zoological garden or zoo, public or private park where living animals are kept for exhibition and study. The menageries and aviaries of China, Egypt, and Rome were famous in ancient times. From the late medieval period many rulers had private menageries, some of which later formed the nucleus of public exhibits. Nearly all large cities now have zoological reserves. Notable ones include those of London (Regent's Park), Paris (Jardin des Plantes and Jardin d'Acclimatation, Bois de Boulogne), Berlin (Tiergarten), Toronto (Metro), New York City (Bronx), Chicago (Lincoln Park and Brookfield), Cincinnati, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and San Diego (Balboa Park). Modern trends include breeding endangered animals in captivity (some have been reintroduced into the wild), exhibiting animals in enclosures simulating their natural habitat rather than in cages (open-range zones or safari parks), and educating the public about the principles of ecology.

rock garden, garden planned around natural rock formations or rocks artificially arranged to simulate natural (often mountainous) conditions. The concept of rock gardens is believed to have been introduced from China and Japan into the Western world in the 17th cent.; they have since gained wide popularity as an ideal method for the cultivation of mountain flora and for beautifying hilly, stony, or other awkward terrain. Rock plants usually have long roots that enable them to obtain moisture even when the surface is hot and dry. Low plants requiring well-drained conditions are suited to rock gardens: besides alpine plants, these include stonecrops and species of columbine, phlox, bluebell, and rockrose.

garden city, an ideal, self-contained community of predetermined area and population surrounded by a greenbelt. As formulated by Sir Ebenezer Howard, the garden city was intended to bring together the economic and cultural advantages of both city and country living, with land ownership vested in the community, while at the same time discouraging metropolitan sprawl and industrial centralization. The garden city was foreshadowed in the writings of Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, and James Silk Buckingham, and in the planned industrial communities of Saltaire (1851), Bournville (1879), and Port Sunlight (1887) in England. The term garden city was introduced in Howard's book To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1898); it was revised (1902) under the title Garden Cities of To-morrow (reedited by F. J. Osborn, 1946). Howard organized the Garden-City Association (1899) in England and secured backing for the establishment of Letchworth (1903), designed by the architects Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, and Welwyn Garden City (1920), designed by Louis de Soissons. