Gardens

GARDENS

ReCreation

ReCreation Magazine™

GARDENS

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens.Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden.

The etymology of the word refers to enclosure: it is from Middle English gardin, from AngloFrench gardin, jardin, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gard, gart, an enclosure or compound, as in Stuttgart. See Grad (Slavic settlement) for more complete etymology. The words yard, court, and Latin hortus (meaning “garden,” hence horticulture and orchard), are cognates—all referring to an enclosed space.

The term “garden” in British English refers to a SMALL enclosed area of land, usually adjoining a building. This would be referred to as a yard in American English. ∆

Gardens are special ReCreations. Gardens were first presented by our Father God in Genesis 2:8.

Jah planted this historic place himself, for man to dwell. Since the creation of The Garden of Eden, gardens have became a spiritual sanctuary where people find peace and harmony. Now a days we find all types of cultivation and a variation of beautiful landscaping full of radiance. Wether it be in your frontyard or backyard gardens are a very popular place in the culture of society. Long live the garden. ∆

Founder, Jahmerikah Marley

Table of Contents

Biblical Gardens Botanical Gardens Horticulture Butterfly Garden Butter Fly Garden Design Gardener Chinese Garden Desert Garden French Type Gardens (3) Japanese Rock Garden Palace Garden Paradise Garden Garden of Eden Paradise Trash Garden Persian Garden Rose Garden World’s Strangest Gardens Garden Tools Roof Gardens Spanish Gardens My Garden Poem Tropical Gardens Water Gardens Zoological Gardens Green House (Marijuana) ONE HEART

Biblical Gardens

Gardens

Biblical gardens are cultivated collections of plants that are named in the Bible. They are a type of theme garden that botanical gardens, public parks, and private gardeners maintain. They are grown in many parts of the world with examples in diverse places, including the Japans Seinan Gakuin University Biblical Botanical Garden to the United states Missouri Botanical Garden. Additionally, some gardens exhibit objects in order to illustrate Biblical stories or to demonstrate how people lived in Biblical times.∆

The Seinan Gakuin University Biblical Botanical Garden contains about 80 plants mentioned in the Bible, with labels in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, and Japanese, as well as a reference to the Biblical passage in which the plant is mentioned.

All the Plants of the Bible This is a list of all the plants in the Bible arranged alphabetically by common name. For accuracy, the scientific name is also included. Pictures of these plants and plant products can be accessed from this site or by going to Bible Plants Photo Site. I have added a link to the Bible dictionary entries of George Edward Post. For more information on Post, visit The George Edward Post Site Lytton John Musselman 27 April 2007 Cassia, cinnamon (Cinnamomum aromaticum, C. zeylandica) Acacia (Acacia tortilis and other species) Acacia trees Cassia, cinnamon Almond (Amygdalus communis) Almond Cattail (Typha domingensis)? Cattail Aloe (Aloe vera) Aloe Cedar (Cedrus libani) Cedar of Lebanon Apple (Pyrus malus) Apple Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) Coriander Balm of Gilead (Cistus incanus and perhaps other species of Cistus) Balm of Gilead Cotton (Gossypium sp.) Cotton Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Barley Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) Cumin Bean (Vicia fava) Beans Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) Cypress Black cummin (Nigella sativa) Black Cumin Dill (Anethum graveolens) Dill Blight or blasting (Various fungi) Blight Dove’s dung (Ornithalagum umbellatum?), or perhaps Muscari Bramble (Rubus sanguineus) Bramble commutatum or the seeds of Ceratonia siliqua) Dove’s dung Broom (Retama raetum) Broom Ebony (Diospyros ebenum) Ebony Calamus (Acorus calamus) Calamus Fig (Ficus carica) Common fig Cane (Arundo donax)? Cane Flax (Linum ustitatissimum) Flax Caper (Capparis spinosa) Caper Flowers of the field (Various plants) Flowers of the field Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) Carob Frankincense (Boswellia species) Frankincense http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/allbibleplantslist.php

Gardens Galbanum (Ferula galbaniflua) Reed (Phragmites australis) Reed Gall (Conium maculatum or Papaver somniferum?) Gall Rose of Sharon (Gladiolus italicus or G. atroviolaceus?) Rose of Sharon Garlic (Allium sativum) Garlic Rue (Ruta chalepensis) Rue Gourd (Citrullus colycinthus) Gourd Rush (Juncus maritimus or J. arabicus) Rush Grape (Vitis vinifera) Grape Saffron (Crocus sativus) Saffron Gum resin (Pistacia palaestina?) Gum Resin or Mastic Sorghum (Sorghum vulgare) Sorghum Gum tragacanth (Astragalus gummifer?) Gum Tragacanth Spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) Spikenard Henna (Lawsonia inermis) Henna Stone pine (Pinus pinaea) Stone pine Hyssop (Origanum syriacum) Hyssop Styrax (Styrax officinalis) Styrax Ladanum (Cistus incanus) (See Balm of Gilead) Sycomore fig (Ficus sycomorus) Sycomore Fig Laurel (Laurus nobilis) Laurel See also the article Wreaths by Irwin.

Tamarisk (Tamarix aphylla) Tamarisk Leeks (Allium porrum or A. kurrat) Leeks Tares (Cephalaria syriaca or possibly Lolium temulentum) Tares Lentil (Lens culinaris) Lentils Terebinth (Pistacia atlantica and P. palaestina) Terebinth or pistacia Lign aloes or aloe wood (Aquilaria malaccensis?) Lign aloe Thistle (Various species) Thistle Lily of the field (Anemone coronaria?) Lily of the field Thorn (Sarcopoterium spinosum) Thorn Lily of the valley (Various) Lily of the valley Thyine wood (Tetraclinis articulata) Thyine wood Mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis) Mandrake Tumbleweed (Gundelia tournefortii) Tumbleweed Melon (Citrullus lanatus) Melon Walnut (Juglans regia) Walnut Millet (Sorghum vulgare) See sorghum Wheat (Triticum aestivum Bread, bricks, and beer-Wheat products Mildew (Various fungi) Mildew and T. durum) Roasted green wheat Mint (Mentha longifolia) Mint Willow (Salix alba and perhaps others) Willow Mustard (Brassica nigra or B. alba) Mustard Wormwood (Artemisia herba-alba or Papaver somniferum) Wormwood Myrrh (Commiphora gileadensis) and other species. Myrrh Yeast (Saccharomyces cerivisae) Yeast and leaven Myrtle (Myrtus communis) Myrtle Nettles (Urtica pilulifera) Nettle Oak (Quercus calliprinos and Q. ithaburensis) Oak Olive (Olea europaea) Olive Onion (Allium cepa) Onion Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) Palm Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) Papyrus Pines (Pinus halepensis and P. pinea) Pines Pistachio (Pistacia vera) Pistachio Plane tree (Platanus orientalis) Plane tree Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Pomegranate Poplars (Populus euphratica and P. alba) Poplars

http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/allbibleplantslist.php

Gardens

Botanical Gardens

A botanical garden (or botanic garden) is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. It may contain specialist plant collections such as cacti and succulent plants, herb gardens, plants from particular parts of the world, and so on; there may be greenhouses, shadehouses, again with special collections such as tropical plants, alpine plants or other exotic plants.

