The Italian Renaissance saw a dramatic development in the whole concept of gardens. In the early fifteenth century, as trade started to flourish again, merchants in the hot city of Florence began to build villas or farms on the surrounding vineyard hills where it was cooler. The earliest Renaissance gardens were at first in the formal, enclosed tradition but gradually a view was allowed into the garden through a hole in the wall. As a natural view became more important the enclosures were swept away and the hill side gardens were allowed to stride down their sites through olive groves and vineyards.During the sixteenth century the initiative passed to Rome, where the architect Bramante designed a papal garden within the Vatican. This was forerunner of the High Renaissance style, with a magnificent arrangement of steps and terraces, which became a prototype for everything which became followed. From then on gardens became even more ostentatious in design, with terraces at different levels retained by walls and interconnected by grand staircases. Water again became a major feature, as it was in Islamic gardens. It was pressurized and used spectacularly, progressing down an incline or displayed in an elaborate fountain. While these Renaissance gardens were still places for cool retreat, with shade and water of great importance, they were also showplaces where the site and its vegetation were deliberately manipulated. The Italians were really the first to make decorative use of plants, with hedges, for example, used to link the house and garden structurally.The Renaissance movement originating in Italy spread northwards, together with increased knowledge about plants and their cultivation. In France the small formal gardens within the walls of moated chateaux moved outside, becoming much grander in scale and scope. Unlike the Italian hill side gardens, the French ones were flat and straight, most of them situated in the flat marshy areas to the south and west of Paris. The style was still very geometric, as the original pattern of formal beds within a grid system of paths was simply repeated in order to enlarge the garden.In the seventeenth century Andre le Notre changed French garden planning significantly. With the opening of the chateau garden at Vaux-le-Vicomte in 1661 he established a style which was to influence the whole of Europe for a century. His gardens were still basically formal and geometric in character but they became much more elaborate and interesting with long magnificent vistas, pools or rectangular canals and grand parterres. Parterres were both larger in scale and more intricate in detail than earlier knot gardens. Another distinctive characteristic was the hedge lined avenues which fanned out through the surrounding forest known as pattes d’oie (goose feet). Le Notre was appointed royal gardener to Louis XIV and the garden at Versailles is probably his best known creation. In concept it was a vast outdoor drawing room, intended for the entertainment of a court of thousands.Though most of Le Notre’s gardens were unashamedly for show they were still not places for colour or floral display; canalized and playing water, clipped and trained vegetation, statuary and elaborate parterres provided the visual interest, along with people walking about in them. This stylized layout, originally designed for large chateaux, was adapted to quite manor house. Like the grand Italian gardens, as they became out of scale with the use of the individual, a smaller secret garden had to be created within them for family use.At this stage garden design was fairly international in character and more or less uniform throughout Europe. The Germans imitated the Italian Renaissance style but readily switched to the grand geometric French style when it became dominant. The main historical contribution of Germany has been a numerical one – in the sixteenth century there were more gardens in Germany than any other country in Europe – and a certain exaggeration of the elements in any style they adopted. The French formal style of gardening also flourished in the sandy soil of Holland, on a smaller and less sophisticated scale but with more emphasis on hedges, fantastic topiary and decorative planting. Their box-edged formal beds were filled with tulips in the spring, brought back from the Middle East. The Dutch were responsible, through their trading and through their rise as a colonial power, for the introduction of much imported plant material – from China, America, South Africa and many other countries. They introduced the lilac, the pelargonium and the chrysanthemum into Europe and popularized tulips and many other bulbs.In the same way that English medieval gardens remained pale counterparts of the elegant and colourful enclosures found in Europe, the gardens of English royalty and aristocracy developed on the lines of Italian and French Renaissance layouts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They were, however, less rigorously formal, since the English climate is more conductive to mixed plating. There was also a developing interest in horticulture and a new emphasis on flowers grown for their appearance rather than for culinary and medicinal use.One of the first gardens in the grand formal style was Hampton Court Palace, later emulated by all Tudor nobility. The flower beds were laid out in a knot garden pattern and other characteristics included mazes, labyrinths, gazebos or pavilions, topiary, sundials, trellis and arbours. Vegetable gardens were usually walled and separate from the main garden. After 1660 the influence of Le Notre made itself felt briefly: grand parterres replaced simple knots and vast lakes and canals replaced gentle fountain, while broad beech-lined avenues stretched out to the horizon. Though the English could not match the Italians or French designers, not the Dutch as growers, the closely-cut lawn was one feature of English gardens which attracted international admiration.The seventeenth century was a time for pioneers on the English gardening scene. The first gardening text books appeared, the interest in horticulture increased and a great search for new plants began. The earliest botanic gardens were opened and there was an increasing use of orangeries and conservatoires to protect tender plants. Men like London and Wise set up the first commercial nurseries and began selling plants throughout the land.
A Levels Online in an ever-changing world!
Many of you often ask us if A Levels online are worth considering in order to gain a recognized qualification or if you have left it too late to study A Levels, as part of your career progression.
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A Levels, known as ‘Advanced Level qualifications’ are normally introduced for students aged 16 and above. The term of the A Level qualification would normally be two years, although learners choosing to study through online learning, can normally fast track and complete this much sooner. UCAS points will be available, which will go towards University applications.
Learners also have the option to complete AS Level only and will still receive UCAS points, depending on grades achieved.
Do I need A Levels for University?
