Editing Gardening (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of gardening}}[[Image:Forestgarden2.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Robert Hart (horticulturist)|Robert Hart]]'s forest garden in [[Shropshire]], England]]

===Ancient times===
[[Forest gardening]], a forest-based food production system, is the world's oldest form of gardening.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Forest Farms of Kandy: And Other Gardens of Complete Design|author=Douglas John McConnell|year=2003|page=1|publisher=Ashgate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYBSfUJPQXcC&pg=PA1|isbn=9780754609582|access-date=6 October 2020|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115181038/https://books.google.com/books?id=QYBSfUJPQXcC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the emergence of the first [[civilization]]s, wealthy individuals began to create gardens for aesthetic purposes. [[Ancient Egypt]]ian tomb paintings from the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] (around 1500 BC) provide some of the earliest physical evidence of ornamental [[horticulture]] and landscape design; they depict [[Egyptian lotus|lotus]] ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of [[acacia]]s and [[palm tree|palms]]. A notable example of ancient ornamental gardens was the [[Hanging Gardens of Babylon]]—one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]] —while [[ancient Rome]] had dozens of gardens.

Wealthy ancient Egyptians used gardens to provide shade. Egyptians associated trees and gardens with gods, believing that their deities were pleased by gardens. Gardens in ancient Egypt were often surrounded by walls with trees planted in rows. Among the most popular species planted were [[date palms]], sycamores, [[Ficus|fig trees]], nut trees, and [[willows]]. These gardens were a sign of higher socioeconomic status. In addition, wealthy ancient Egyptians grew vineyards, as wine was a sign of the higher social classes. [[Rose]]s, poppies, [[Asteraceae|daisies]] and [[Iris (plant)|irises]] could all also be found in the gardens of the Egyptians.

[[Assyria]] was renowned for its beautiful gardens. These tended to be wide and large, some of them used for hunting game, rather like a game reserve today, and others as leisure gardens. [[Cupressus|Cypresses]] and palms were some of the most frequently planted types of trees.

Gardens were also available in [[Kingdom of Kush|Kush]]. In [[Musawwarat es-Sufra]], the Great Enclosure, dated to the 3rd century BC, included splendid gardens.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Stirn|first=Isma'il Kushkush,Matt|title=Why Sudan's Remarkable Ancient Civilization Has Been Overlooked by History|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/sudan-land-kush-meroe-ancient-civilization-overlooked-180975498/|access-date=2020-08-23|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|archive-date=12 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712111903/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/sudan-land-kush-meroe-ancient-civilization-overlooked-180975498/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Ancient Roman]] gardens were laid out with hedges and vines and contained a wide variety of flowers—[[Acanthus (plant)|acanthus]], [[cornflowers]], [[crocus]], [[cyclamen]], hyacinth, iris, ivy, [[lavender]], lilies, myrtle, narcissus, poppy, [[rosemary]] and violets<ref name="localhistories">{{cite web|url=http://www.localhistories.org/gardening.html|title=A Brief History of Gardening|access-date=2010-06-04|archive-date=6 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006030245/http://www.localhistories.org/gardening.html|url-status=live}}</ref>—as well as statues and sculptures. Flower beds were popular in the courtyards of rich Romans.

===The Middle Ages===
[[File:Mendel II 073 v.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A gardener at work, 1607]]

The [[Middle Ages]] represent a period of decline in gardens for aesthetic purposes. After the fall of Rome, gardening was done for the purpose of growing [[medicinal herbs]] and/or decorating church [[altars]]. Monasteries carried on a tradition of [[garden design]] and intense horticultural techniques during the medieval period in [[Europe]].
Generally, monastic garden types consisted of kitchen gardens, infirmary gardens, cemetery [[orchard]]s, cloister garths and vineyards. Individual monasteries might also have had a "green court", a plot of grass and trees where horses could graze, as well as a cellarer's garden or private gardens for obedientiaries, monks who held specific posts within the monastery.

[[Islamic garden]]s were built after the model of [[Persian gardens]], and they were usually enclosed by walls and divided into four by watercourses. Commonly, the centre of the garden would have a [[reflecting pool]] or [[pavilion]]. Specific to the Islamic gardens are the [[mosaic]]s and glazed tiles used to decorate the rills and [[fountain]]s that were built in these gardens.

By the late 13th century, rich Europeans began to grow gardens for leisure and medicinal herbs and vegetables.<ref name="localhistories" /> They surrounded the gardens by walls to protect them from animals and to provide [[seclusion]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sellers |first=Authors: Vanessa Bezemer |title=Gardens of Western Europe, 1600–1800 {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gard_1/hd_gard_1.htm |access-date=2023-06-30 |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2003 |language=en}}</ref> During the next two centuries, Europeans started planting lawns and raising flowerbeds and trellises of roses. Fruit trees were common in these gardens, and also in some, there were turf seats. At the same time, the gardens in the [[monasteries]] were a place to grow flowers and medicinal herbs, but they were also a space where the [[monk]]s could enjoy nature and relax.

The gardens in the 16th and 17th centuries were [[symmetric]], proportioned and balanced with a more classical appearance. Most of these gardens were built around a central axis, and they were divided into different parts by hedges. Commonly, gardens had flowerbeds laid out in squares and separated by gravel paths.

