History Of Gardens: A Sleep Journey

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

A space to quiet your mind and ease into rest.

I'm Benjamin Boster,

And tonight I'll be reading about a new favorite topic,

The history of gardens.

And I'll try to do this in a calm,

Soothing voice to help you to drift off.

So get comfortable,

Take a deep breath and settle in,

And let's begin.

The early history of gardening is largely entangled with the history of agriculture.

Smaller gardens generally had being a kitchen garden as their first priority,

As it is still often the case.

The broad traditions that have dominated gardening since ancient times include those of the ancient Near East,

Which became the Islamic garden,

The Mediterranean,

Which produced the Roman garden,

Hugely influencing later European gardening,

And the Chinese garden and its development on the Japanese garden.

While the basic gardening techniques were fairly well understood by trial and error from early on,

The plants available in a particular location have changed enormously,

Especially in recent centuries.

Many new groups of plants have been introduced from other parts of the world,

And ornamental plants now used are mostly cultivars bred to improve qualities,

Such as color,

Length of flowering,

Size,

And hardiness.

In Europe during the Renaissance,

Garden design was dominated by the Italian garden,

Which developed into the French formal garden,

Dominating the Baroque period.

Both were formal styles,

Attempting to impose architectural principles on the garden.

In the 18th century,

The English landscape garden developed,

Apparently informal and natural,

But requiring very large spaces,

And by the end of the century dominated all Europe in the largest new gardens.

Gardening may be considered as aesthetic expressions of beauty through art and nature,

A display of taste or style in civilized life,

An expression of individuals or cultures philosophy,

And sometimes as a display of private status or national pride in private and public landscapes.

The enclosure of outdoor space probably began around 10,

000 BC.

Historians imagine the first enclosure was a type of barrier used for excluding animals and marauders,

Perhaps beginning in West Asia,

Thereafter spreading to South and East Asia,

And westward into Greece and Europe.

The modern words garden and yard are descendants of the Old English yrd,

Which denotes a fence or enclosure.

After the emergence of the first civilizations,

Wealthy citizens began creating gardens for purely aesthetic purposes.

Egyptian tomb paintings of the 16th century BC are some of the earliest physical evidence of ornamental horticulture and landscape design,

Depicting lotus ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of acacias and palms.

Another ancient tradition is of Persia.

Darius the Great was said to have had a paradise garden,

And the hanging gardens of Babylon were renowned as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Persian gardens were designed along a central axis of symmetry.

Persian influences extended to Hellenistic Greece after Alexander the Great.

Around 350 BC there were gardens at the Academy of Athens in Theophrastus,

Who wrote on botany,

Supposedly inherited a garden from Aristotle.

Epicurus had a garden where he walked and taught,

And he bequeathed it to Hermarchus of Mytilene.

Alcephron also referenced private gardens in his writing.

The most influential ancient gardens in the western world were those of Ptolemy in Alexandria,

Egypt,

And the horticultural tradition that Lucullus brought to Rome.

While paintings in Pompeii,

Italy attest to later elaborate development,

The wealthiest Romans built extensive villa gardens with water features,

Including fountains and rivulets,

Topiary,

Roses,

And shaded arcades.

Archaeological evidence survives at sites such as Hadrian's Villa.

Vitruvius,

A Roman author and engineer,

Wrote the oldest text and design manual in 27 BC.

De Architectura Libri Decem,

Ten Books on Architecture,

Addressed design theory,

Landscape architecture,

Engineering,

Water supply,

And public projects such as parks and squares.

Vitruvius asserted that firmitas,

Firmness,

Durability,

Strength,

Utilitas,

Commodity,

Convenience,

Utility,

And venustas,

Delight,

Loveliness,

Beauty,

Were the primary objectives of design.

Some still consider these elements essential to quality design of landscape.

Byzantium and Moorish Spain continued horticultural traditions after the 4th century AD and the decline of Rome.

By this time,

A separate horticultural tradition formed in China,

Which was transmitted to Japan where it developed into aristocratic gardens,

Featuring miniaturized and simulated natural landscapes,

Centered on ponds and the severe Zen garden form featured at temples.

In Europe,

The medieval garden developed slowly,

Perhaps with a particular revival in Languedoc and the Ile-de-France in the 13th century.

By the end of the period,

An interest in ornamental gardens was well developed.