Botanical gardens are often run by universities or other scientific research organizations and often have associated herbaria and research programmes in plant taxonomy or some other aspect of botanical science.

In principle their role is to maintain documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and education, although this will depend on the resources available and the special interests pursued at each particular garden.

The origin of modern botanical gardens can be traced to European medieval medicinal gardens known as physic gardens, the first of these being founded during the Italian Renaissance in the 16th century. This early concern with medicinal plants changed in the 17th century to an interest in the new plant imports from explorations outside Europe as botany gradually established US Botanical Gardens, Washington, DC its independence from medicine. In the 18th century systems of nomenclature and classification were devised by botanists working in the herbaria and universities associated with the gardens, these systems often being displayed in the gardens as educational “order beds�. With the rapid rise of European imperialism in the late 18th century botanic gardens were established in the tropics and economic botany became a focus with the hub at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, near London.

Over the years botanical gardens, as cultural and scientific organizations, have responded to the interests of botany and horticulture. Nowadays most botanical gardens display a mix of the themes mentioned and more. ∆

Horticulture

Gardens

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and plant physiology. The work involves fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs, and turf. Horticulturists work to improve crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases, and environmental stresses. Horticulture usually refers to gardening on a smaller scale, while agriculture refers to the large-scale cultivation of crops.

The word horticulture is modeled after agriculture, and comes from the Latin hortus “garden” and cultūra “cultivation”, from cultus, the perfect passive participle of the verb colō “I cultivate”. Hortus is cognate with the native English word yard (in the meaning of land associated with a building) and also the borrowed word garden.

Horticulturists can work in industry, government or educational institutions or private collections. They can be cropping systems engineers, wholesale or retail business managers, propagators and tissue culture specialists (fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, and turf), crop inspectors, crop production advisers, extension specialists, plant breeders, research scientists, and teachers.

Horticulture is practiced in many gardens, “plant growth centres” and nurseries. Activities in nurseries range from preparing seeds and cuttings to growing fully mature plants. These are often sold or transferred to ornamental gardens or market gardens.

Horticulture has a very long history. The study and science of horticulture dates all the way back to the times of Cyrus the Great of ancient Persia, and has been going on ever since, with present day horticulturists such as Freeman S. Howlett, the revolutionary horticulturist.

The practice of horticulture can be retraced for many thousands of years. The cultivation of i e. taro and yam in Papua New Guinea dates back to at least 6950-6440 cal BP. The origins of horticulture lie in the transition of human communities from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary or semi-sedentary horticultural communities, cultivating a variety of crops on a small scale around their dwellings or in specialized plots visited occasionally during migrations from one area to the next (such as the “milpa” or maize field of Mesoamerican cultures). In the Pre-Columbian Amazon Rainforest, natives are believed to have used biochar to enhance soil productivity by smoldering plant waste. European settlers called it Terra Preta de Indio. In forest areas such horticulture is often carried out in swiddens (“slash and burn” areas). A characteristic of horticultural communities is that useful trees are often to be found planted around communities or specially retained from the natural ecosystem.

Horticulture primarily differs from agriculture in two ways. First, it generally encompasses a smaller scale of cultivation, using small plots of mixed crops rather than large fields of single crops. Secondly, horticultural cultivations generally include a wide variety of crops, even including fruit trees with ground crops. Agricultural cultivations however as a rule focus on one primary crop. In pre-contact North America the semi-sedentary horticultural communities of the Eastern Woodlands (growing maize, squash and sunflower) contrasted markedly with the mobile hunter-gatherer communities of the Plains people. In Central America, Maya horticulture involved augmentation of the forest with useful trees such as papaya, avocado, cacao, ceiba and sapodilla. In the cornfields, multiple crops were grown such as beans (using cornstalks as supports), squash, pumpkins and chilli peppers, in some cultures tended mainly or exclusively by women. ∆ Cool climate greenhouse extend Community gardens often have several The Butchart Gardens, British Columbia, the growing season horticultural practices in use Canada

Gardens

Butterfly Gardening

Butterfly gardening is a growing school of gardening, specifically wildlife gardening, that is aimed at creating an environment that attracts butterflies, as well as certain moths, such as those in the Hemaris genus. Butterfly gardening is often aimed at inviting those butterflies and moths to lay eggs as well. Because some plants are not fed upon by adult butterflies, the caterpillar host should also be planted for a bigger population of butterflies. Butterflies typically feed on the nectar of flowers, and there are hundreds of such plants that may be planted to attract them, depending on the location, time of year, and other factors. In addition to the planting of flowers that feed butterflies, other means of attracting them include constructing ¨butterfly houses¨, providing sand for puddling, water, and other resources or food items, including rotten fruit.

Some people only like to look at the butterflies, while others like to take pictures as well. Others try to help the butterfly population by planting native plants which rare or threatened butterflies feed on. Done correctly, butterfly gardening can increase the populations of butterflies. Many butterflies are becoming less abundant as a result of habitat destruction and fragmentation, and they do not feed on the plants regularly found in gardens. Others may also help in tagging monarch butterflies, which helps scientists monitor the monarch population and their migratory routes.

Butterflies have many predators, including mantids, wasps, spiders, birds, ants, true bugs, and flies in the Tachinidae family. If these predators are becoming a problem, they can be controlled with traps rather than pesticides, which may also kill butterflies and their larvae. There are also diseases that afflict butterflies, such as bacteria in the Pseudomonas genus, the Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus, and Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, which only infects queen butterflies and monarch butterflies.

In the absence of pesticides, aphids and true bugs may infest plants. Aphids can be controlled by releasing ladybugs and other biological pest control agents that do not harm butterflies. Another method of control is by spraying the plants with water, or rinsing plants with a mild dish detergent/water solution (although caterpillars should be relocated before suds are applied). Scented

Research should be conducted as to what species are prevalent in your area, and detergents are fine, those containing Oxyclean should what plants they prefer to nectar on. Depending on your zone, some butterfly attracting be avoided. The aphids will turn black within a day, and plants include: purple cone flowers (echinacea purpurea), yellow cone flowers, sunflowers, eventually fall off. marigolds, poppies, cosmos, salvias, some lilies, asters, coreopsis, daisies, verbenas, milkWith small home butterfly gardens, it is common for the weed (especially for the Monarch butterfly, whose caterpillars feed solely on this plant), the larvae to exhaust the food source before metamorphobutterfly bush (also called buddleia), zinnias, and others. sis occurs. Gardeners of Monarch butterflies will often In addition to expanding the number of species seen in your yard, provide host plants replace the expended milkweed with a slice of pumpkin, that feed the caterpillars. This is just as important as planting flower beds with nectar-rich which serves well as a substitute source of food. blooms. ∆

Butterfly Garden Design

Design & Landscape

Plants you will need: One butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii ‘Black Knight’) Four goldenrods (Solidago canadensis ‘Golden Wings’) Two joe-pye weeds (Eupatorium maculatum) Three New England asters (Aster novae-angliae ‘Alma Potschke’) Three ornamental cabbages (Brassica oleracea) One dill (Anethum graveolens) Five parsley plants (Petroselinum crispum) Eight globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa)

Directions: The garden should be approximately 10 feet by 12 feet. It should be in full sun at least six hours a day. Provide fruit such as bananas and watermelon as an additional food source. Provide water sources for “puddling” by burying two pans filled with sand. Place a few sticks and rocks on top of the sand, and fill the pans with water. Provide two low containers filled with dark rocks for butterflies to warm themselves.