Gardens during the [[Renaissance]] were adorned with sculptures, [[topiary]] and fountains. In the 17th century, [[knot garden]]s became popular along with the [[hedge maze]]s. By this time, Europeans started planting new flowers such as [[tulips]], marigolds and [[sunflowers]].

===Cottage gardens===
[[File:XN Kerascoet.jpg|thumb|A cottage garden in [[Brittany]]]]

[[Cottage garden]]s, which emerged in [[Elizabethan times]], appear to have originated as a local source for herbs and fruits.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ryrie|first=Charlie|title=The Cottage Garden: How to Plan and Plant a Garden That Grows Itself|publisher=[[Collins & Brown]]|year=2004|page=7|isbn=978-1-84340-216-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VfO_WIAx0wC&pg=PA7}}</ref> One theory is that they arose out of the [[Black Death]] of the 1340s, when the death of so many laborers made land available for small cottages with personal gardens.<ref name="Scott-James80">{{cite book|last=Scott-James|first=Anne|author2=Osbert Lancaster|title=The Pleasure Garden: An Illustrated History of British Gardening|publisher=[[Frances Lincoln Publishers]]|year=2004|page=80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbhwIo3m3mQC&pg=PA80|isbn=978-0-7112-2360-8}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> According to the late 19th-century legend of origin,<ref>[[Anne Scott-James]], ''The Cottage Garden'' (London: Lane) 1981, demythologised the origins of the English cottage garden, and its treasured [[topiary]] among the vegetables and flowers, popularly supposed to represent heirlooms from the seventeenth century.</ref> These gardens were originally created by the workers who lived in the cottages of the villages to provide them with food and herbs, with flowers planted among them for decoration. [[Farmworker|Farm workers]] were provided with cottages that had architectural quality set in a small garden—about {{convert|1|acre|abbr=off}}—where they could grow food and keep pigs and chickens.<ref>Colvin, Howard (2008). ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840'', [[Yale University Press]], {{ISBN|0-300-12508-9}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CSyaO-MqYoAC&pg=PA659 p. 659] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115181038/https://books.google.com/books?id=CSyaO-MqYoAC&pg=PA659 |date=15 January 2023 }}</ref>

Authentic gardens of the [[yeoman]] cottager would have included a beehive and [[livestock]], and frequently a pig and sty, along with a well. The peasant cottager of medieval times was more interested in meat than flowers, with herbs grown for medicinal use rather than for their beauty. By Elizabethan times, there was more prosperity, and thus more room to grow flowers. Even the early cottage garden flowers typically had their practical use—violets were spread on the floor (for their pleasant scent and keeping out vermin); [[calendula]]s and [[primula vulgaris|primroses]] were both attractive and used in cooking. Others, such as [[Dianthus barbatus|sweet William]] and [[hollyhock]]s, were grown entirely for their beauty.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lloyd|first=Christopher|author2=Richard Bird|others=Jacqui Hurst|title=The Cottage Garden|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|year=1999|pages=6–9|isbn=978-0-7513-0702-3}}</ref>

===18th century===
[[File:Sheffield Park Gardens, Fletching, Sussex - geograph.org.uk - 1582535.jpg|thumb|[[Sheffield Park Garden]], a [[landscape garden]] originally laid out in the 18th century by [[Capability Brown]]]]

In the 18th century, gardens were laid out more naturally, without any walls. This style of smooth, undulating grass, which would run straight to the house, clumps, belts and scattering of trees and serpentine lakes formed by invisibly damming small rivers, was a new style within the [[England|English]] landscape. This was a "gardenless" form of landscape gardening, which swept away almost all the remnants of previous, formally patterned styles. The [[English landscape garden]] usually included a lake, lawns set against [[Grove (nature)|groves of trees]], and often contained shrubberies, grottoes, pavilions, bridges and [[folly|follies]] such as mock temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape. This new style emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical [[garden à la française]] of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe.<ref>Yves-Marie Allain and Janine Christiany, ''L'Art des jardins en Europe'', Citadelles and Mazenod, Paris, 2006.</ref> The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. They were often inspired by paintings of landscapes by [[Claude Lorraine]] and [[Nicolas Poussin]], and some were Influenced by the classic [[Chinese gardens]] of the East,<ref name=Boults/> which had recently been described by European travelers.<ref name=Boults>{{cite book|title=Illustrated History of Landscape Design|author=Boults, Elizabeth and Chip Sullivan|publisher=[[John Wiley and Sons]]|year=2010|isbn=978-0-470-28933-4|page=175}}</ref> The work of [[Capability Brown|Lancelot 'Capability' Brown]] was particularly influential. Also, in 1804, the Horticultural Society was formed.

Gardens of the 19th century contained plants such as the monkey puzzle or [[Chile pine]]. This is also the time when the so-called "[[gardenesque]]" style of gardens evolved. These gardens displayed a wide variety of flowers in a rather small space. [[Rock garden]]s increased in popularity in the 19th century.

In ancient India, patterns from [[sacred geometry]] and [[mandala]]s were used to design gardens. Distinct mandala patterns denoted specific deities, planets, or even constellations. Such a garden was also referred to as a 'Mandala Vaatika'. The word 'Vaatika' can mean garden, plantation or parterre.