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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Garden (disambiguation).

A section of the Brooklyn Botanic

Garden that has pink Prunus 'Kanzan' cherry trees
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation,
display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single
feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is control. The garden can
incorporate both natural and artificial materials.[1]

Gardens often have design features including

statuary, follies, pergolas, trellises, stumperies, dry creek beds, and water
features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or
creeks. Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while others also
produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed
with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished
from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their
purpose (enjoyment of a hobby or self-sustenance rather than producing
for sale, as in a market garden). Flower gardens combine plants of different
heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the
senses.[2]

The most common form today is a residential or public garden, but the
term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which
display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called
zoological gardens.[3][4] Western gardens are almost universally based on
plants, with garden, which etymologically implies enclosure, often signifying
a shortened form of botanical garden. Some traditional types of eastern
gardens, such as Zen gardens, however, use plants sparsely or not at all.
Landscape gardens, on the other hand, such as the English landscape
gardens first developed in the 18th century, may omit flowers altogether.

Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape

architects tending to engage in design at many scales and working on both
public and private projects.[5]

Etymology
[edit]
The etymology of the word gardening refers to enclosure: it is from Middle
English gardin, from Anglo-French gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin; akin
to Old High German gard, gart, an enclosure or compound, as in Stuttgart.
See Grad (Slavic settlement) for more complete etymology.[6] The
words yard, court, and Latin hortus (meaning "garden", hence horticulture
and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.[7]

The term "garden" in British English refers to a small enclosed area of land,
usually adjoining a building.[8] This would be referred to as
a yard in American English.[9]

Uses
[edit]

Partial view from the Botanical Garden of

Curitiba (Southern
Brazil): parterres, flowers, fountains, sculptures, greenhouses and tracks co
mposes the place used for recreation and to study and protect the flora.
A garden can have aesthetic, functional, and recreational uses:

 Cooperation with nature

 Plant cultivation
 Garden-based learning
 Observation of nature
 Bird- and insect-watching
 Reflection on the changing seasons
 Relaxation
 Placing down different types of garden gnomes
 Family dinners on the terrace
 Children playing in the garden
 Reading and relaxing in a hammock
 Maintaining the flowerbeds
 Pottering in the shed
 Basking in warm sunshine
 Escaping oppressive sunlight and heat
 Growing useful produce
 Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty
 Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking

History
[edit]
Main article: History of gardening
Asia
[edit]
China
[edit]

Naturalistic design of a Chinese garden

incorporated into the landscape, including a pavilion
Main article: Chinese garden
The earliest recorded Chinese gardens were created in the valley of
the Yellow River, during the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC). These
gardens were large enclosed parks where the kings and nobles hunted
game, or where fruit and vegetables were grown. Early inscriptions from
this period, carved on tortoise shells, have three Chinese characters for
garden, you, pu and yuan. You was a royal garden where birds and
animals were kept, while pu was a garden for plants. During the Qin
dynasty (221–206 BC), yuan became the character for all gardens.[10] The
old character for yuan is a small picture of a garden; it is enclosed in a
square which can represent a wall, and has symbols which can represent
the plan of a structure, a small square which can represent a pond, and a
symbol for a plantation or a pomegranate tree.[11]

A famous royal garden of the late Shang dynasty was the Terrace, Pond
and Park of the Spirit (Lingtai, Lingzhao Lingyou) built by King
Wenwang west of his capital city, Yin. The park was described in
the Classic of Poetry this way:

The King makes his promenade in the Park of the Spirit,

The deer are kneeling on the grass, feeding their fawns,
The deer are beautiful and resplendent.
The immaculate cranes have plumes of a brilliant white.
The King makes his promenade to the Pond of the Spirit,
The water is full of fish, who wriggle.[12]
Another early royal garden was Shaqui, or the Dunes of
Sand, built by the last Shang ruler, King Zhou (1075–
1046 BC). It was composed of an earth terrace, or tai,
which served as an observation platform in the center of
a large square park. It was described in one of the early
classics of Chinese literature, the Records of the Grand
Historian (Shiji).[13] According to the Shiji, one of the most
famous features of this garden was the Wine Pool and
Meat Forest (酒池肉林). A large pool, big enough for
several small boats, was constructed on the palace
grounds, with inner linings of polished oval shaped
stones from the seashore. The pool was then filled with
wine. A small island was constructed in the middle of the
pool, where trees were planted, which had skewers of
roasted meat hanging from their branches. King Zhou
and his friends and concubines drifted in their boats,
drinking the wine with their hands and eating the roasted
meat from the trees. Later Chinese philosophers and
historians cited this garden as an example of decadence
and bad taste.[14]

