Gardening

Gardening is one of the oldest of the arts.The Chinese with their deep sensitivity to beauty laid the foundations for a form of garden artwhich 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.Later these great villas were to inspire the Italian garden architects to follow the Roman style.