Include a hummingbird feeder in the garden. ∆

People

gar·den·er/ gärdnər/

Noun: A person who tends and cultivates a garden as a pastime or for a living.

Synonyms: horticulturist

Gardens

The Chinese Garden

Bonsai Garden, Singapore

The Chinese garden, also known as a Chinese classical garden, recreates natural landscapes in miniature. The style has evolved for more than three thousand years, and includes both the vast gardens of the Chinese emperors and smaller gardens built by scholars, poets, and former government officials. The classical Chinese garden is enclosed by a wall and has one or more ponds, a rock garden, trees and flowers, and an assortment of halls and pavilions within the garden, connected by winding paths and zig-zag galleries. By moving from structure to structure, visitors can view a series of carefully-composed scenes, unrolling like a scroll of landscape paintings.

Named after the famous revolutionary leader, this classical Chinese garden was made in careful accord with the design principles of Ming dynasty (AD 13681644) scholar’s garden, typical of the gardens of Suzhou. Scholar gardens drew inspiration from the classics, from earlier precedents and from the site iteslf. The owner would often write a poem to launch the garden’s design. The Sun Yat garden’s designers drew inspiration from the Gentle Wave Garden and the Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets, both in Suzhou . It comprises a Classical Garden and a Main Garden, composed round a lake. Fifty-two artisans came from China to work on the project. The craftsmanship is of a very high standard. ∆ http://www.gardenvisit.com/

Desert Garden

Gardens

The Huntington Desert Garden is part of The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. The Desert Garden is one of the world’s largest and oldest collections of cacti, succulents and other desert plants, collected from throughout the world. It contains plants from extreme environments, many of which were acquired by Henry E. Huntington and William Hertrich (the first garden curator) in trips taken to several countries in North, Central and South America. One of the Huntington’s most botanically important gardens, the Desert Garden brought together a group of plants largely unknown and unappreciated in the beginning of the 1900s. Containing a broad category of xerophytes (aridity-adapted plants), the Desert Garden grew to preeminence and remains today among the world’s finest, with more than 5,000 species in the 10 acre (4 ha) garden.

Mr. Huntington was not initially interested in establishing a Desert Garden. He did not like cacti at all, due to some unfortunate prickly pear encounters during railroad construction work. But Hertrich was persistent, and, once won over, Mr. Huntington built a railway spur to his garden, to bring in rock, soil and plants by the carload.

As Gary Lyons, a later curator, remarked, it’s very convenient to have a rail spur, and deep pockets, when you’re Borzicactus websteramus and building a big garden.A trip to Arizona in 1908 filled three railroad cars for the trip back to the garden. other, related columnar Cleis Famed Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx called the Huntington Desert Garden “the most tocactus species extraordinary garden in the world.” ∆

Aloe marlothii in bloom, with Ceiba speciosa and euphorbia

Creeping Devils (Stenocereus eruca), with Fouquieria and barrel cacti

A group of mature Golden Barrels (Echinocactus grusonii) showing their distinctive clustering habit. The Golden Barrel collection at the Huntington may be the finest in the world.

Mature Golden Barrel cacti with columnar Cereus cacti from South America

Golden Barrels with Senecio mandraliscae, Blue Stick or Blue Finger succulents

French Landscape Garden

Gardens

The French landscape garden (French: jardin paysager, jardin a l’anglaise, jardin pittoresque, jardin anglo-chinois) is a style of garden inspired by idealized Italian landscapes and the romantic paintings of Hubert Robert, Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, European ideas about Chinese gardens, and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The style originated in England, as the ‘English landscape garden,’ in the early 18th century and spread to France, where, in the late 18th and early 19th century, it gradually replaced the formal, symmetrical garden à la française. ∆ Marie Antoinette’s Temple d’amour idyllic “hameau de la created for Marie reine” at Versailles Antoinette and the Jardin de la reine at Versailles

Gardens of the French Renaissance

The Gardens of the French Renaissance is a garden style largely inspired by the Italian Renaissance garden, particularly the gardens of Florence and Rome. King Charles VIII and his nobles brought the style back to France after their campaign in Italy in 1495. They reached their peak in the gardens of the royal chateau at Fontainebleau, the Château de Blois, the Château d’Amboise, and the Château de Chenonceau. . These gardens were characterized by symmetrical and geometric planting beds or parterres; plants in pots; paths of gravel and sand; terraces; stairways and ramps; moving water in the form of canals, cascades and monumental fountains, and extensive use of artificial grottoes, labyrinths and statues of mythological figures. They became an extension of the chateaux that they surrounded, and were designed to illustrate the Renaissance ideals of measure and proportion, and to remind viewers of the virtues of Ancient Rome. By the middle of the 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV, the style evolved into the grander and more formal Garden à la française. ∆ View of the garden of [Catherine de Médicis from the château de Chenonceau.

Gardens of the Château de Villandry.

French Formal Garden Garden à la française

The French formal garden, also called jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le Nôtre. The style was widely copied by other courts of Europe. ∆ Gardens of the Chateau of Versailles (Île-deFrance)

Gardens of the Château de Chantilly.

Basin of Apollo, Gardens of Versailles

Japanese Rock Garden Gardens

The Japanese rock gardens or “dry landscape” gardens, often called “Zen gardens”, are a type of garden that features extensive use of rocks or stones, along with plants native to rocky or alpine environments that were influenced mainly by Zen Buddhism and can be found at Zen temples of meditation.

Japanese gardens are gardens in which the plants and trees are ever changing with the seasons. As they grow and mature, they are constantly sculpted to maintain and enhance the overall experience. The underlying structure of a Japanese garden is determined by the architecture; that is, the framework of enduring elements such as buildings, verandas and terraces, paths, tsukiyama (artificial hills), and stone compositions. Over time, it is only as good as the careful maintenance that it receives by those skilled in the art of training and pruning.

Karesansui gardens can be extremely abstract and represent (miniature) landscapes also called “mind-scapes”. This Buddhist preferred way to express cosmic beauty in worldly environments is inextricable from Zen Buddhism.