The rediscovery of descriptions of antique Roman villas and gardens led to the creation of a new form of garden,

The Italian Renaissance garden,

In the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

The Spanish crown built the first public parks of this era in the 16th century,

Both in Europe and the Americas.

The formal Garden de la Francaise,

Exemplified by the Gardens of Versailles,

Became the dominant horticultural style in Europe until the middle of the 18th century,

When the English landscape garden and the French landscape garden acceded to dominance.

In the 19th century,

A welter of historical revivals and romantic cottage-inspired gardening emerged.

In England,

William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll were influential prominence of the wild garden and the perennial garden,

Respectively.

Andrew Jackson Downing and Frederick Law Olmsted adapted European forms for North America,

Especially influencing the design of public parks,

Campuses,

And suburban landscapes.

Olmsted's influence extended well into the 20th century.

The 20th century saw the influence of modernism in the garden,

From the articulate clarity of Thomas Church to the bold colors and forms of the Brazilian Roberto Burl Marx.

Environmental consciousness and sustainable design practices,

Such as green roofs and rainwater harvesting,

Are becoming widely practiced as innovations in these fields continue to develop.

Mesopotamia,

The land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates,

Comprises a hilly and mountainous northern area and a flat alluvial south.

Its peoples,

Sumerians,

Akkadians,

Assyrians,

And Babylonians,

Were urban and literate from about 3000 BC.

Evidence for their gardens comes from written texts,

Pictorial sculpture,

And archaeology.

In Western tradition,

Mesopotamia was the location of the Garden of Eden and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Temple gardens developed from the representation of a sacred grove.

Several distinct styles of royal garden are also known.

The courtyard garden was enclosed by the walls of a palace,

Or on a larger scale was a cultivated place inside the city walls.

At Mari,

In the middle Euphrates,

Circa 1800 BC,

One of the huge palace courtyards was called the Court of the Palms in contemporary written records.

It is crossed by raised walkways of baked brick.

The king and his entourage would dine there.

At Ugarit,

Circa 1400 BC,

There was a stone water basin,

Not located centrally as in later Persian gardens,

For the central feature was probably a tree,

Date,

Palm,

Or tamarisk.

The 7th century BC Assyrian king Asrbanipal is shown on a sculpture feasting with his queen,

Reclining on a couch beneath an arbor of vines,

Attended by musicians.

A Babylonian text from the same period is divided into sections,

As if showing beds of soil with the names of medicinal,

Vegetable,

And herbal plants written into each square,

Perhaps representing a parterre design.

On a larger scale,

Royal hunting parks were established to hold the exotic animals and plants which the king had acquired on his foreign campaigns.

King Tiglath-Pileser I,

Circa 1000 BC,

Lists horses,

Oxen,

Asses,

Deer of two types,

Gazelle,

And ibex,

Boasting,

I numbered them like flocks of sheep.

From around 1000 BC the Assyrian kings developed a style of city garden incorporating a naturalistic layout,

Running water supplied from river headwaters,

And exotic plants from their foreign campaigns.

Ashurnasirpal II,

883-859 BC,

Lists pines of different kinds,

Cypresses and junipers of different kinds,

Almonds,

Dates,

Ebony,

Rosewood,

Olive,

Oak,

Tamarisk,

Walnut,

Terebinth,

And ash,

Fir pomegranate,

Pear,

Quince,

Fig,

And grapevines.

The canal water gushes from above into the gardens,

Fragrance pervades the walkways,

Streams of water as numerous as the stars of heaven flow in the pleasure garden,

Like a squirrel,

I pick fruit in the garden of delights.

The city garden reached its zenith with the palace design of Sennacherib,

704-681 BC,

Whose water system stretched for 50 kilometers into the hills,

Whose garden was higher and more ornate than any others,

And who boasted of the complex technologies he deployed,

Calling his palace and garden a wonder for all peoples.

The biblical book of Genesis mentions the Tigris and Euphrates as two of the four rivers bounding the Garden of Eden.

No specific place has been identified,

Although there are many theories.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are listed by classical Greek writers as one of the seven wonders of the world,

Places to see before you die.

The evacuated ruins of Babylon do not reveal any suitable evidence,

Which has led some scholars to suggest that they may have been purely legendary.

Alternatively,

The story may have originated from Sennacherib's garden in Nineveh.