Most universities insist that potential applicants have a good mix of basic Maths and English Level 2, together with Level 3 qualifications or A Levels in order to secure a place with them. When considering applying to University, the first thing we recommend you should do is contact them and ask what the entry requirements are for the specific degree you are considering studying as you cannot leave this to chance. We have had students come to us at the eleventh hour, desperate to study a specific subject in a short space of time because they did not ask this simple question.
Can A Levels go wrong?
In an ideal world, many would complete their A Levels in sixth form at a conventional school or college, then progress to college or university. However, this does not always go according to plan and for one reason or another, you may not have had the opportunity to gain your A Level in a school or college setting.
A classic example is a Covid-19 pandemic, where many students were expected to sit their exams in the normal way and were then told that due to the cancellation of exams, their results would be based on predicted grades. This worked for some learners as they had worked hard on any assessments submitted to their Teacher but for others who hadn’t really made the effort, relying on studying hard for their examinations; it did not bring the desired effect with low grades submitted.
We then had a second year of canceled examinations, again something that no one was prepared for. The results of this, we are still awaiting, but I am sure that there will be learners receiving grades they were not expecting.
There have also been other reasons learners have been unable to achieve their A Level qualification. As an example, we were approached by Jason, who had been keen to study A Level Computer Science at school but during his first year, he had become extremely ill and was not able to complete his second year. This is one of our extremely popular courses as this can lead to various career paths such as Application Analyst, Business analyst, Data analyst, Games developer, etc. We enabled Jason to complete his second year of A Level Computer Science and he then went on to study a degree at university managing to get himself back on track.
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Are there any age restrictions for studying A Levels?
Not everyone is suited to studying with an online learning college though and we have found that learners of all ages enrol with us, as there appears to be no set criteria for applicants. As they say ‘it is never too late to learn and everything changes so fast, we have to keep up to date with it.
Suggested site: Learn Now Distance Learning College
One of the things we have found with learners is that you really need to be self-motivated and able to work autonomously. This is difficult if you feel you can only work in groups with your peers and do not feel you can set yourself a timetable and stick to it, thus avoiding distractions. We have found that using your Lesson Plan helps considerably as this sets out which modules should be completed and when. This can give you a certain amount of structure and ensure that you stay on track throughout your course.
It would seem that there are always options to complete your A Levels, whether online or studying at a school or college. It is a case of you deciding the best options for yourself.
Business Loans In Canada: Financing Solutions Via Alternative Finance & Traditional Funding
Business loans and finance for a business just may have gotten good again? The pursuit of credit and funding of cash flow solutions for your business often seems like an eternal challenge, even in the best of times, let alone any industry or economic crisis. Let’s dig in.
Since the 2008 financial crisis there’s been a lot of change in finance options from lenders for corporate loans. Canadian business owners and financial managers have excess from everything from peer-to-peer company loans, varied alternative finance solutions, as well of course as the traditional financing offered by Canadian chartered banks.
Those online business loans referenced above are popular and arose out of the merchant cash advance programs in the United States. Loans are based on a percentage of your annual sales, typically in the 15-20% range. The loans are certainly expensive but are viewed as easy to obtain by many small businesses, including retailers who sell on a cash or credit card basis.
Depending on your firm’s circumstances and your ability to truly understand the different choices available to firms searching for SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE options. Those small to medium sized companies ( the definition of ‘ small business ‘ certainly varies as to what is small – often defined as businesses with less than 500 employees! )
How then do we create our road map for external financing techniques and solutions? A simpler way to look at it is to categorize these different financing options under:
Debt / Loans
Asset Based Financing
Alternative Hybrid type solutions
Many top experts maintain that the alternative financing solutions currently available to your firm, in fact are on par with Canadian chartered bank financing when it comes to a full spectrum of funding. The alternative lender is typically a private commercial finance company with a niche in one of the various asset finance areas
If there is one significant trend that’s ‘ sticking ‘it’s Asset Based Finance. The ability of firms to obtain funding via assets such as accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets with no major emphasis on balance sheet structure and profits and cash flow ( those three elements drive bank financing approval in no small measure ) is the key to success in ABL ( Asset Based Lending ).
Factoring, aka ‘ Receivable Finance ‘ is the other huge driver in trade finance in Canada. In some cases, it’s the only way for firms to be able to sell and finance clients in other geographies/countries.
The rise of ‘ online finance ‘ also can’t be diminished. Whether it’s accessing ‘ crowdfunding’ or sourcing working capital term loans, the technological pace continues at what seems a feverish pace. One only has to read a business daily such as the Globe & Mail or Financial Post to understand the challenge of small business accessing business capital.
Business owners/financial mgrs often find their company at a ‘ turning point ‘ in their history – that time when financing is needed or opportunities and risks can’t be taken. While putting or getting new equity in the business is often impossible, the reality is that the majority of businesses with SME commercial finance needs aren’t, shall we say, ‘ suited’ to this type of funding and capital raising. Business loan interest rates vary with non-traditional financing but offer more flexibility and ease of access to capital.
We’re also the first to remind clients that they should not forget govt solutions in business capital. Two of the best programs are the GovernmentSmall Business Loan Canada (maximum availability = $ 1,000,000.00) as well as the SR&ED program which allows business owners to recapture R&D capital costs. Sred credits can also be financed once they are filed.
Those latter two finance alternatives are often very well suited to business start up loans. We should not forget that asset finance, often called ‘ ABL ‘ by those Bay Street guys, can even be used as a loan to buy a business.
If you’re looking to get the right balance of liquidity and risk coupled with the flexibility to grow your business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor with a track record of business finance success who can assist you with your funding needs.