild plants and provides a haven for our wildlife.

Oriental Gardens - The calming influence of this style has its root in the Eastern religions which inspire the gardens. Tatton Park, in Cheshire, is home to one of the most famous Japanese gardens in the UK.

A Structured Garden

Park and Woodland - Add grand scale, a pinch of exotica and a talent for design. You have some of the most stunning landscapes in the country covered in this group, including Arboretums and Pinetums.

Water Gardens - Big water makes for big drama, whether it's on the move or tranquil and reflective. For a formal yet modern water garden, The Alnwick Castle Garden

in Northumberland is a good example, it's Grand Cascade boasts 120 jets shooting water six metres into the air every second. Other water gardens have ponds, like that displayed at the Beth Chatto's Garden