什么是花园

栽培草本植物、水果、花卉、蔬菜或乔木的一块土地。现存最早的花园细部计画属於埃及，可以追溯至西元前1400年，其中呈现出树木成行的大道和长方形的水塘。美索不达米亚的花园是可以享受树荫和凉水的地方。希腊式花园在陈列贵重材料方面是极尽奢华的，这个传统由拜占庭花园承接。伊斯兰花园常在池中使用水，并由类似灌溉沟渠的狭窄水道供水。在文艺复兴时期的欧洲，花园反映出人类有能力使外在世界保持井然有序的自信。义大利花园强调住宅与花园的统一。17世纪的法国花园是极讲究对称性的，而法国当时主导了欧洲文化使这种风格普及到下一个世纪。在18世纪的英国，因逐渐增进对自然世界的了解而导致「自然」花园的发展，其中使用不规则而不对称的布局。中国花园通常与自然景致保持和谐，采用远方采集来的岩石，作为共通的装饰特徵。早期的日本花园仿照中国的原则，後来的发展是可能以沙子和岩石为主的抽象花园，还有在盘中做成的迷你花园。

garden

Plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables, or trees are cultivated. The earliest surviving detailed garden plan is Egyptian and dates from about 1400 BC; it shows tree-lined avenues and rectangular ponds. Mesopotamian gardens were places where shade and cool water could be enjoyed; Hellenistic gardens were conspicuously luxurious in their display of precious materials, a tradition carried over by Byzantine gardens. Islamic gardens made use of water, often in pools and fed by narrow canals resembling irrigation channels. In Renaissance Europe, gardens reflected confidence in human ability to impose order on the external world; Italian gardens emphasized the unity of house and garden. French 17th-century gardens were rigidly symmetrical, and French cultural dominance in Europe popularized this style into the next century. In 18th-century England, increasing awareness of the natural world led to the development of “natural” gardens that made use of irregular, nonsymmetrical layouts. Chinese gardens have generally harmonized with the natural landscape, and have employed rocks gathered from great distances as a universal decorative feature. Early Japanese gardens imitated Chinese principles; later developments were the abstract garden, which might feature only sand and rocks, and miniature gardens made in trays (see bonsai).