Background in Roman Gardening

Before entering the realm of Roman Medieval gardening, I think it is important to discuss how gardening entered the world in the first place.  In other words, I think it is essential to look at the cultures that preceded that of the Romans and how they dealt with gardening.  Some of the earliest gardens could be found in Ancient Egypt.  While Egypt is known for its hot, desert like climate, one may wonder why or how a garden can even survive in such a climate.  The key to Ancient Egyptian gardening was their use of the Nile River as a water source.  The Nile provided water for an irrigation system that was linked to gardens throughout Egypt and allowed for various plant species to grow.  In Ancient Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates wee also used as natural water sources which were then used in the irrigation system across the region.  When the Assyrians conquered the area, they also took advantage of the two rivers, and written sources show how the Assyrians adored trees.  The Assyrians praised trees so much that they even took them as spoils of war and replanted them in palatial gardens.  What about the Ancient Greeks? The forefathers of the Romans?  Surprisingly enough, the Ancient Greeks were not very interested in gardens and horticulture   Unlike the Romans who were to come, the Ancient Greeks did not grow gardens in their home.  The living spaces of the Ancient Greeks were also considerably smaller than that of the Romans, which did not allow too much room for gardens.  Instead they enjoyed having courtyards completely paved with cement or beaten earth.  The Ancient Greeks in general believed in life outside the home, especially the men who spent countless hours talking about philosophy and politics.  The only time the Ancient Greeks relied on plants was when they needed shade in places like the Agora of Athens, where men would frequent and discuss relevant issues.  During the Hellenistic Period the Greeks began to plant ornamental gardens that were influenced by the East, especially after wars with the Persians during the 4th century BC.  The Persians were another civilization that valued gardens and were heavily influenced by the Assyrians and Babylonians.  Their gardens were known as paradeisos and had wild animals for hunting as well as plants for produce or for decoration. (1)  

A Roman fresco of a Persian paradeisos from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar

So what about Ancient Roman gardens?  Romans seemed to always have this interest in gardens and what they entail.  To being with, the Romans recorded information about their gardens and used mosaics and frescoes, especially the latter, to make visual representations of them.   To the Romans the garden was referred to as the hortus and it had domestic and public purposes.  Gardens were planted in parks and around businesses to attract people, but they were also used as funerary monuments.  One of the main reasons Romans grew gardens was to display their wealth and share their culture with the outside world.  Some of the most notable sources we have for Ancient Roman gardens come from the Romans themselves.  Perhaps the most popular is Pliny the Elder who wrote 37 books on natural history, which included notes on trees, flowers, and vegetables.  He furthered his work by discussing how these various plants were utilized in medicine, cuisine, and even decor, contemporary to his time.  This skill was passed down to his nephew Pliny the Younger who also wrote about plants.  Cicero drew Roman garden art during a portion of the Republican Era (4th century to 27 BC).  The following four agriculturalists also proved to be helpful in providing us with detailed information about Ancient Roman gardens: Cato (2nd c. BC), Varo (c. 36 BC), Columella (c. 60 AD), and Palladius (4th c. AD).  The frescoes also prove to be good sources, however, many are fragile and have lost color throughout the years, seeing that they are 1900 years old at least! (2)

From these sources and others we get an idea of Ancient Roman gardens in a general sense.  For one, the Romans usually had vegetable gardens as oppose to decorative ones.  The reason for this being that vegetable gardens were beneficial to the family that took care of it.  The ager, or cultivated field as it was known to the Romans, was located next to the family's farmhouse.  The majority of the field work was done by the men of the family, but occasionally the women would pitch in. When the women would work on the fields they would bring their children along, especially infants and toddlers, since they could not leave them alone. (3)

An illustration of Roman women working in the field and their children playing next to them from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

Gardens were also very popular within Roman homes.  The domus, the Roman town house, was widely used throughout cities and came in three different styles: the basic, peristyle, and central peristyle.  The basic townhouse had the garden in the rear; the peristyle had the garden towards the back, but not all the way in the back, and the central peristyle had the garden in the center.  In the Romanticized Greek East the homes gardens were not located inside the home.  Instead the Greeks kept to their tradition and paved their courtyard instead of planting gardens in them.  As time progressed, the Greeks also placed plants inside their homes, but usually in pots inside the house, on balconies, or window ledges. (4)