A brief definition of karesansui from the “Bilingual dictionary of Japanese Garden Terms” “Dry landscape (garden); dry garden. A garden style unique to Japan, which appeared in the Muromachi period (1392-1568). Using neither ponds nor streams, it makes symbolic representations of natural landscapes using stone arrangements, white sand, moss and pruned trees. In Sakuteiki (a garden book with notes on garden making: see the notes) of the Heian period (794-1185), the term indicated a stone arrangement in a part of the garden without water.”

Unlike other traditional gardens, there is no water present in Karesansui gardens (or the karesansui compartment of a garden). There is gravel or sand, raked or not raked, that symbolizes sea, ocean, rivers or lakes.

The act of raking the gravel into a pattern recalling waves or rippling water has an aesthetic function. Zen priests practice this raking also to help their concentration. Achieving perfection of lines is not easy. Rakes are according to the patterns of ridges as desired and limited to some of the stone objects situated within the gravel area. Nonetheless often the patterns are not static. Developing variations in patterns is a creative and inspiring challenge.

Stone arrangements and other miniature elements are used to represent mountains and natural water elements and scenes, islands, rivers and waterfalls. Stone and shaped shrubs (karikomi, hako-zukuri topiary) are used interchangeably. In most gardens moss is used as a ground cover to create “land” covered by forest.

Other, mostly stone, objects are sometimes used symbolically to represent mountains, islands, boats, or even people. Karesansui gardens are often, but not always, meant to be viewed from a single vantage point from a seated position.

In the garden book Sakuteiki “Creating a garden” is expressed as “setting stones”, ishi wo taten koto; literally, the “act of setting stones upright.” At the time the Sakuteiki was written, the placement of stones was perceived as the primary act of gardening. Similar expressions are also used in the text, however, to mean literally “setting garden stones” rather than “creating gardens”.

Make sure that all the stones, right down to the front of the arrangement, are placed with their best sides showing. If a stone has an ugly-looking top you should place it so as to give prominence to its side. Even if this means it has to lean at a considerable angle, no one will notice. There should always be more horizontal than vertical stones. If there are “running away” stones there must be “chasing” stones. If there are “leaning” stones, there must be “supporting” stones.

Note that in many cases stone and shaped shrubs (karikomi) can be used interchangeably. ∆

Gardens A small zen garden in the Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California.

Dry zen garden at Portland Japanese Garden

Close-up of the center part of the Tsubo-en main garden O-Karikomi, “topiary sculpture”, covered with snow.

An’yō-in Garden of Taisan-ji in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. A style where the pond is completely dry.

Palace Garden

Gardens

The garden at Buckingham Palace is situated at the rear (west) of Buckingham Palace. It was laid out by Henry Wise and subsequently redesigned by William Townsend Aiton for George IV.

The garden occupies a 42 acres (17 ha) site in the City of Westminster, London and has two-and-aGarden at Buckingham Palace half miles of gravel paths. The planting is varied and exotic, with a mulberry tree dating back to the time of James I of England.

Notable features include a large 19th-century lake which is graced by a flock of flamingoes, and the Waterloo Vase. In the garden there is a summerhouse, a helicopter pad, and a tennis court.

The landscape design was by Capability Brown but the garden was redesigned at the time of the palace rebuilding by William Townsend Aiton of Kew Gardens and John Nash. The great manmade lake was completed in 1828 and is supplied with water by the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park.

According to Palace tourist guides, the garden is maintained by approximately eight fulltime gardeners, with two or three part-timers. The trees include plane, Indian chestnut, silver maple, and a swamp cypress. In the south-west corner, there is a single surviving mulberry tree from the plantation installed by King James I of England when he unsuccessfully attempted to breed silkworms in the Mulberry Garden on the Buckingham Palace site. (This was not the site of today’s garden; it was located closer to Green Park.)

The garden is the setting for the many Royal garden parties held by the Queen each summer. HowGarden at Buckingham Palace ever, guests, while numerous and from all stations in life, are usually those who hold a public position, or are in some way of national interest. In 2008, three parties were for nominated members of the public; and four parties for the Centenary of the Royal Charter to British Red Cross, the Territorial Army, the ‘Not Forgotten’ Association and for those attending the Lambeth Conference.

The guests take tea and sandwiches in marquees erected in the garden. As a military band plays the National Anthem, the Queen emerges from the Bow Room and slowly processes through the ranks of assembled guests towards her own private tea tent, greeting those previously selected for the honour.

During the Civil War (1642-1651) London was Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarian military centre, Royalist support for Charles I being based in Oxford. Goring Great Garden, as the garden was then, was Decorative vases set atop an elegant the scene of defensive Parliamentarian earthworks – a situation whose irony Tony Robinson savoured, barrier at the west face of Buckingham given the current Royal ownership. Anticipating some richly embarrassing finds, the television coverage Palace. featured a reenactment of a Roundhead (i.e., Republican) march on the great lawn. ∆ The grounds of Buckingham House in 1760, the future site of Buckingham Palace, showing the ornamental canal (see section below) running westward, flanked by trees.

A garden party at Buckingham Palace in 1868.

Gardens

Paradise Garden

The Paradise garden is a form of garden, originally just paradise, a word derived from the Median language, or Old Persian. Its original meaning was “a walled-in compound or garden”; from pairi (around) and daeza or diz (wall, brick, or shape). The name has come to be commonly used in English and other European languages as an alternative for heaven or “paradise” since Xenophon translated the Persian phrase pairidaeza into the Greek version Paradeisos.

Because of the additional meanings for the word, the enclosed garden of the original concept is now often referred to as a paradise garden.

The paradise garden takes some of its character from its original arid or semi-arid homeland. The most basic feature is the enclosure of the cultivated area. This excludes the wildness of nature, and includes the tended, watered greenery of the garden. The commonest and easiest layout for the perimeter walls is that of a rectangle, and this forms one of the prime features of this kind of garden. Another common theme is the elaborate use of water, often in canals, ponds or rills, sometimes in fountains, less often in waterfalls of various kinds.

The rectangular or rectilinear theme of the garden is often extended to the water features, which may be used to quarter the garden. This layout is echoed in the four rivers of the Garden of Eden, and much of the use and symbolism of the paradise garden is derived from this connection.

The contrast between a formal garden layout with the informality of free-growing plants provides a recurring theme to many paradise gardens.

The Persian paradise garden is one of the handful of fundamental original garden types from which all the world’s gardens derive, in various combinations. In its simplest form, the Persian garden consists of a formal rectangle of water, with enough of a flow to give it life and movement, and with a raised platform to view it from. A pavilion provides more permanent shelter than the original tent, and strictly aligned, formally arranged trees, especially the chenar or Platanus, provide shade, and the perimeter is walled for privacy and security. Odor and fruit are important elements in this pairedeza or paradise, which realizes the symbol of eternal life, a tree with a spring issuing at its roots.

The Achaemenid kings set these gardens within enclosed royal hunting parks, a different landscape garden tradition, which they inherited from the Assyrians, for whom the ritual lion hunt was a rite that authenticated kingship, far more than a mere royal sport.

