Garden Totally Explained

Everything about Garden totally explained

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 is known as a residential garden. Western gardens are almost universally based around plants. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens. See traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants such as parsley. Xeriscape gardens use local native plants that don't 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). 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.
The term "garden" in British English refers to an enclosed area of land, usually adjoining a building. This would be referred to as a yard in American English. Flower gardens combine plants of different heights, colors, textures, and fragances to create interest and delight the senses.

Garden design

Garden design is the creation of plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals. Most professional garden designers are trained in principles of design and in horticulture, and have an expert knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license.
Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, rockeries, walls, water features, sitting areas and decking, as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular maintenance, which can affect the choices of plants regarding speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, and bloom-time, and many other characteristics.
The most important consideration in garden design is how the garden will be used, followed closely by the desired stylistic genres, and the way the garden space will connect to the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to the limitations of the budget. Budget limitations can be addressed by a simpler garden style with fewer plants and less costly hardscape materials, seeds rather than sod for lawns, and plants that grow quickly; alternately, garden owners may choose to create their garden over time, area by area.

Elements of a garden

The elements of a garden consist of the following:
Natural conditions and materials:

Soil
Rocks
Light conditions
Wind
Precipitation
Air quality
- Pollution
- Proximity to ocean (salinity)
Plant materials

Man-made elements:

Terrace, patio, deck

Paths

Lighting

Raised beds

Outdoor art/sculpture, such as Gazebos and Pergolas

Pool, water garden, or other water elements such as drainage system.

Uses for the garden space

A garden can have aesthetic, functional, and recreational uses:

Cooperation with nature

Plant cultivation

Observance of nature

Bird- and insect-watching
Reflection on the changing seasons

Relaxation

Family dinners on the terrace
Children playing in the yard
Reading and relaxing in the hammock
Maintaining the flowerbeds
Pottering in the shed
Basking in warm sunshine
Escaping oppressive sunlight and heat

Growing useful produce

Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty
Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking

Types of gardens

Gardens may feature a particular plant or plant type(s);

Back garden

Bog Garden

Cactus garden

Fernery

Flower garden

Front garden

Herb garden

Orangery

Orchard

Rose garden

Vegetable garden

Vineyard

White garden

Wildflower garden

Winter garden Gardens may feature a particular style or aesthetic:

Alpine or rock garden

Bonsai or miniature garden

Children's Garden

Chinese garden

Dutch garden

English landscape garden

Italian garden

Knot garden

Terrarium

Wild garden

Xeriscaping

Zen garden Types of garden:

Greenhouse

Rain garden

Roof garden

Windowbox

Zoological garden

Watering gardens

See rainwater, hand pump, tap water and drip irrigation.

History of gardening

See history of gardening.

Gardens in literature

Garzoni Gardens Tuscany Italy

The English Garden Magazine website

The Garden of Eden

Romance of the Rose

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short-story "Rappaccini's Daughter"

Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera

John Steinbeck's short-story "The Chrysanthemums"

Ernest Hemingway's The Gardener

Other similar spaces

Other outdoor spaces that are similar to gardens include:

A landscape is an outdoor space of a larger scale, natural or designed, usually unenclosed and considered from a distance.

A park is a planned outdoor space, usually enclosed ('imparked') and of a larger size. Public parks are for public use.

An arboretum is a planned outdoor space, usually large, for the display and study of trees.

A farm or orchard is for the production of food stuff.

A botanical garden is a type of garden where plants are grown both for scientific purposes and for the enjoyment and education of visitors.

A zoological garden, or zoo for short, is a place where wild animals are cared for and exhibited to the public.Further Information

Get more info on 'Garden'.

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