Gardening

Gardening is one of the oldest of the arts. / The Chinese with their deep sensitiveness to beauty / laid the foundations for a form of garden art / which was later to have great influences upon other lands. /

The Greeks gave to the world a new concept of gardening. /Their homes were decorated with flowers, / but it was in their civic design that they most skillfully applied their garden art. /Their temples were surrounded by rows of trees, /and trees lined the important streets and market places in their principal cities. /

The Romans acquired much of the knowledge and skill in garden craft from Greeks. / In the second century AD the Romans began to build gardens of great scale, / inspired by the vast palace gardens they had conquered. /They brought water from great distances to supply the ornamental fountains/ which decorated their villa gardens /These great villas were later to inspire the Italian garden architects to follow the Roman style.