It became the foundation of much of the garden traditions of Islam, and later on of Europe. Examples of the paradise garden and its derivatives can be seen today in many of the historic gardens of Islamic and European countries. In the east, the Persian garden gave rise to the Mughal gardens of India, a late example of which is the grounds of the Taj Mahal at Agra. In the farthest west, it is best known by the paved and tiled courtyards with arcades, pools and fountains of Moorish Andalusia. They are used as the main design for the Versailles Gardens that almost replicate the outlines of paradisio gardens of pasargad and as inspiration for the gardens at the Louvre. Another example is of the Bahá’í Terraces on Mount Carmel and the Mansion of Bahjí both of which have extensive gardens intricately laid out with respect to the buildings on the site. ∆ Garden of the Taj Mahal incorporating water, pathways and a strong geometric design typical of a paradise garden.

The Garden of Eden

Holy Bible

The Garden of Eden is in the Bible’s Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden (Gen. 2:8). This garden forms part of the Genesis creation narrative and theodicy of the Abrahamic religions, often being used to explain the origin of sin and mankind’s wrongdoings.

The Genesis creation narrative relates the geographical location of both Eden and the garden to four rivers (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates), and three regions (Havilah, Assyria, and Kush). There are hypotheses that place Eden at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates (northern Mesopotamia), in Iraq (Mesopotamia), Africa, and the Persian Gulf. For many medieval writers, the image of the Garden of Eden also creates a location for human love and sexuality, often associated with the classic and medieval trope of the locus amoenus, Latin for “pleasant place”.

God charges Adam to tend the garden in which they live, and specifically commands Adam not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve is questioned by the serpent concerning why she avoids eating from this tree. In the dialogue between the two, Eve elaborates on the commandment not to eat of its fruit. She says that even if she touches the fruit she will die. The serpent responds that she will not surely die, rather she and her husband would “be as gods, knowing good and evil,” and persuades Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve eats and gives the fruit to Adam, who also eats. At this point the two become aware, “to know good and evil,” evidenced by an awareness of their nakedness.

God expels them from Eden, to keep Adam and Eve from also partaking of the Tree of Life. The story says that God placed cherubim with an omnidirectional “flaming sword” to guard against any future entrance into the garden.

In the account, the garden is planted “eastward, in Eden,” and accordingly “Eden” properly denotes the larger territory which contains the garden, rather than being the name of the garden itself: it is, thus, the garden located in Eden. The Talmud also states (Brachos 34b) that the Garden is distinct from Eden.

The Book of Genesis does not state a physical geographic location for the garden of Eden, but ideally it is “the garden of God” or divine home (Ezek 31:8-9). Also, according to some ancient myths, all of the world’s major rivers flow out of the divine home.[6] Genesis 2:10-14 names the garden of Eden as the source of four rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, great waterways of Mesopotamia, and the Pishon and Gihon. Four waterways were possibly cited because in ancient times, similar to today, the world was charted in four different directions, North, South, East and West. ∆

Spanish-Arabic world map from 1109 AD with Eden in east (at top)

Paradise Garden: Sacred Trash

Art & Culture

Howard Finster: Man of Visions

In 1960, Howard Finster began construction of an elaborate sculpture garden in a twoand-a-half acre swamp next to his house in Pennville, Georgia. First he filled in what had been a community dump: “It took me seven years to fill in that swamp of rich muck that went three to four feet in depth.” (Turner, p.54) Somewhat miraculously, the garden today is a marvel, with a tower made out of rusted bicycle frames, walkways inlaid with mirrors and cast-off jewelry, and hundreds of individual mixed-media creations. It is a vision of Eden, built up out of a dump and constructed of trash. Finster’s combination of text and visual forms provides the visitor with a truly unique experience, the point of which is the Biblical edification of the soul, according to the artist. Many other examples of this sort of earthly paradise exist in the tradition of folk art (Dewhurst, pp. 85-87), but Finster’s so-called “Paradise Garden” is especially striking in its overtly evangelical theme. Like the eight-foot concrete shoe bearing a verse from Ephesians, “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,” many of the pieces within the garden illustrate Biblical passages, so that, like his daughter said, “Anyone could understand it that way.”

There are certainly curious details, like the jar containing the tonsils of a boy who visited the garden immediately following their removal. The purpose of such pieces seems to be to provide the visitor with an interesting experience, to keep it fun and slightly weird, to bring in the crowds. And bring in the crowds it does, allowing Finster lots of company and perhaps the occasional lost soul ready for the word of God.

Also on the property is the more recent addition of a wedding-cake-like building that Finster calls the “World’s Folk Art Church.” Interestingly, the words “folk art” could not have been a part of Finster’s vocabulary until his “discovery” by the media and the art establishment, in the early 1980’s. Since that time, he has become the most exhibited “folk artist” in America and has even appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and painted album covers for rock groups like R.E.M. and the Talking Heads. ∆

Trash Can from Paradise Garden

The World’s Folk Art Church in Paradise Garden

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/finster/finster4.html

A view of Paradise Garden, Pennville, Georgia

Persian Gardens

Gardens

Hafezeeyeh Garden, Shiraz, Iran.

Chehel-sotoon palace, Isfahan.

Iran. 1647.

The tradition and style in the garden design of Persian gardens has influenced the design of gardens from Andalusia to India and beyond. The gardens of the Alhambra show the influence of Persian Garden philosophy and style in a Moorish Palace scale from the era of Al-Andalus in Spain.

The Taj Mahal is one of the largest Persian Garden interpretations in the world, from the era of the Mughal Empire in India.

From the time of the Achaemenid Dynasty the idea of an earthly paradise spread through Persian literature and example to other cultures, both the Hellenistic gardens of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies in Alexandria. The Avestan word pairidaêza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, Median *paridaiza(walled-around, i.e., a walled garden), was transliterated into Greek paradeisoi, then rendered into the Latin paradisus, and from there entered into European languages, e.g., French paradis, German Paradies, and English paradise. The word entered Semitic languages as well: Akkadian pardesu, Hebrew pardes, and Arabic firdaws.

As the word expresses, such gardens would have been enclosed. The garden’s purpose was, and is, to provide a place for protected relaxation in a variety of manners: spiritual, and leisurely (such as meetings with friends), essentially a paradise on earth. The Persian word for “enclosed space” was pairi-daeza, a term that was adopted by Christian mythology to describe the garden of Eden or Paradise on earth.

The garden’s construction may be formal (with an emphasis on structure) or casual (with an emphasis on nature), following several simple design rules. This allows a maximization, in terms of function and emotion, of what may be done in the garden.

Persian gardens may originate as early as 4000 BCE. Decorated pottery of that time displays the typical cross plan of the Persian garden. The outline of the Pasargad Persian Garden, built around 500 BCE, is viewable today.

Sunlight and its effects were an important factor of structural design in Persian gardens.

Textures and shapes were specifically chosen by architects to harness the light. Iran’s dry heat makes shade important in gardens, which would be nearly unusable without it. 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. A form of underground tunnel below the water table, called a qanat, irrigates the garden and its environs. 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 chahar bāgh style.

