ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 shows how J. C. Loudon and his contemporaries replaced Repton’s structural color with a decorative approach. Loudon’s ideas on color are rooted in empirical philosophy, the science of botany, the practice of horticulture, and changing suburban taste. Loudon’s bias toward polychrome is linked to the introduction of colorful foreign plants in England and developments in greenhouse technology as well as in optics, chemistry, and the industrial production of color dyes. His gardenesque style, followed by his formal style, showed his personal interest in “color for all seasons” as well as the growing appetite for bright and lavish complimentary-contrast flower bed compositions, or bedding, which dominated Victorian era gardens. Loudon’s decorative style married color and form, replacing Repton’s structural color that eschewed color in favor of composition. Loudon embraced the new lithographic color printing technology to accommodate the growing visual consumer culture and its enthusiasm for color in publications.
