Ancient Gardens
In the ancient days, the gardens were much esteemed and were kept for secular purposes. The ancient gardens were mostly attached to the compounds of the temples.
Earlier gardens were used mostly for food produce and medicinal purposes. The flowers were cultivated in the garden for the use in garlands to wear at festivals.
Gardens seem to outline significantly in an ancient civilized people’s tradition about the origin of the world. Ornamental gardening and landscape gardening are the ancient arts.
Ornamental gardens have a very ancient history. In these gardens, plants were originally used for the royalty and nobility. The Egyptians were the first to bring in ornamental gardens. The first garden was recorded in 2200 BC. .The ancient gardens had a very symbolic design, which consists of four parts divided by water. Egyptian gardens were very formal. They were planted in rectangular beds. The Egyptians grew herbs for the medicinal uses and fragrance in their gardens. The plants grown in earthenware pots originated from the period 1198-1166 BC. The Egyptian gardens date from about 1400 BC, which show rectangular ponds and tree-lined avenues.
In Mesopotamian gardens, one can take the pleasure of shade and cool water. The Mesopotamians build private parks and terraced gardens.
The Persians were particularly expert in using water for ornamental purposes. In the East, the Buddhists from India to China broaden the planting of the sacred groves. They set a naturalistic garden style, in which the beauty of the natural scenery was emphasized by distributing plants to grow freely and to set off their colors and fragrances to best advantage.
The Japanese elaborated this principle into a distinct style of highly disciplined arrangements of plants and their settings with the object of achieving delicate beauty based on simplicity and economy. The Japanese practice of bonsai gave the idea of unique miniature gardens and dish gardens.
Islamic gardens used water, frequently in pools and had narrow canals, which resembled irrigation channels. European gardens revealed self-confidence in human capability to enforce order on the world. Chinese gardens usually synchronized with the natural landscape and incorporated rocks as a decorative feature.
The ancient Mesopotamian peoples also constructed ziggurats, which are the terraced pyramids. The well-known "Hanging Gardens of Babylon", which is one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" was cultivated on a ziggurat. It is said that King Nebuchadnezzar made this garden for his Persian wife who was homesick.
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