Trees were often planted in a ditch called a jub, 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. ∆

Rose Gardens

Gardens

Ruston’s Roses in South Australia

A Rose garden or Rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped by individual variety, colour or class in rose beds.

Although roses have been selected and grown in China for over 1,000 years, the forerunner of the rose garden as we know it today was planted by empress Joséphine de Beauharnais at Malmaison, France in the years between 1799-1814. Joséphine imported both leading gardening talent and scores of roses, financing many plant collecting trips. At her death in 1814, the garden included more than 250 varieties of rose. It is said that her plant hunters also introduced some 200 other plants to France, among them the dahlia. ∆

The World’s Strangest Gardens

Society

BY CHRIS SWEENEY

Designing a landscape can be as simple as planting a backyard garden or as complex as shaping tons of earth around a city. As eco-friendly design continues to prosper, landscape architects are devising new ways of gleaning environmental benefits from the natural surroundings while minimizing how buildings disrupt the scenery. Meanwhile, smaller-scale gardens are being designed to explore abstract concepts and catalog fauna from around the globe. From an ancient agricultural site in Sri Lanka to the fledgling crops of the International Space Station, we dug up this collection of the world’s most noteworthy gardens and landscapes. ∆

Seiruka Garden

Location: St. Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo

Background: Above the bustling streets of Tokyo, on the sixth floor of St. Luke’s International Hospital, is this pleasant rooftop garden. The design is pretty straightforward, but there are benefits to it that may not be apparent.

Why It’s Unique: People have long extolled the therapeutic benefits of gardens, and a growing number of studies are providing fact-based evidence showing these benefits to be tangible. Callaway points out that there are certain factors that need to be accounted for in the design of a garden for a hospital or healthcare facility. For instance, a continuously looping garden is ideal for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and designers should keep in mind paved pathways and the steepness of inclines for patients in wheelchairs. While Seiruka Garden is conventional in terms of design, having a peaceful retreat at a hospital—whether as a patient, doctor or visitor— is invaluable. ∆

Hanging Basket

Location: London, England Background: In January 2009, Hotel Indigo opened in London’s Paddington neighborhood, bringing along this monstrous flower basket.

Why It’s Unique: Weighing in at more than a quarter of a ton, Hotel Indigo claims this is the world’s largest hanging flower basket. The 20-foot by 10-foot basket hangs from 25 feet up in the air and took engineers three weeks to build and a solid day of work to install. Over 100 varieties of flowers and plants are in the pot, and, given London’s reputation for rain, they will likely have a prosperous future. Gimmicky? Absolutely. Unique? Most certainly. ∆

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/lawn-garden/w

Society

Aquascapes

Location: Around the World Background: There are thousands of people around the world who are active aquascapers—men and women who spend countless hours cultivating spectacular landscapes in fish tanks. Some enthusiasts enter their work in competitions, while others merely seek the satisfaction that comes from difficult design work. Larger-scale aquascapes are often displayed at aquariums, and maintaining the vitality of plants submerged in a tank of water poses a host of challenges not associated with potting a few geraniums.

Why It’s Unique: Aquascaping is a craft that requires dexterity, patience and a preternatural sense of composition and scale. Callaway likens the practice of aquascaping to working on a bonsai tree or even fabricating a Star Wars-like movie set. “Scale is a funny thing: if you have no point of reference, you don’t know what the scale is. Even if there are fish there, unless it’s a fish you know, you don’t know how big that fish is,” he says. “Scalelessness leads to abstractness, and a lot of the more successful [aquascapes] were more abstract.” ∆

worlds-18-strangest-gardens#fbIndex6

The Lost Gardens of Heligan

Location: Cornwall, England

Background: England’s Lost Gardens of Heligan have a storied history of prosperity, neglect and rejuvenation. The once glorious Heligan estate fell into disrepair as World War I creeped into England and priorities shifted. Nature took its course in the decades that followed, swallowing the gardens and obscuring the walkways. It wasn’t until 1990 that two descendants of the Tremayne family—the owning family of the estate dating back to 1200—discovered a small garden and decided to revamp the site.

Why It’s Unique: Before there were Chia Pets, there were the much larger Location: Monaco Mud Maid and Giant’s Head of Heligan. Callaway says there is a fine line Background: Opened to the public in 1933, Le Jardin Exotique, or the Exot- between kitsch and art, but these two ic Garden, is home to an array of cacti and other succulents. If visitors grow sculptures are wonderful additions tired of hundred-year-old cacti and plants imported from Africa, Mexico and to the garden. “It could be that those the Arabian Peninsula, they can wander into the nearby cave and check out mud sculptures are much better now some stalactites, stalagmites and helictites. than they were in the beginning,” Callaway says. “Because now they Why It’s Unique: While the Exotic Garden may seem like a traditional bo- have the patina of age.” In addition tanical garden, most of the plants are embedded in the rocky coastal cliffs of to these impressive sculptures, HeMonaco. Stairways carved into the terrain allow visitors to get a better view ligan also boasts an Italian Garden, of the plants without having to scale the cliffs, and small observation areas an extensive jungle section and an provide astounding views of the coastline through the flora. The sublime alpine-inspired ravine. ∆ climate of the region allows plants to bloom year round.∆

Jardin Exotique

Garden Tools

Home & Gardening

Flower Beds and Lawn

If you are maintaining a yard with flower beds, (and maybe a veggie garden too) you’ll find that your garden tool list seems to be never ending. The good news is that you can use several of your tools not only in your flower beds, but in you veggie garden and yard as well. The garden fork works just as hard in your flower beds as it does in the garden. Your garden spade that you use to turn soil in the garden also works great for planting large shrubs and small trees as

We are short and tall, right and left handed, large vegetable garden, a small flower bed or our favorite plants on the well a lawn edger. Those weeding tools you use in the garden will work just fine in your flower beds. Other tools you might find useful are: balcony, but one thing we all have in common is, we want our garden tools to last and to work as hard as we do.

Garden Rake -good for leveling and raking debris from your soil.

Like us, garden tools too come in all shapes, sizes and ways we can use them. A simple hand hoe that may be perfect Leaf Rake -those leaves in the trees are going to fall and the leaf rake is a must for gathering them. for someone weeding a flower bed may also be the favorite tool for a vegetable gardener making furrows for seeds.

Rabbiting Spade -this spade has a narrow pointed blade that is great for trans These are “suggestions” on garden tools that many planting shrubs, ditch digging or planting one gallon container plants. gardeners might find useful for a particular type or size garden. Happy Gardening! ∆ Shovels and Specialty spades -You may find that you need sharp pointed shovel for general digging or maybe a border or shrubbery spade for those tight spaces.

While some would tell you that there is some magic list of garden tools that every gardener should have, the simple fact is, gardeners come in all shapes, sizes and needs.

Edger -More and more gardeners are choosing to loose more of their lawn and plant beds with native drought tolerant plants to save water and the edger is a great garden tool for defining those beds.

