Garden: Difference between revisions

The earliest recorded Chinese gardens were created in the valley of the [[Yellow River]], during the [[Shang Dynastydynasty]] (1600–1046 BC). These gardens were large enclosed parks where the kings and nobles hunted game, or where fruit and vegetables were grown. Early inscriptions from this period, carved on tortoise shells, have three Chinese characters for garden, ''you'', ''pu'' and ''yuan''. ''You'' was a royal garden where birds and animals were kept, while ''pu'' was a garden for plants. During the [[Qin dynasty]] (221–206 BC), ''[[wikt:園|yuan]]'' became the character for all gardens.<ref>Feng Chaoxiong, ''The Classical Gardens of Suzhou'', preface, and Bing Chiu, ''Jardins de Chine, ou la quete du paradis'', Editions de La Martiniere, Paris 2010, p. 10–11.</ref> The old character for ''yuan'' is a small picture of a garden; it is enclosed in a square which can represent a wall, and has symbols which can represent the plan of a structure, a small square which can represent a pond, and a symbol for a plantation or a pomegranate tree.<ref>Tong Jun, Records of Jiang Gardens, cited in Feng Chanoxiong, ''The Classical Gardens of Suzhou''.</ref>

[[Korea]]n gardens are a type of garden described as being natural, informal, simple and unforced, seeking to merge with the natural world.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_zoOAAAAQAAJ&dq=Korean+garden&pg=PA144 |title=Korea: An Introduction - Google Book Search|access-date=2009-01-12 |isbn=9780710302991 |last1=Hoare |first1=James |date=January 1988|publisher=Kegan Paul International }}</ref> They have a history that goes back more than two thousand years,<ref>{{cite web |url=httpshttp://selfgardeningeng.me/2024/03/21/how-to-save-an-overwatered-plantbuddhapia.com/ _Service/_ContentView/ETC_CONTENT_2.ASP?pk=0000593886&sub_pk=&clss_cd=0002202991&top_menu_cd=0000000329&Menu_code=0000008706&sub_menu= |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-05-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928232957/http://eng.buddhapia.com/_Service/_ContentView/ETC_CONTENT_2.ASP?pk=0000593886&sub_pk=&clss_cd=0002202991&top_menu_cd=0000000329&Menu_code=0000008706&sub_menu= |archive-date=2011-09-28 }}</ref> but are little known in the west. The oldest records date to the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea|Three Kingdoms]] period (57 BC – 668 AD) when architecture and palace gardens showed a development noted in the Korean ''[[Samguk Sagi|History of the Three Kingdoms]]''.

The [[French formal garden]] ({{lang-langx|fr|jardin à la française}}) contrasted with the design principles of the English landscape garden ({{lang-langx|fr|jardin à l'anglaise}}) namely, to "force nature" instead of leaving it undisturbed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weiss |first1=Allan |title=Mirrors of Infinity: The French Formal Garden and 17th-Century Metaphysics |date=1995 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |isbn=9781568980508 |page=15}}</ref> Typical French formal gardens had "parterres, geometrical shapes and neatly clipped topiary", in contrast to the English style of garden in which "plants and shrubs seem to grow naturally without artifice."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scurr |first1=Ruth |title=Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows |date=2022 |publisher=Vintage |page=15}}</ref> By the mid-17th century [[axial symmetry]] had ascended to prominence in the French gardening traditions of [[Andre Mollet]] and [[Jacques Boyceau]], from which the latter wrote: "All things, however beautiful they may be chosen, will be defective if they are not ordered and placed in proper symmetry."<ref name=hayes/> A good example of the French formal style are the Tuileries gardens in Paris which were originally designed during the reign of King Henry II in the mid-sixteenth century. The gardens were redesigned into the formal French style for the [[Sun King|Sun King Louis XIV]]. The gardens were ordered into symmetrical lines: long rows of elm or chestnut trees, clipped hedgerows, along with parterres, "reflect[ing] the orderly triumph of man's will over nature."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scurr |first1=Ruth |title=Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows |date=2022 |publisher=Vintage |page=29}}</ref>

The [[French landscape garden]] was influenced by the English landscape garden and gained prominence in the late eighteenth century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Calder |first1=Martin |title=Experiencing the Garden in the Eighteenth Century |date=2006 |publisher=Lang |isbn=9783039102914 |page=9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Weiss |first1=Allan |title=Mirrors of Infinity: The French Formal Garden and 17th-Century Metaphysics |date=1995 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |isbn=9781568980508 |page=15}}</ref> <ref>https://selfgardening.me/2024/03/21/how-to-save-an-overwatered-plant/</ref>

Before the [[Grand Manner]] era, a few significant gardens were found in Britain which were developed under the influence of the continent. Britain's homegrown domestic gardening traditions were mostly practical in purpose, rather than aesthetic, unlike the grand gardens found mostly on castle grounds, and less commonly in universities. Tudor Gardens emphasized contrast rather than transitions, distinguished by color and illusion. They were not intended as a complement to home or architecture, but conceived as independent spaces, arranged to grow and display flowers and ornamental plants. Gardeners demonstrated their artistry in [[knot garden]]s, with complex arrangements most commonly included interwoven [[Buxus|box hedge]]s, and less commonly fragrant herbs like [[rosemary]]. Sanded paths run between the hedgings of open knots whereas closed knots were filled with single colored flowers. The knot and [[parterre]] gardens were always placed on level ground, and elevated areas reserved for terraces from which the intricacy of the gardens could be viewed.<ref name="hayes">{{cite book |last=Hayes |first=Gordon |title=Landscape and Garden Design: Lessons from History |date=2013 |publisher=Whittle |isbn=978-1849950824 |pages=1–3}}</ref>

Jacobean gardens were described as "a delightful confusion" by [[Henry Wotton]] in 1624. Under the influence of the [[Italian Renaissance]], Caroline gardens began to shed some of the chaos of earlier designs, marking the beginning of a trends towards symmetrical unified designs that took the building architecture into account, and featuring an elevated terrace from which home and garden could be viewed. The only surviving Caroline garden is located at [[Bolsover Castle]] in [[Derbyshire]], but is too simple to attract much interest. During the reign of [[Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland|Charles II]], many new [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] style country houses were built; while in England Oliver Cromwell sought to destroy many Tudor, Jacobean and Caroline style gardens.<ref name=hayes/>