A parterre is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of the garden nearest the house, perhaps after a terrace. The view of a parterre from inside the house, especially from the upper floors, was a major consideration in its design. The word "parterre" was and is used both for the whole part of the garden containing parterres and for each individual section between the "alleys".
Restoration work on a parterre en broderie at Wrest Park, England
The palace at Oranienbaum, Russia, parterre en broderie with six colours of mineral base, and red flowers.
Cutwork parterre with only grass and gravels, Peterhof Palace
Victorian parterre at Waddesdon Manor (2016)
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoining fields or one field from another, and are of sufficient age to incorporate larger trees, are known as hedgerows. Often they serve as windbreaks to improve conditions for the adjacent crops, as in bocage country. When clipped and maintained, hedges are also a simple form of topiary.
A typical clipped European beech hedge in the Eifel, Germany.
A round hedge of Creeping groundsel.
A typical old Scottish march dyke, but without boundary trees
Hedgerows between fields in North Dakota