Roman home in Tunisia that had pots similar to those in Greek homes.  From  Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

When it comes to the usage of gardens and the plants they contained, the Romans had multiple uses.  As mentioned earlier, one of the man uses was for decor.  Important to note here is that many of the plants in Roman gardens were brought from other parts of the Mediterranean, which also meant that the plants could usually be grown in Rome.  The Romans identified their plants through shape and color, but in today's world we use a system developed by Linnaeus in 1737 AD. (5)

Pliny the Elder notes that Romans also used gardens to plant vegetables and fruits so that they can make salads.  The Romans did not cook as much because of the low availability of fuel.  Pliny also notes that Romans also used plants for medicine.  He claims that mustard was used to treat and cure mushroom poisoning, snake bites, and aches.  Pliny adds that people used fruits to make wine.  Along with grapes, they also used apples and pears. (6) Plants were also important for bee-keeping because the nectar served as food for the bees.  The more plants, the more nectar, the more bees, and thus the more honey for the Romans to use as a sweetener.  Some took bee-keeping so seriously that they even  believed gardens should be screened off using trees to block out the wind and bushes, such as thyme, to provide bees with food. (7)  Plants were also utilized for their scent.  Initially, they were used to freshen the air in homes, but later on they were used to make scented oils and perfumes.  The Romans boiled some parts of plaints and mixed them with oil.  Soon enough perfume making became a business, with the rose being the most popular scent. (8)

Among the decorative trees the Romans planted were the pitch-pine, cypress and box, oleander, strawberry tree, and plane trees.  The pitch-pine, cypress, and box were mostly used for shaping and blocking off areas.  The oleander was used for visual purposes to show off its flowers during the summer months, but it was also used to treat snake bites.  The strawberry tree was used for its decorative fruit that can be consumed by birds, but not humans.  The plane tree was brought to Rome from Sicily and was mainly used for shade, not for its nuts or fruits like many other trees. (9)  Speaking of fruits, the Romans brought in fruit from other parts of the known world for a couple of reasons.  The first being that they wanted to extend the flowering seasons.  The second reason was to create   new varieties with improved flavor or larger fruit. (10)  

As aforementioned the much of the evidence we have to Roman gardens comes from the frescoes they painted and left behind.  Although many of the frescoes are not detailed and  the majority are faded, they still give us an idea of the type of plants in Roman gardens.  While gardens tended to be associated with Roman and Greek gods, the frescoes do not reflect this.  Among some of the shrubs most often depicted in frescoes are the laurel, myrtle, oleander, and viburnum.  Trees are usually pines or cypresses.  Frescoes depict low-growing plants near the ground and taller trees in the back. (11)

Frescoe of the garden at the House of Livia, Primaporta, Rome from Ancient Roman Gardens by Linda Farrar.

Archaeologically, many species have been preserved near Vesuvius because the volcanic ash preserved it well.  Specifically, the lava covered everything so well and did not allow any air or light in.  At Vesuvius, tree branches, seeds, nuts of fruiting trees, pollen, and insect remains were uncovered, and the soil dates back to 79 AD.  It is important to note that the pollen may have blown over from plants outside the gardens they were discovered. (12)

Aside from plants, the Romans also incorporated birds in their gardens.  Among the birds that were encouraged to roam Roman gardens were doves, pigeons, blackbirds, thrushes, yellow orioles, gold finches, flycatchers, nightingales, buntings, and warblers, among others.  Doves were known to be popular pets.  Dogs were also used as pets, but were also used to guard the garden from thieves that would try and steal the produce.  Sometimes goats were placed in the garden to chew up the grass, but had to be supervised so that they do not ruin the gardens beauty. (13)

1. Linda Farrar, Ancient Roman Gardens (Stroud: Sutton Publication, 2000), 1-10. 

2. Ibid., xi-xvi.

3. Ibid., 12-13.
4. Ibid., 15-20.
5. Ibid., 130-131.
6. Ibid., 133-134.
7. Ibid., 134.
8. Ibid., 135.
9. Ibid., 141-142.
10. Ibid., 142.
11. Ibid., 145.
12. Ibid., 149-150.
13. Ibid., 155-158.