Gardens in Indian subcontinent finds mentions in early literature,

Which mentions different types of gardens and method to build them.

Archaeologically,

The gardens at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka is the best preserved water gardens in South Asia,

And is also one of the oldest landscaped gardens in the world.

Ancient Indian gardens are mentioned in several ancient Hindu texts,

Including Rigveda,

Ramayana,

And Mahabharata.

Buddhist accounts mention a bamboo grove which was gifted by King Bimbisara to Buddha.

Digha Nikaya,

A Buddhist text,

Also mentions Buddha staying in the mango orchard of the Jivaka monastery,

Gifted by the physician Jivaka.

Harama in Sanskrit means garden,

And Sangharama is a place where Buddhist monk community lived in a garden-like place.

In Buddha's time,

Vaishali was a prosperous and populous town,

Full of parks and gardens,

And according to Lalit Vistara,

It resembled a city of God.

Emperor Ashoka's inscriptions mention the establishment of botanical gardens for planting medicinal herbs,

Plants,

And trees.

They contained pools of water,

Were laid in grid patterns,

And normally had chadri pavilions with them.

Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang mentions accounts of Nalanda,

Where azure pool winds around the monasteries,

Adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus.

The dazzling red flowers of the lovely Kanaka hang here and there,

And outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade.

There are accounts of four kinds of gardens in ancient India,

Udyan,

Paramadodvana,

Vriksha-vatika,

And Nandavavana.

Vatika was a small garden inside homes.

Margashivriksha was the practice of planting trees on the roadside for shade.

Manasalasa,

A 12th-century text giving details on garden design,

Asserts that it should include rocks and raised mounds of summits,

Manicured with plants and trees of diverse varieties,

Artificial ponds,

And flowing brooks.

It describes the arrangement,

The soils,

The seeds,

The distance between types of plants and trees,

The methods of preparing manure,

Proper fertilizing and maintaining the garden,

Which plants and trees are best planted first,

When to plant others,

Watering,

Signs of over-watering and under-watering,

Weeds,

Means of protecting the garden,

And other details.

Both public parks and woodland gardens are described with about 40 types of trees recommended for the park in the Vanakrita chapter.

All Persian gardens,

From the ancient to the high classical,

Were developed in opposition to the harsh and arid landscape of the Iranian plateau.

Unlike historical European gardens,

Which seemed carved or reordered from within their existing landscape,

Persian gardens appeared as impossibilities.

Their ethereal and delicate qualities emphasize their intrinsic contrast to the hostile environment.

Trees and trellises largely feature as biotic shade.

Pavilions and walls are also structurally prominent in blocking the sun.

The heat also makes water important,

Both in the design and maintenance of the garden.

Irrigation may be required and may be provided via a form of tunnel called a qanat that transports water from a local aquifer.

Well-like structures then connect to the qanat,

Enabling the drawing of water.

Alternatively,

An animal-driven Persian well would draw water to the surface.

Such wheel systems also moved water around surface water systems,

Such as those in the Chaharbagh style.

Trees were often planted in a ditch called a jui,

Which prevented water evaporation and allowed the water quick access to the tree roots.

The Persian style often attempts to integrate indoors with outdoors through the connection of a surrounding garden with an inner courtyard.

Designers often place architectural elements,

Such as vaulted arches,

Between the outer and interior areas to open up the divide between them.

Gardens were much cherished in the Egyptian times and were kept both for secular purposes and attached to the temple compounds.

Gardens in private homes and villas before the New Kingdom were mostly used for growing vegetables and located close to a canal or the river.

However,

In the New Kingdom,

They were often surrounded by walls,

And their purpose incorporated pleasure and beauty besides utility.

Garden produce made out an important part of foodstuff,

But flowers were also cultivated for use in garlands to wear at festive occasions and for medicinal purposes.

While the poor kept a patch for growing vegetables,

The rich people could afford gardens lined with sheltering trees and decorative pools with fish and waterfowl.

There could be wooden structures forming pergolas to support vines of grapes,

From which raisins and wine were produced.

There could even be elaborate stone kiosks for ornamental reasons with decorative statues.

Temple gardens had plots for cultivating special vegetables,

Plants,

Or herbs considered sacred to a certain deity and which were required in rituals and offerings,

Like lettuce to men.

