“The Most Perfect Refreshment”: A Garden Quiz

Question: Which of the following is NOT an aesthetic principle of Japanese gardening?

Answer: Controlled balance is to be achieved through irregularity and asymmetry.

Question: Which of the following was a feature of many 18th-century European gardens?

Answer: Grottoes, once considered the dwelling place of divinities, were created for many 18th-century European gardens.

Question: What is an allée?

Answer: An allée is a feature of the French formal garden and is both a promenade and an extension of the view.

Question: What is a ha-ha?

Answer: The ha-ha was intended to keep livestock at a romantic distance. The ha-ha is a leitmotif in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

Question: What noted landscape architect worked with architect Edwin Lutyens?

Answer: Jekyll and Lutyens produced a new type of architectural garden in which the skeleton planned by Lutyens was given softness and an added rhythm by Jekyll’s handling of color and local forms.

Question: What was Capability Brown’s actual given name?

Answer: Lancelot Brown was called “Capability” Brown because he reportedly had a habit of remarking on a place’s “capabilities.”

Question: Who of the following is a well-known Brazilian landscape architect?

Answer: Burle Marx thumbed his nose at European-style formal gardens, preferring native lush tropical plants.

Question: What region of the United States did Jens Jensen transform?

Answer: He largely worked in and around Chicago, helping to establish the Cook County Forest Preserve, among many other park systems.

Question: What is the name of a costly but generally nonfunctional building erected to enhance a natural landscape?

Answer: Buildings added to a landscape chiefly for visual effect are called follies.

Question: Who designed Central Park in New York City?

Answer: Olmsted collaborated with Calvert Vaux in developing the design for Central Park. He also designed Chicago’s Jackson Park.