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Information about History Of Gardening

This entry concerns the history of ornamental gardening considered as an amenity of civilized life, as a vehicle for style, for conspicuous show and even an expression of philosophy.

See also subsistence gardening, the art and craft of growing plants, considered as a circumscribed form of individual agriculture.

Though cultivation of plants for food long predates history, the earliest evidence for ornamental gardens is seen in Egyptian tomb paintings of the 1500s BC; they depict lotus ponds surrounded by rows of acacias and palms. The other ancient gardening tradition is of Persia: Darius the Great was said to have had a "paradise garden" and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were renowned as a Wonder of the World. Persian influences extended to post-Alexander's Greece: around 350 BC there were gardens at the Academy of Athens, and Theophrastus, who wrote on botany, was supposed to have inherited a garden from Aristotle. Epicurus also had a garden where he walked and taught, and bequeathed it to Hermarchus of Mytilene. Alciphron also mentions private gardens.

The most influential ancient gardens in the western world were the Ptolemy's gardens at Alexandria and the gardening tradition brought to Rome by Lucullus. Wall paintings in Pompeii attest to elaborate development later, and the wealthiest of Romans built enormous gardens, many of whose ruins are still to be seen, such as at Hadrian's Villa.

Byzantium and Moorish Spain kept garden traditions alive after the 4th century. By this time a separate gardening tradition had arisen in China, which was transmitted to Japan, where it developed into aristocratic miniature landscapes centered on ponds and separately into the severe Zen gardens of temples.

In Europe, gardening revived in Languedoc and the Ile-de-France in the 13th century, and in the Italian villa gardens of the early Renaissance. French parterres developed at the end of the 16th century and reached high development under Andre le Notre. English landscape gardens opened a new perspective in the 18th century.

The 19th century saw a welter of historical revivals and Romantic cottage-inspired gardening, as well as the rise of flower gardens, which became dominant in home gardening in the 20th century.

20th century gardening expanded into city planning.

Enlarge picture
The Eolia Italian Garden, in Waterford, Connecticut

The historical development of garden styles

Ancient Near East

Assyrian hunting parks and Persian paradise gardens

Egyptian temple courts

  • Royalty, most likely that found in Egypt, was probably also very instrumental in the development of the garden, much as royalty and the privileged classes throughout the centuries have continued to influence the design and actualization of gardens.

Hellenistic and Roman gardens

  • Hellenistic gardens.
It is curious that although the Egyptians and Romans both gardened with vigor, the Greeks did not own private gardens. They did put gardens around temples and they adorned walkways and roads with statues, but the ornate and pleasure gardens that demonstrated wealth in the other communities is seemingly absent. Part maybe that blank areas in the historic landscape were assumed just that : blank. No one bothered to look for pollen or evidence of gardens. Part maybe that the modern technology is only just emerging, but the predominance of knowledge is that they just did not bother with gardens.
  • Roman gardens had many characteristics in common with contemporary gardens. The garden was a place of peace and tranquillity, a refuge from urban life, and was invested with religious and symbolic meanings. Ornamental horticulture became highly developed during the development of Roman civilisation. The administrators of the Roman Empire (c.100 BC - AD 500) actively exchanged information on agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, hydraulics, and botany. Seeds and plants were widely shared. The Gardens of Lucullus (Horti Lucullani) on the Pincian Hill on the edge of Rome introduced the Persian garden to Europe, about 60 BC.
  • Byzantine gardens

Islamic gardens

Chinese and Japanese gardens

  • 'Hill-and-Pond' gardens of China and Japan. Both Chinese and Japanese garden design traditionally is intended to evoke the natural landscape of mountains and rivers. However, the intended viewpoint of the gardens differs: Chinese gardens were intended to be viewed from within the garden and are intended as a setting for everyday life. Japanese gardens, with a few exceptions, were intended to be viewed from within the house, sort of like a diorama. Additionally, Chinese gardens more often included a water feature, while Japanese gardens, set in a wetter climate, would often get by with the suggestion of water. (Such as sand or pebbles raked into a wave pattern.) Traditional Chinese gardens are also more likely to treat the plants in a naturalistic way, while traditional Japanese gardens might feature plants sheared into mountain shapes. This contrasts with the handling of stone elements: in a Japanese garden, stones are placed in groupings as part of the landscape, but in a Chinese garden, a particularly choice stone might even be placed on a pedestal in a prominent location so that it might be more easily appreciated.
  • Zen garden of Japan.