Sacred groves and ornamental trees were planted in front of or near both cult temples and mortuary temples.

As temples were representations of heaven and built as the actual home of the God,

Gardens were laid out according to the same principle.

Avenues leading up to the entrance could be lined with trees,

Courtyards could hold small gardens,

And between temple buildings,

Gardens with trees,

Vineyards,

Flowers,

And ponds were maintained.

The ancient Egyptian garden would have looked different from a modern garden.

It would have seemed more like a collection of herbs or a patch of wild flowers,

Lacking the specially bred flowers of today.

Flowers like the iris,

Chrysanthemum,

Lily,

And delphinium,

Blue,

Were certainly known to the ancients,

But were not featured much in garden scenes.

Formal baskets seemed to have been composed of mandrake,

Poppy,

Cornflower,

And or lotus and papyrus.

Due to the arid climate of Egypt,

Tending gardens meant constant attention and depended on irrigation.

Skilled gardeners were employed by temples and households of the wealthy.

Duties included planting,

Weeding,

Watering by means of a shedoof,

Pruning of fruit trees,

Digging the ground,

And harvesting the fruit.

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 demonstrate wealth in the other communities is seemingly absent.

Roman gardens were a place of peace and solitude,

A refuge from urban life.

Gaius Mycenaeus,

A culturally influential confidant of the Emperor Augustus,

Built the first private garden estate of Rome to fulfill his creative ambitions and restore his delicate health.

Seneca the Younger characterized the garden's immersive blend of art,

Nature,

And water as having diverted his worried mind with the sound of rippling waters.

Ornamental horticulture became highly developed during the development of Roman civilization.

Administrators of the Roman Empire,

Circa 100 B.

C.

To 500 A.

D.

,

Actively exchanged information on agriculture,

Horticulture,

Animal husbandry,

Hydraulics,

And botany.

Seeds and plants were widely shared.

The gardens of Lucullus on the Pincian Hill on the edge of Rome introduced the Persian garden to Europe in about 60 B.

C.

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,

Somewhat like a diorama.

Moreover,

Chinese gardens 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 in 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 or cloud shapes.

This contrasts with the handling of stone elements.

In a Japanese garden,

Stepping stones are placed in groupings as part of the landscape,

But in a Chinese garden,

A particularly choiced stone might even be placed on a pedestal in a prominent location,

So that it might be more easily appreciated.

The style of Chinese gardens varies among economic groups and differs by dynasties.

Rocks,

Water,

Bridges,

And pavilions are among the most common features of scholar gardens for the wealthy classes,

While courtyards,

Wells,

And terracotta fish tanks are common among the general population.

Other features,

Such as moon gates and leaky windows,

Open work screens that pierce surrounding walls,

Are seen in both groups.

The development of landscape design in China was historically driven by philosophies of both Confucianism and Taoism.

Geometric symmetry and reinforcement of class boundaries were typical characteristics of landscape design in Asian cities,

And both characteristics reflect Confucian ideals.

While the British used nature outside the home to provide privacy,

Chinese homes were compounds made of a number of buildings,

Which all faced one or more courtyards or common areas.

Rather than around the home,

The Chinese valued natural spaces inside the compound,

Which is where the family socialized.

Furthermore,

Courtyards in the Chinese home reflected Taoist philosophies,

Where families would try to create abstractions of nature rather than recreations of it.

For example,

A Taoist garden would avoid straight lines and use stone and water instead of trees,

Whereas Asian cities followed Confucian geometric designs,

And North American parks typically feature trees and lawns.

There are two ways of looking at the signature design characteristics of the Chinese garden.

First,

The concept of yin and yang,

And second,

The myths of the longevity that arose during the Qin Dynasty.

The philosophy of yin and yang portrays the idea of balance and harmony.

The Chinese garden expresses the relationship to nature and the idea of balance through the art of mimicking natural settings,

Thus the existence of mountains,

Rocks,

Water,

And wind elements.

Yin and yang juxtapose complementary opposites.

As hard as rock can be,

The softness of water can dissolve it.

Lake Tai rocks,

Limestone eroded by the water of Lake Tai,

Are the quintessential example.

Water,

Air,

And light run through the rock as it sits still on display.

The leaky windows of the Chinese garden wall portray both steadiness and movement.

The windows create a solid painting on walls,

However,

That steadiness changes once the wind blows or the eyes move.