During the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BC), in

535 BC, the Terrace of Shanghua, with lavishly
decorated palaces, was built by King Jing of the Zhou
dynasty. In 505 BC, an even more elaborate garden,
the Terrace of Gusu, was begun. It was located on the
side of a mountain, and included a series of terraces
connected by galleries, along with a lake where boats in
the form of blue dragons navigated. From the highest
terrace, a view extended as far as Lake Tai, the Great
Lake.[15]
India
[edit]
Manasollasa is a twelfth century Sanskrit text that offers
details on garden design and a variety of other subjects.
[16]
Both public parks and woodland gardens are
described, with about 40 types of trees recommended
for the park in the Vana-krida chapter.[16][17] Shilparatna, a
text from the sixteenth century, states that flower
gardens or public parks should be located in the
northern portion of a town.[18]
Japan
[edit]

A moss garden at the Saihō-

ji temple in Kyoto, started in 1339.
Main article: Japanese garden
The earliest recorded Japanese gardens were
the pleasure gardens of the Emperors and nobles. They
were mentioned in several brief passages of the Nihon
Shoki, the first chronicle of Japanese history, published
in 720 CE. In spring 74 CE, the chronicle recorded:
"The Emperor Keikō put a few carp into a pond, and
rejoiced to see them morning and evening". The
following year, "The Emperor launched a double-hulled
boat in the pond of Ijishi at Ihare, and went aboard with
his imperial concubine, and they feasted sumptuously
together". In 486, the chronicle recorded that
"The Emperor Kenzō went into the garden and feasted
at the edge of a winding stream".[19]
Korea
[edit]
Main article: Korean garden
Korean gardens are a type of garden described as being
natural, informal, simple and unforced, seeking to merge
with the natural world.[20] They have a history that goes
back more than two thousand years,[21] but are little
known in the west. The oldest records date to the Three
Kingdoms period (57 BC – 668 AD) when architecture
and palace gardens showed a development noted in the
Korean History of the Three Kingdoms.
Europe
[edit]
Reconstruction of the garden at the House of the
Vettii in Pompeii.
Gardening was not recognized as an art form in Europe
until the mid 16th century when it entered the political
discourse, as a symbol of the concept of the "ideal
republic". Evoking utopian imagery of the Garden of
Eden, a time of abundance and plenty where humans
didn't know hunger or the conflicts that arose from
property disputes. John Evelyn wrote in the early 17th
century, "there is not a more laborious life then is that of
a good Gard'ners; but a labour full of tranquility and
satisfaction; Natural and Instructive, and such as (if any)
contributes to Piety and Contemplation."[22] During the
era of Enclosures, the agrarian collectivism of the feudal
age was idealized in literary "fantasies of liberating
regression to garden and wilderness".[23]
France
[edit]
Following his campaign in Italy in 1495, where he saw
the gardens and castles of Naples, King Charles
VIII brought Italian craftsmen and garden designers,
such as Pacello da Mercogliano, from Naples and
ordered the construction of Italian-style gardens at his
residence at the Château d'Amboise and at Château
Gaillard, another private résidence in Amboise. His
successor Henry II, who had also travelled to Italy and
had met Leonardo da Vinci, created an Italian garden
nearby at the Château de Blois.[24] Beginning in 1528,
King Francis I created new gardens at the Château de
Fontainebleau, which featured fountains, parterres, a
forest of pine trees brought from Provence, and the first
artificial grotto in France.[25] The Château de
Chenonceau had two gardens in the new style, one
created for Diane de Poitiers in 1551, and a second
for Catherine de' Medici in 1560.[26] In 1536, the
architect Philibert de l'Orme, upon his return from Rome,
created the gardens of the Château d'Anet following the
Italian rules of proportion. The carefully prepared
harmony of Anet, with its parterres and surfaces of water
integrated with sections of greenery, became one of the
earliest and most influential examples of the classic
French garden.[27]