European gardens: Medieval

European gardens: Italian Renaissance

  • The Italian Renaissance inspired a revolution in gardening. Renaissance gardens were full of scenes from ancient mythology and other learned allusions. Water during this time was especially symbolic: it was associated with fertility and the abundance of nature.
  • Terraced Italian garden of the Renaissance.
Enlarge picture
The Medici Villa Petraia, near Florence, laid out by Niccolò Tribolo, epitomizes the Italian garden of the early Renaissance, before the grander architectural schemes of the 16th century

European gardens: French Baroque

  • Baroque French gardens of André Le Nôtre and followers.
Characterized by a centrally positioned building, elaborate parterres, radiating axis, fountains, basins and canals. Gardens of this typology are also designed with an interest in mathematics and science. Perspective is highly designed for to create a sense of power for the owner.

European gardens: Anglo-Dutch gardens

  • Anglo-Dutch formalgardens

Landscape gardens

Romantic gardens

Picturesque gardens

'Gardenesque' gardens

The 'Gardenesque' style of English garden design evolved during the 1820s from Humphry Repton's Picturesque or 'Mixed' style, largely under the impetus of J. C. Loudon, who invented the term.

In a Gardenesque plan, all the trees, shrubs and other plants are positioned and managed in such a way that the character of each plant can be displayed to its full potential. With the spread of botany as a suitable avocation for the enlightened, the Gardenesque tended to emphasize botanical curiosities and a collector's approach. New plant material that would have seemed bizarre and alien in earlier gardening found settings: Pampas grass from Argentina and Monkey-puzzle trees. Winding paths linked scattered plantings. The Gardenesque approach involved the creation of small-scale landscapes, dotted with features and vignettes, to promote beauty of detail, variety and mystery, sometimes to the detriment of coherence. Artificial mounds helped to stage groupings of shrubs, and island beds became prominent features.

Pattern gardens: revived parterres

"Wild" gardens and herbaceous borders

The books of William Robinson describing his own "wild" gardening at Gravetye Manor, Sussex, and the sentimental picture of a rosy, idealized "cottage garden" of the kind pictured by Kate Greenaway, which had scarcely existed historically, both influenced the development of the mixed herbaceous borders that were advocated by Gertrude Jekyll from the 1890s. Her plantings, which mixed shrubs with perennial and annual plants and bulbs in deep beds within more formal structures of terraces and stairs designed by Edwin Lutyens, set the model for high-style, high-maintenance gardening until the Second World War. Vita Sackville-West's garden at Sissinghurst Castle, Kent is the most famous and influential garden of this last blossoming of romantic style, publicized by the gardener's own gardening column in The Observer. In the last quarter of the 20th century, less structured Wildlife gardening emphasized the ecological framework of similar gardens using native plants.

Modern gardens

Historic gardeners

The following names, roughly in historical order, made contributions that affected the history of gardens, whether as botanist explorers, designers, garden-makers, or writers. Further information on them will be found under their individual entries.

Notable historic gardens

Enlarge picture
The Italian garden at Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow, Ireland

China

England

France

India

Iraq

Ireland

Italy

Netherlands

Pakistan

Poland

Russia

Spain

Ukraine

  • Sofiówka, Ukraine

United States

References

  • J. S. Berrall. The Garden: An Illustrated History
  • Ciolek, Gerard. "Ogrody polskie" [Gardens of Poland]. Revised edition of the 1954 publication under the same title, updated and expanded by Janusz Bogdanowski. Warszawa: Arkady (1978).
  • Carroll, Maureen. "Earthly Paradises: Ancient Gardens in History and Archaeology" (London, British Museum Press 2003)
  • Engel, David. Creating a Chinese Garden, Timber Press, 1986.
  • E. Hyams. A History of Gardens and Gardening (1971)
  • Tom Turner. "Garden history: philosophy and design 2000 BC to 2000 AD" (Spon, London, 2005)

See also

External links

Horticulture and Gardening

Gardening
Gardening  Garden  Botanical garden  Arboretum  Botany  Plant
Horticulture
Horticulture  Agriculture  Urban agriculture  City farm  Organic farming  Herb farm  Hobby
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Agriculture (from Agri Latin for ager ("a field"), and culture, from the Latin cultura "cultivation" in the strict sense of "tillage of the soil". A literal reading of the English word yields "tillage of the soil of a field".
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Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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History is the study of the past, focused on human activity and leading up to the present day.[1] More precisely, history is the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race [1]
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A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form is known as a residential garden.
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Gumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyyah
Arab Republic of Egypt


