Espalier at Royal Botanical Gardens

Pergola in Hendrie Park, Royal Botanical Gardens

When I walked along the pergola in Hendrie Park, Royal Botanical Gardens, I was thrilled to see that the walls of the pergola were made up of vines and trees trained in espalier form.  Espalier is a way of training a tree or shrub on an independent trellis, or forced flat against a wall.

  

Hendrie Park pergola, Royal Botanical Gardens

The formal design used here is known as palmette horizentale where symmetrical branches are forced straight out in horizontal form.

Hendrie Park pergola, Royal Botanical Gardens

The people in the Middle Ages first used espalier to grow fruit trees within the confines of town walls in order to maximize fruit production in a small space using as little space as possible.

Climbing hydrangea, Hendrie Park, Royal Botanical Gardens

The pergola in Hendrie Park shows that many non-fruiting plants plants can be espaliered for decorative reasons, including magnolias, service berries, and climbing hydrangeas.

Whenever I see espaliers, it makes me nostalgic for my childhood home where my father trained dwarf apple trees flat against the south wall of our house in a formal design known as palmette verrier.  Palmette verrier has the branches symmetrically forced straight horizontally, and then bent straight up vertically to form a design resembling a candelabra or Jewish menorah.  Our trees produced an abundance of fruit, were decorative, and enhanced the wall in all four seasons.  

Formal Gardens

Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington ON

My favourite style of garden is a formal garden. I’m also partial to a structured garden with a mix of predominately formal elements and some informal elements. A formal garden gives a sense of calm and serenity. With its symmetry, balance, rhythm in repetition, straight lines, clipped hedging, and geometrical precision, it is attractive in all seasons. In northern regions, a formal garden is stunning during the winter season.


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The look of a formal garden is controlled. It is a tamed landscape not found in nature. It has bones and structure made up of walls, hedges, paths and possibly statuary, all of which are more important than the plants. Form is most important and plants are secondary. Most often the plants chosen for a formal garden are those easiest to handle. The plants are arranged following rigid guidelines and only a limited number of species are planted in large quantities to add a uniform look.

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We think of formal gardens being large but even small home gardens can be formal using a dwarf boxwood or yew hedge to enclose flowers, vegetables or herbs. To achieve a formal ambience in a small home garden, it works best to have a structured garden with a mix of formal and informal elements. This can be achieved by having clipped hedges and less formal plantings as part of the overall design.

Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington ON