Part 1: The Magical Hamilton Gardens
Part 3: The Magical Hamilton Gardens - The Indian Char Bagh Garden and The Italian Renaissance Garden
Part 4: The Magical Hamilton Gardens - The Best of the Rest
In my last post, I introduced the Hamilton Gardens to you with some photos of the entrance area and the Japanese Garden. The Japanese Garden was rather compact but it does catch the essence of Eastern philosophy and Aesthetics - Minimal and subtle.
In this post, I’d like to guide you through the rest of the Paradise Collection of gardens: The English Flower Garden, The Chinese Scholar Garden, The Indian Char Bagh Garden and Italian Renaissance Garden. These are the main part of the whole Hamilton Gardens before some new development taking place in recent years. I have visited these multiple times including shooting two weddings at the Indian Garden and two weddings at the Italian Garden.
The English Garden
There were different European styles for which the main purpose was the display of flowers of all seasons and collections of both native and exotic plants. Many famous gardens have been created throughout the 20th century, but the period from 1870 till the Great War is generally considered to be the golden age, and the gardens of the period are often referred to as ‘the gardens of a golden afternoon’.
In terms of design philosophy, The English Flower Garden incorporates many elements common to traditional gardens, such as the use of red brick walls and hedges to create a series of outdoor rooms that contain and unify a diverse collection of plants. These spaces often have different planting themes and are typically linked by axis lines that terminate at an arbour, fountain, urn or seat.
The Indian Char Bagh Garden
Charbagh or Chahar Bagh is a Persian and Indo-Persian quadrilateral garden layout based on the four gardens of Paradise mentioned in the Quran. This form of gardens was common in the Muslim world between the 8th and 18th centuries. The complex symbolism behind this form of the garden has its very ancient roots in three of the world’s great religions - Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. The Indian Char Bagh gardens were not just places to walk through. They were poetic, secret pleasure gardens with sensuous perfumes of flowers in a living Persian Carpet. They allowed the viewer to relax, feel the breeze in the cool shade of an open-sided Pavilion, watch the clouds glide behind white turrets and hear the sound of sparkling water in the fountains and pools. At the back of the garden, you can see the Waikato river running quietly through the greenery.
The type that has been developed at Hamilton Gardens is the Riverside Garden with a plan reminiscent of the Taj Mahal on a very much smaller scale. A small hunting palace near Agra, called Lal Mahal, has inspired the Hamilton Garden’s Char Bagh garden as stated on the Hamilton gardens website.
The Chinese Scholar’s Garden
This is my favourite garden. It has all the features of some famous gardens in China. Above the Garden’s tiled entranceway, the bold red Ting Pavilion seems within easy reach of the Chinese Scholars’ Garden. Take your time to get to it and you will be well rewarded. A winding journey takes you over the seasonally blooming Wisteria Bridge, across the Island of Whispering Birds, past the hidden philosopher, and through a lush grove of bamboo to finally reach the Pavilion and its views of the Waikato River.
The Chinese Scholars’ Garden is generally but not exactly a traditional Chinese garden from the Sung Dynasty, 10th - 12th century. The art of Chinese gardening is one of the oldest artistic expressions in existence with a heritage that stretches back to the Han Period, at least 2,000 years ago. Because Chinese gardening has been a very influential art form it is sometimes called the ‘mother of gardens’.
The organic form of stone, circular entrance, Back porch, Bamboo grove and pavilion along with bold coloured tile and traditional Chinese calligraphy are quintessential Chinese gardens features. For a moment, you can feel or at least your imagination has flown to the east.
The Italian Renaissance Garden