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 Anglo-French 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.
Some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants such as parsley. Xeriscape gardens use local native plants that do not require irrigation or extensive use of other resources while still providing the benefits of a garden environment. Gardens may exhibit structural enhancements, sometimes called follies, including water features such as fountains, ponds (with or without fish), waterfalls or creeks, dry creek beds, statuary, arbors, trellises and more.
Some gardens are for ornamental purposes only, while some gardens also produce food crops, sometimes in separate areas, or sometimes intermixed with the ornamental plants. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby rather than produce for sale). Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragrances to create interest and delight the senses.
Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener. A gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public and corporate clients.
Read more about Garden: Garden Design, Elements of A Garden, Uses For The Garden Space, Types of Gardens, Watering Gardens, In Art and Literature, Other Similar Spaces
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... The Nitobe Memorial Garden is a 2½ acre (one hectare) traditional Japanese garden located at the University of British Columbia, just outside the city limits of Vancouver ... It is part of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research ... One of the most authentic Japanese gardens in North America, it honours Japanese author, educator, diplomat, and politician Nitobe Inazō (1862–1933), who died in Victoria, British Columbia (now the ...
... The Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin) is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe into western Asia ... The Garden Warbler's song is a pleasant chattering with many clearer notes like a Blackbird ... a much prized delicacy in Italy, is not as sometimes thought the Garden Warbler but the closely related Orphean Warbler ...
... Chinese Garden Liu Fang Yuan 流芳園 (the Garden of Flowing Fragrance) Colorful flowers The bridge in the Japanese Garden The bell in the Japanese ...
... There were 37 households out of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.5% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% were non-families. 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older ...
... suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden." His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it ... We will call it the Garden of the Gods." The beer garden never materialized, but the name stuck ...
Famous quotes containing the word garden:
“There’s always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“The others “acted” a role; I was the role. She who was Mary Garden died that it might live. That was my genius ... and my sacrifice. It drained off so much of me that by comparison my private life was empty. I could not give myself completely twice.”
—Mary Garden (1874–1967)
“He had the oaks for heating and for light.
He had a hen, he had a pig in sight.
He had a well, he had the rain to catch.
He had a ten-by-twenty garden patch.
Nor did he lack for common entertainment.
That I assume was what our passing train meant.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)