Ancient Gardens

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GARDENS (2600 -31 BC) The gardens of ancient Egypt probably began as simple fruit orchards and vegetable gardens, irrigated with water from the Nile. The earliest gardens were composed of planting beds divided into squares by earthen walls, so the water could soak into the soil rather than run off. Gardens belonged to temples or the residences. Secular gardens were located near the river or canals, and were used mainly for growing vegetables. Beginning with the New Kingdom, gardens were attached to more luxurious residences, and were sometimes enclosed by walls. Temple gardens were used to raise certain vegetables for ceremonies, gradually as the country became richer; they evolved into pleasure gardens, with flowers, ponds and alleys of fruit and shade trees. Temples, palaces, and private residences had their own gardens, and models of gardens were sometimes placed in tombs so their owners could enjoy them in their afterlife. Ancient Egyptian gardens often consisted of both trees and other plants. There were about eighteen varieties of trees grown by the Egyptians. Popular trees included the sycamore fig, pomegranate, nut trees and jujube. The Pink flowered tamarisk, acacia and willow trees were common in gardens.

ANCIENT GREEK GARDENS (480 -146 BC) The Ancient Greeks were filled with amazement when they first beheld the magnificent parks of Eastern potentates. Their own civilization had produced nothing to compare with the achievements of these mighty satraps and imperial kings. In the best period, when the other arts in Greece were rapidly advancing to their highest point of development, we hear nothing about Greek garden culture. Nor, through excavation, do we expect any satisfactory evidence of this most perishable of all the arts. Moreover, the witnesses who give us pictures of Oriental and Egyptian gardens—poets, historians, and painters—are silent here. So it is only by listening for chance remarks in literature that we can trace any development of the Greek gardens, so simple yet so important in its results.

ANCIENT ROMAN GARDENS (27BC -476 AD) Roman gardens began as practical features. Large or small, they were sources of vegetables, herbs and fruit for the household. However by the imperial period any garden of significant size incorporated plants, water features and statues into a careful designed haven for the gardens owner. Archaeological remains can be interpreted using ancient source material to recreate the layout and plants most commonly found in Roman gardens. Private Roman gardens were generally separated into three parts. The first, the xystus, was a terrace that served as an open air drawing room and connected to the home via a covered portico. The xystus overlooked the lower garden, or ambulation. The ambulation consisted of a variety of flowers, trees, and other foliage and served as an ideal milieu for a leisurely stroll after a meal, some mild conversation, or other Roman recreation activities. The gestation was a shaded avenue where the master of a home could ride horseback or be carried by his slaves. It generally encircled the ambulation, or was constructed as a separate oval shaped space.

ANCIENT CHINESE GARDENS (1600 BC -1279 AD) Classical Chinese gardens and parks combine classical Chinese architecture with painting, calligraphy, poems, carving

and horticulture, while offering living places and practical functions. They feature a natural landscape in order to give the onlooker a feeling of perfect harmony between man-made and natural beauty. Chinese gardens generally consist of halls, towers, pavilions, kiosks, terraces, waterside gazebos, covered corridors, hills, and ponds or lakes. A variety of garden-building techniques, accumulated by ancient Chinese designers, have made the scenery of the gardens look changeable, thus adding artistic appeal to the gardens. A Chinese garden was not meant to be seen all at once; the plan of a classical Chinese garden presented the visitor with a series of perfectly composed and framed glimpses of scenery; a view of a pond, or of a rock, or a grove of bamboo, a blossoming tree, or a view of a distant mountain peak or a pagoda.

JAPANESE GARDENS (575 -1600 AD) A unique style of Japanese gardening evolved during the Heian Period known as Shinden-zukuri. Such a garden was positioned in front of the palace with an artificial water passage leading water into a pond. The pond would have islands in it. The layout of the Heian gardens generally followed the Chineseinspired principles of geomancy (feng shui), including the idea that the pond should be created by a stream entering the garden area from the northeast (the realm of the Blue Dragon, the Chinese and Japanese Guardian of the East) and exiting at the southwest (the realm of the White Tiger, Guardian of the West). As Wybe Kuitert has pointed out, however, this geomantic prescription actually corresponds to the natural flow of water in the plain on which Kyoto is situated. The pond itself would have had one or more islands and peninsulas accessible by bridges built high enough to allow boats to pass. In the usual layout, one or two of the covered corridors of the villa would have terminated in a "fishing pavilion" (tsuri dono) (B) and/or a "spring pavilion" (C) overlooking the pond.

MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN GARDENS (500 -1200 AD) Medieval gardening, or gardening during the medieval period, was the chief method of providing food for households, but also encompassed orchards, cemeteries and pleasure gardens. The European medieval era will be considered to span, though appropriate references may be made to earlier and later times. Gardening is the deliberate cultivation of plants herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables. The aromatic and medicinal herbs garden separate from the vegetable garden, the orchard, and the garden of bouquet flowers – grown to adorn the altars. Little room is left for recreation as everything is productive when there are many mouths to feed.

MOORISH GARDENS In Spain in VIII - XIV c. A.D., after its conquest by the Arabs (the Moors), appears the special form of garden called the patio. This is a closed type of garden, in which the ancient traditions and Persian gardens merged during its development. The oldest of the still existing, preserved Moorish gardens is the patio of the palace ensemble in Grenada. The garden is isolated on the terraces, it is limited by the colonnades of towers, palaces and walls. The patio's purpose is to provide a place for relaxation, meditation and contemplation; therefore the presence of ponds, fountains, tile mosaics and concise gardening is characteristic of it. The nature of the Moorish garden - is the simplicity of planning and the uniqueness of the solution. Water is the primary motif of the garden. In the regular planning style a courtyard - patio is always present. Specific points are arranged and arcades take shape. The plants are exotic and correspond to the climatic conditions: mandarins, cypresses, oranges and oleanders. They are planted freely and trimming, for the most part, did not adapt. Lawns were not used because of the hot climate and the territory took shape through decorative paving - this is one of the key elements of Moorish garden.

Cultural bloom at this time was observed, many cities from India to Spain were proud of their gardens. In order to give the gardens a certain charm irrigation systems built by Romans were used. Fountains never contained the imprint of the human essence, the artists ideas were never combined with man or his humanly form since the Koran forbids the depiction of the exposed body. Furthermore, designers were more restrained in the estimation of a quantity of utilized water (if we do not consider some Turkish gardens), although this restraint was always found in balance with a feeling of aesthetical "completeness", self-sufficiency of a garden.