The French formal garden (French: jardin à la française)

contrasted with the design principles of the English
landscape garden (French: jardin à l'anglaise) namely, to
"force nature" instead of leaving it undisturbed.[28] Typical
French formal gardens had "parterres, geometrical
shapes and neatly clipped topiary", in contrast to the
English style of garden in which "plants and shrubs
seem to grow naturally without artifice."[29] By the mid-
17th century axial symmetry had ascended to
prominence in the French gardening traditions of Andre
Mollet and Jacques Boyceau, from which the latter
wrote: "All things, however beautiful they may be
chosen, will be defective if they are not ordered and
placed in proper symmetry."[30] A good example of the
French formal style are the Tuileries gardens in Paris
which were originally designed during the reign of King
Henry II in the mid-sixteenth century. The gardens were
redesigned into the formal French style for the Sun King
Louis XIV. The gardens were ordered into symmetrical
lines: long rows of elm or chestnut trees, clipped
hedgerows, along with parterres, "reflect[ing] the orderly
triumph of man's will over nature."[31]

The French landscape garden was influenced by the

English landscape garden and gained prominence in the
late eighteenth century.[32][33]
United Kingdom
[edit]
Before the Grand Manner era, a few significant gardens
were found in Britain which were developed under the
influence of the continent. Britain's homegrown domestic
gardening traditions were mostly practical in purpose,
rather than aesthetic, unlike the grand gardens found
mostly on castle grounds, and less commonly in
universities. Tudor Gardens emphasized contrast rather
than transitions, distinguished by color and illusion. They
were not intended as a complement to home or
architecture, but conceived as independent spaces,
arranged to grow and display flowers and ornamental
plants. Gardeners demonstrated their artistry in knot
gardens, with complex arrangements most commonly
included interwoven box hedges, and less commonly
fragrant herbs like rosemary. Sanded paths run between
the hedgings of open knots whereas closed knots were
filled with single colored flowers. The knot
and parterre gardens were always placed on level
ground, and elevated areas reserved for terraces from
which the intricacy of the gardens could be viewed.[30]
Jacobean gardens were described as "a delightful
confusion" by Henry Wotton in 1624. Under the influence
of the Italian Renaissance, Caroline gardens began to
shed some of the chaos of earlier designs, marking the
beginning of a trends towards symmetrical unified
designs that took the building architecture into account,
and featuring an elevated terrace from which home and
garden could be viewed. The only surviving Caroline
garden is located at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, but is
too simple to attract much interest. During the reign
of Charles II, many new Baroque style country houses
were built; while in England Oliver Cromwell sought to
destroy many Tudor, Jacobean and Caroline style
gardens.[30]

Design
[edit]
Main article: Garden design
Garden design is the process of creating plans for the
layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Gardens
may be designed by garden owners themselves, or by
professionals. Professional garden designers tend to be
trained in principles of design and horticulture, and have
a knowledge and experience of using plants. Some
professional garden designers are also landscape
architects, a more formal level of training that usually
requires an advanced degree and often an
occupational license.

Elements of garden design include the layout of hard

landscape, such as paths, rockeries, walls, water
features, sitting areas and decking, as well as the plants
themselves, with consideration for
their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season
appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of
growth, and combinations with other plants and
landscape features. Most gardens consist of a mixture of
natural and constructed elements, although even very
'natural' gardens are always an inherently artificial
creation. Natural elements present in a garden
principally comprise flora (such as trees and weeds),
fauna (such as arthropods and birds), soil, water, air and
light. Constructed elements include not only
paths, patios, decking, sculptures, drainage systems,
lights and buildings (such
as sheds, gazebos, pergolas and follies), but also living
constructions such as flower beds, ponds and lawns.

Garden needs of maintenance are also taken into

consideration. Including the time or funds available for
regular maintenance, (this can affect the choices of
plants regarding speed of growth) spreading or self-
seeding of the plants (annual or perennial), bloom-time,
and many other characteristics. Garden design can be
roughly divided into two groups, formal and naturalistic
gardens. The most important consideration in any
garden design is how the garden will be used, followed
closely by the desired stylistic genres, and the way the
garden space will connect to the home or other
structures in the surrounding areas. All of these
considerations are subject to the budget limitations.
Budget limitations can be addressed by a simpler garden
style with fewer plants and less costly hard landscape
materials, seeds rather than sod for lawns, and plants
that grow quickly; alternatively, garden owners may
choose to create their garden over time, area by area.[34]


Chehel Sotoun Garden, Isfahan, Iran

 

Parc de Bagatelle, a rose garden in Paris

Garden of the Taj Mahal, India

Example of a garden attached to a place of worship: the

cloister of the Abbey of Monreale, Sicily, Italy

The Sunken Garden of Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British

Columbia
 

Gardens of Versailles (France)

The back garden of the Umaid Bhawan

Palace in Jodhpur, India

Garden with fountains, Villa d'Este, Italy

Gardens at Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia,

feature many heirloom varieties of plants.
 