Loppers or Pruning Saw -Loppers are great for pruning smaller tree and bush limbs that are green and the pruning saw for dead branches.

Pruners -Probably the most used tool in the gardeners arsenal. Spend the money to buy a good pair and you’ll have a lifetime tool.

Water Hose -look around, ask your neighbors to find the best quality water hose you buy...you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.

http://www.gardentoolcompany.com/list-of-garden-tools-every-gardener-must-have-or-not/

Gardens

Roof Gardens

A roof garden is any garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, and recreational opportunities.

Humans have grown plants atop structures since antiquity. The ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia (4th millennium BC–600 BC) had plantings of trees and shrubs on aboveground terraces. An example in Roman times was the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, which had an elevated terrace where plants were grown. A roof garden has also been discovered around an audience hall in Roman-Byzantine Caesarea. The medieval Egyptian city of Fustat had a number of high-rise buildings that Nasir Khusraw in the early 11th century described as rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top story complete with ox-drawn water wheels for irrigating them.

Roof gardens are most often found in urban environments. Plants have the ability to reduce the overall heat absorption of the building which then reduces energy consumption. “The primary cause of heat build-up in cities is insolation, the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Plant surfaces however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than 4–5 °C above the ambient and are sometimes cooler. “This then translates into a cooling of the environment between 3.6 and 11.3 degrees Celsius (6.5 and 20.3 °F), depending on the area on earth (in hotter areas, the environmental temperature will cool more). The study was performed by the University of Cardiff.

A study at the National Research Council of Canada showed the differences between roofs with gardens and roofs without gardens against temperature. The study shows temperature effects on different layers of each roof at different times of the day. Roof gardens are obviously very beneficial in reducing the effects of temperature against roofs without gardens. “If widely adopted, rooftop gardens could reduce the urban heat island, which would decrease smog episodes, problems associated with heat stress and further lower energy consumption.”

A roof garden is actually very different from a green roof, although the two terms are often and incorrectly used interchangeably. A roof garden is an area that is generally used for recreation, entertaining, and as an additional outdoor living space for the building’s residents. It may include planters, plants, dining and lounging furniture, outdoor structures such as pergolas and sheds, and automated irrigation and lighting systems. A roof garden reestablishes the relationship between humans and nature that can be lost in urban environments.[5]

It is different from a green roof in that the considerations are primarily of an aesthetic or recreational nature, whereas a green roof is usually constructed to cover a large area in the most economical and efficient means possible with an emphasis towards improving the insulation or improving the overall energy efficiency of cooling and heating costs within a building.

With a green roof, “the plants layer can shield off as much as 87% of solar radiation while a bare roof receives 100% direct exposure”. ∆

Gardens

The Spanish Garden

Jardín del Generalife de Granada

A traditional Spanish Garden is a style of garden or designed landscape developed in historic Spain, incorporating principles and elements of garden design from precedents in ancient Persian gardens, Roman gardens and Islamic gardens, and the great Moorish gardens of the Al-Andalus era on the Iberian Peninsula. In the 20th and 21st centuries a ‘Spanish Garden,’ or new gardens in Spain, have continued, interpreted, abstracted, or departed from these traditional planning and aesthetic motifs.

Traditionally the paradise garden is interpreted with a central cross axis, in the four cardinal directions, with long ponds or water channels (a rill or stylized qanat) where water reflects and flows, set in a walled courtyard. The remaining quadrants often had fruit trees and fragrant plants. Thus, characteristic sensory experiences are refreshing coolness, humidity, sounds, greenery, and fragrance. This type of garden is compatible with the Spanish climate of sun and heat. Provisions for shade are given with the use of arcades, pergolas, trellising, and garden pavilions. Ceramic elements and tiles are often used: in water features; for structural, decorative, and seating elements; and as paving; with solid fields, embellishments and accents; and in pottery. A clarity from the symmetrical simplicity often results. ∆

In Spanish Gardens

Sometimes an awning is stretched over it; oftener a grapevine forms a thick roof with its broad, green leaves. At all events, no matter how plain the exterior of a Spanish house may be, it always has its open court, adorned with flowers, orange-trees, and possibly a fountain, where, in the evening, may be heard the sound of a piano or guitar, or the melody of a song. But when one turns to behold the exterior of some of the houses, he frequently concludes that life here after all is not so attractive. The windows are covered with heavy iron bars, as if the buildings were safe-deposit vaults instead of private houses. These gratings, while intended to protect the family plate, are also meant to guard the young ladies of the household. But, as the song assures us, “Love will find the way;” and so, no matter how narrow the opening in a Spanish balcony may be, it is never too small for the tiny hand of an Andalusian lady. Hence, on our evening walks, we often saw beneath one of these cruel lattices a lover armed with a guitar, and holding within his hand a small, white object glistening in the moonlight, which he from time to time would press fervently to his lips.∆ from the book “Spain - John L. Stoddard’s Lectures”, by John L. Stoddard.

Poetry Corner

My Garden © Marie Church

As I look out to my garden I feel a sense of pride It really is a lovely room Except it is outside.

Where lovely things mix and match And greenery fills the walls The sound of trickling water Coming from the gold fish pond.

I love the sight of stones and rocks And driftwood and tree ferns to The sounds of all my chimes I know you would like it to.

With pride I walk around my garden And savour each scent and smell Colours of yellow, red and gold Striped cushion on a bench.

The bird bath has its own domain It’s placed beside a wooden arch Where all the birds come to bathe And drink when they are parched.

Ladybirds can hide away Sometimes they come out to see What’s happening around them With caterpillars and the bees.

There’s not much more that I can say Except if you have your own It won’t take long to build it up Seeds will bloom once they are sown.

Gardens

Tropical Gardens

TropHort is an abbreviation for Tropical Horticulture. Tropical Horticulture is a branch of horticulture that studies Tropical Horticulture and cultivates garden plants in the tropics, i.e., the equatorial regions of the world.

Tropical Horticulture covers plants such as perennial woody plants (arboriculture), ornamentals (floriculture), vegetables (olericulture), and fruits (pomology) including grapes (viticulture). The origin of many of these crops is not in the tropics but in temperate zones. Their adoption to tropical climatic conditions is an objective of breeding. Many important crops, however, are indigenous to the tropics. The latter embrace perennial crops such as oil palm, vegetables including okra, field crops such as rice and sugarcane, and particularly fruits including pineapple, banana, papaya, and mango.

Since the tropics represent 36% of the Earth’s surface and 20% of its land surface, the potential of tropical horticulture is tremendous. In contrast to that of temperate regions, environmental conditions are less defined by seasonal temperature fluctuations but by seasonality of precipitation. Although such variations are less close to the equator (±5° latitude), the climate in the greater part of the tropics is characterized by distinct wet and dry seasons.

Temperature conditions within the tropics depend less on seasonal variations but on altitude[2]. Many of the tropical highlands are, consequently, more favourable for production of temperate plant species than their lowland counterparts.