Flag Coat of arms
Anthem
Bilady, Bilady, Bilady
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15th century BC - 14th century BC

1530s BC 1520s BC 1510s BC - 1500s BC - 1490s BC 1480s BC 1470s BC
1509 BC 1508 BC 1507 BC 1506 BC 1505 BC
1504 BC 1503 BC 1502 BC 1501 BC 1500 BC

- - State leaders - Sovereign states
-

Events and trends


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    Nymphaea

    Species

    About 50 species, including:
    Nymphaea alba - European White Water-lily
    Nymphaea amazonum
    Nymphaea ampla
    Nymphaea blanda
    Nymphaea caerulea - Egyptian Blue Water-lily

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    pond is typically a man made body of water smaller than a lake. However the difference between a pond and an artificial lake is subjective. They are both formed by ponding water.
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    Acacia
    Miller

    Species

    About 1,300; see List of Acacia species

    Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Linnaeus in 1773.
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    Arecaceae
    Schultz-Schultzenstein

    Genera

    Many; see list of Arecaceae genera

    Arecaceae or Palmae (also known by the name Palmaceae, which is taxonomically invalid[1]
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    50-60 million
    (including all sub-groups)
    Regions with significant populations
     Iran [1]
    [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ir.html#People]
     Tajikistan [2]
    [https://www.cia.
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    Darius I of Persia, the Great
    Great King (Shah) of Persia, Pharaoh of Egypt

    Reign 522 BC to 485/486 BC
    Born 549 BC
    Died 485 BC or 486 BC
    Predecessor Smerdis
    Successor Xerxes I

    Darius the Great (c.
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    Paradise garden is a form of garden, originally just paradise, a word derived from the Avestan language, or Old Persian. Its original meaning was a walled-in compound or garden; from pairi (around) and daeza or diz (wall, brick, or shape).
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    Hanging Gardens of Babylon (also known as Hanging Gardens of Semiramis) and the walls of Babylon (near present-day Al Hillah in Iraq) are considered one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. They were built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BCE.
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    Various Wonders of the World lists have been compiled over the ages in order to catalogue the most spectacular natural and manmade constructions. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the first known list of remarkable manmade creations of classical antiquity, and was based on
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    4th century BC - 3rd century BC
    380s BC  370s BC  360s BC - 350s BC - 340s BC  330s BC  320s BC 
    353 BC 352 BC 351 BC - 350 BC - 349 BC 348 BC 347 BC

    Politics
    State leaders - Sovereign states

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    academy (Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia
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    Location

    Coordinates Coordinates:
    Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
    Elevation (min-max): 70 - 338 m (0 - 0 ft)
    Government
    Country:
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    Theophrastus (Greek: Θεόφραστος; 370 — about 285 BC), a native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school.
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    Botany is the scientific study of plant life. As a branch of biology, it is also called plant science(s), phytology, or plant biology. Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines that study plants, algae, and fungi including: structure, growth,
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    Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
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    Epicurus (Greek Έπίκουρος) (341 BCE, Samos – 270 BCE, Athens) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of Epicureanism, a popular school of thought in Hellenistic Philosophy that
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    Hermarchus (in Greek Eρμαρχoς), sometimes, but incorrectly, written Hermachus. He was a son of Agemarchus, a poor man of Mytilene (in insular Greece), and was at first brought up as a rhetorician, but afterwards became a faithful disciple of
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Location

    Coordinates Coordinates:
    Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
    Elevation (center): 8 m (0 ft)
    Government
    Country: Greece
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    Alciphron, Greek rhetorician, was probably a contemporary of Lucian (2nd century A.D.). He was the author of a collection of fictitious letters, of which 124 (118 complete and 6 fragments) have been published; they are written in the purest Attic dialect and are considered models
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    Lucius Licinius Lucullus (ca. 118-56 BC) was a consul of ancient Rome, a supporter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and victor in the East.

    Biography

    Born in Rome, he was a member of the prominent gens
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    mural is a painting on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface.

    Murals of sorts date to prehistoric times such as the paintings on the Caves of Lascaux in southern France, but the term became famous with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Pompeii is a ruined Roman city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei.

    It, along with Herculaneum, was destroyed, and completely buried, during a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days on
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    State Party  Italy
    Type Cultural
    Criteria i, ii, iii
    Reference 907
    Region Europe and North America

    Inscription History
    Inscription 1999  (23rd Session)
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