Shitennō-ji Honbo Garden in Osaka, Osaka prefecture,

Japan – an example of a Zen garden.
Types
[edit]
Main article: List of garden types

Types of gardens

Alpine garden, bog garden, cactus

garden, fernery, flower garden, moss
garden, orchard, physic garden (precursor to
botanical gardens), pollinator garden, rose
garden, water garden, wildlife garden (to sustain
Specific
local wildlife), botanical garden, market garden
plant or
(small-scale production of cash crops), victory
purpose
garden (food grown to supplement wartime
rations), butterfly garden, hydroponic
garden (growing plants without soil), rain
garden (reabsorption of rain run-off), and trial
garden (testing and evaluating plants).

Specific Bonsai, color garden (monochromatic gardens or

style or gardens designed with a visually appealing color
aesthetic scheme), Dutch garden, Garden room (secluded
garden that has a "room-like" effect), German
garden, Greek garden, knot garden (formal
garden that is within a square frame), Mary
garden (garden with a statue of the virgin
Mary), monastic garden, Mughal garden, natural
landscaping (using plants native to the
area), paradise garden, Pekarangan, Persian
 garden, philosophical garden, pleasure
garden, Roman garden, sacred garden, sensory
garden, Shakespeare garden (garden featuring
plants mentioned in the works of
Shakespeare), Spanish garden, tea
garden, therapeutic garden, tropical
garden, xeriscaping, zen
garden, Chinampa, walled garden, woodland
garden

Back garden, school garden, cottage

garden, forest garden, front yard, community
Placement garden, square foot garden, residential
garden, roof garden, kitchen garden, shade
garden

Bottle garden, terrarium, greenhouse, green

wall, hanging garden, container
Material
garden, sculpture garden, raised bed
gardening, rock garden, cold frame

Environmental impact
[edit]
Main articles: Sustainable gardening and Sustainable
landscaping
Gardeners may cause environmental damage by the
way they garden, or they may enhance their local
environment. Damage by gardeners can include
direct destruction of natural habitats when houses and
gardens are created; indirect habitat destruction and
damage to provide garden materials such as peat,[35] rock
for rock gardens,[36] and by the use of tapwater
to irrigate gardens; the death of living beings in the
garden itself, such as the killing not only
of slugs and snails but also their predators such
as hedgehogs and song thrushes by metaldehyde slug
killer; the death of living beings outside the garden, such
as local species extinction by indiscriminate plant
collectors; and climate change caused by greenhouse
gases produced by gardening.
Climate change
[edit]
Gardeners can help to prevent climate change in many
ways, including the use of trees, shrubs, ground cover
plants and other perennial plants in their gardens,
turning garden waste into soil organic matter instead of
burning it, keeping soil and compost heaps aerated,
avoiding peat, switching from power tools to hand tools
or changing their garden design so that power tools are
not needed, and using nitrogen-fixing plants instead of
nitrogen fertiliser.[37]

Climate change will have many impacts on gardens;

some studies suggest most of them will be negative.
[38]
Gardens also contribute to climate change.
Greenhouse gases can be produced by gardeners in
many ways. The three main greenhouse
gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
Gardeners produce carbon dioxide directly
by overcultivating soil and destroying soil carbon, by
burning garden waste on bonfires, by using power tools
which burn fossil fuel or use electricity generated
by fossil fuels, and by using peat. Gardeners produce
methane by compacting the soil and making it
anaerobic, and by allowing their compost heaps to
become compacted and anaerobic. Gardeners produce
nitrous oxide by applying excess nitrogen fertiliser when
plants are not actively growing so that the nitrogen in the
fertiliser is converted by soil bacteria to nitrous oxide.

Irrigation
[edit]
Further information: Rain garden
See also: Irrigation sprinkler, drip irrigation, greywater,
and hand pump
Some gardeners manage their gardens without using
any water from outside the garden. Examples in Britain
include Ventnor Botanic Garden on the Isle of Wight,
and parts of Beth Chatto's garden in Essex, Sticky
Wicket garden in Dorset, and the Royal Horticultural
Society's gardens at Harlow Carr and Hyde Hall. Rain
gardens absorb rainfall falling onto nearby hard
surfaces, rather than sending it into stormwater drains.[39]