Garden

A garden is a planned space set aside for the cultivation and display of nature.

While the wild is uncontrolled, the single feature that identifies a garden is control. This means humans decide which plants grow and where they are placed. Gardens can use natural materials like soil and water. They can also incorporate artificial elements like statuary, pergolas, or fountains.

Some gardens are purely ornamental to delight the senses. Others are used to produce food crops. These food-producing gardens are different from farms because of their smaller scale. They require more labor-intensive methods and are meant for self-sustenance or a pastime.

Gardens serve many functional and aesthetic purposes. People use them for garden-based learning and the observation of nature. They provide spaces for bird-watching, relaxation, or reflecting on the changing seasons. A garden might be a place to grow fresh herbs for cooking. It can also be a place for recreation, such as children playing or reading in a hammock. Some people use gardens to escape oppressive heat or to find beauty in cut flowers. The design of these spaces often relies on landscape architecture. This professional field involves designing public and private projects at many different scales.

Different cultures have developed unique styles of garden design. In Western traditions, gardens are almost always based on plants. However, some Eastern styles, like Zen gardens, use plants very sparsely or not at all. English landscape gardens, which developed in the 18th century, may even omit flowers entirely.

In contrast, the French formal garden style uses parterres and geometrical shapes. This style was meant to show the triumph of human will over nature. It uses neatly clipped topiary and axial symmetry to create order. This contrasts with the English style, where plants seem to grow naturally without artifice.

History shows that gardens have been important to leaders for thousands of years. The earliest recorded Chinese gardens were in the Yellow River valley. These were created during the Shang dynasty between 1600 and 1046 BC.

Some were large parks where kings hunted game. Others were used to grow fruit and vegetables. In the late Shang dynasty, King Zhou built a famous garden called the Dunes of Sand. It featured an earth terrace used as an observation platform. One famous, though controversial, feature was the Wine Pool and Meat Forest. This included a large pool lined with stones that was filled with wine.

In Japan, the earliest recorded gardens were pleasure gardens for emperors and nobles. The first chronicle of Japanese history, published in 720 CE, mentions them.

One record from 74 CE describes Emperor Keiko watching carp in a pond. Another entry from 486 describes Emperor Kenzo feasting by a winding stream. Korean gardens also have a long history dating back over two thousand years. These gardens are described as natural, informal, and simple. They aim to merge seamlessly with the natural world. This tradition was noted during the Three Kingdoms period between 57 BC and 668 AD.

In Europe, gardening was not recognized as an art form until the mid-16th century. It became a symbol of the "ideal republic" and utopian imagery.

In France, King Charles VIII brought Italian designers to France in 1495. This led to the construction of Italian-style gardens at residences like the Château d'Amboise. Later, King Francis I created gardens at the Château de Fontainebleau. These featured fountains and the first artificial grotto in France. The Tuileries gardens in Paris are a major example of the formal French style. They were redesigned for the Sun King, Louis XIV, using symmetrical lines of trees and hedgerows.

The very word "garden" has roots in the concept of an enclosure. It comes from Middle English "gardin" and Anglo-French "jardin." These words are of Germanic origin, related to the Old High German "gart," meaning an enclosure. This is similar to the word "hortus," which is the Latin root for horticulture and orchard. In British English, a garden is a small enclosed area near a building. In American English, this same area is often called a yard. Even the term "zoological garden" was once used for zoos that displayed animals in simulated habitats.