Plants indigenous to the tropics are usually cold sensitive, adapted to high solar radiation, sensitive to small variations in photoperiod (short day plants), and adopted to either extended drought, high precipitation and/or distinct wet and dry seasons. High night temperatures are a major hindrance to adopting temperate crops (e.g., tomato) to the tropics. Furthermore, such conditions promote high respiration rates of plants, resulting in comparably lower net photosynthesis rates. ∆

Water Gardens

Gardens

Water gardens, also known as aquatic gardens, are a type of man-made water feature. A water garden is defined as any interior or exterior landscape or architectural element whose primarily purpose is to house, display, or propagate a particular species or variety of aquatic plant. Although a water garden’s primary focus is on plants, they will sometimes also house ornamental fish, in which case the feature will be a fish pond.

Although water gardens can be almost any size or depth, they are typically small and relatively shallow, generally less than twenty inches in depth. This is because most aquatic plants are depth sensitive and require a specific water depth in order to thrive. The particular species inhabiting each water garden will ultimately determine the actual surface area and depth required.

When the aquatic flora and fauna is balanced, an aquatic ecosystem is created that supports sustainable water quality/water clarity. Elements such as: fountains, statuary, waterfalls, boulders, underwater lighting, lining treatments, edging detailing, in-water and bankside planting and watercourses can be combined with the pool to add visual interest and integration with the local landscape and environment.

Water gardens, and all water features in general have been a part of public and private gardens since ancient Persian gardens and Chinese gardens. Water features have been present and well represented in every era and culture that has included gardens in their landscape and architectural environments. Up until the rise of the industrial age, that introduced the modern water pump, water was not recirculated, but was diverted from rivers and springs into the water garden, exiting into agricultural fields or natural watercourses. Water features were historically used for plant and fish production for food purposes as well as ornamental aesthetics.

Though a water garden is restricted to a particular type of natural or man-made water feature, used for a relatively specific purpose or intended use, there are many other types of water feature types, styles and designs. ∆

A water garden in a private residence

Aquatic flora

Rock & Water Garden

Zoological Gardens

Gardens

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred.

The term zoological garden refers to zoology, the study of animals, a term deriving from the Greek zōon (ζῷον, “animal”) and lógos (λóγος, “study”). The abbreviation “zoo” was first used of the London Zoological Gardens, which opened for scientific study in 1828 and to the public in 1847. The number of major animal collections open to the public around the world now exceeds 1,000, around 80 percent of them in cities.

Keeping animals in zoos raises concerns for animals rights.

London Zoo, which opened in 1828, first called itself a menagerie or “zoological garden,” which is short for “Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London.” The abbreviation “zoo” first appeared in print in the UK around 1847, when it was used for the Clifton Zoo, but it was not until some twenty years later that the shortened form became popular in the song “Walking in the Zoo on Sunday” by music-hall artist Alfred Vance. The term “zoological park” was used for more expansive facilities in Washington, D.C., and the Bronx in New York, which opened in 1891 and 1899 respectively.

Relatively new terms for zoos coined in the late 20th century are “conservation park” or “biopark”. Adopting a new name is a strategy used by some zoo professionals to distance their institutions from the stereotypical and nowadays criticized zoo concept of the 19th century. The term “biopark” was first coined and developed by the National Zoo, Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s. In 1993, the New York Zoological Society changed its name to the Wildlife Conservation Society and rebranded the zoos under its jurisdiction as “wildlife conservation parks.”

Human beings were sometimes displayed in cages along with non-human animals, supposedly to illustrate the differences between people of European and non-European origin. In September 1906, William Hornaday, director of the Bronx Zoo in New York—with the agreement of Madison Grant, head of the New York Zoological Society—had Ota Benga, a Congolese pygmy, displayed in a cage with the chimpanzees, then with an orangutan named Dohong, and a parrot. The exhibit was intended as an example of the “missing link” between the orangutan and white man. It triggered protests from the city’s clergymen, but the public reportedly flocked to see it.

Human beings were also displayed in cages during the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition, and as late as 1958 in a “Congolese village” display at Expo ‘58 in Brussels.

Zoo animals usually live in enclosures that attempt to replicate their natural habitats, for the benefit of the animals and the visitors. They may have special buildings for nocturnal animals, with dim white or red lighting used during the day, so the animals will be active when visitors are there, and brighter lights at night to help them sleep. Special climate conditions are created for animals living in radical environments, such as penguins. Special enclosures for birds, insects, reptiles, fish, and other aquatic life forms have also been developed. Some zoos have walk-through exhibits where visitors enter enclosures of non-aggressive species, such as lemurs, marmosets, birds, lizards, and turtles. Visitors are asked to keep to paths and avoid showing or eating foods that the animals might snatch. ∆

Gardens

Green House

A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse) is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings. A miniature greenhouse is known as a cold frame.

Greenhouses protect crops from too much heat or cold and help to keep out pests. Light and temperature control allows greenhouses to turn inarable land into arable land, thereby improving food production in marginal environments.

Because greenhouses allow certain crops to be grown throughout the year, greenhouses are increasingly important in the food supply of high latitude countries. One of the largest greenhouse complexes in the world is in Almeria, Spain, where greenhouses cover almost 50,000 acres (200 km2). It is sometimes called the sea of plastics.

Greenhouses are often used for growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, and tobacco plants. Bumblebees are the pollinators of choice for most greenhouse pollination, although other types of bees have been used, as well as artificial pollination. Hydroponics can be used in greenhouses, as well, to make the most use of the interior space.

Besides tobacco, many vegetables and flowers are grown in greenhouses in late winter and early spring, and then transplanted outside as the weather warms. Started plants are usually available for gardeners in farmers’ markets at transplanting time. Special greenhouse varieties of certain crops, such as tomatoes, are generally used for commercial production.

The closed environment of a greenhouse has its own unique requirements, compared with outdoor production. Pests and diseases, and extremes of heat and humidity, have to be controlled, and irrigation is necessary to provide water. Significant inputs of heat and light may be required, particularly with winter production of warm-weather vegetables.

Because the temperature and humidity of greenhouses must be constantly monitored to ensure optimal conditions, a wireless sensor network can be used to gather data remotely. The data are transmitted to a control location and used to control heating, cooling, and irrigation systems.

The first modern greenhouses were built in Italy in the 13th century[5] to house the exotic plants that explorers brought back from the tropics. They were originally called giardini botanici (botanical gardens). The concept of greenhouses soon spread to the Netherlands and then England, along with the plants. ∆

Sports & Recreation

Madison Square Garden New York

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.

Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the longest active major sporting facility in the New York metropolitan area, and is the fourth incarnation of the arena in the city. One Penn Plaza stands at its side. Several other operating entities related to the venue share its name.

Madison Square Garden is the third busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales, behind M.E.N. Arena, Manchester and The O2 Arena, London, both in the United Kingdom.

As of the start of the 2010–11 NHL season and 2010–11 NBA season, Madison Square Garden is the oldest arena in the NHL, and the second oldest in the NBA, following Oracle Arena, in Oakland. ∆

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