Gardens

03 Oct 1994 12:01

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Formal, ornamental ones, as opposed to vegetable plots. Where they originated, why they were built, how they evolved. I'm told Zen gardens, for instance, began as microcosms, worlds-in-miniature; and my father and grandfather, probably for reasons of Afghan patriotism, suspect that formal gardens began in Persia and thence spread.

Recommended:
• Douglas W. Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens

To read:
• Brookes, Gardens of Paradise
• Maureen Carroll, Earthly Paradises: Ancient Gardens in History and Archaeology [Reviewed in BMCR, 2004.03.30]
• Michel Conan (ed.)
  • The Middle East Garden Traditions: Unity and Diversity; Questions, Methods, and Resources in a Multicultural Perspective [blurb]
  • Sacred Gardens and Landscapes: Ritual and Agency [Blurb]
• Monique Mosser and Georges Teyssot, Architecture of Western Gardens: A Design History
• Thacker, History of Gardens
• Stephanie Ross, What Gardens Mean [Blurb]
• Joseph Cho Wang, The Chinese Garden [Blurb]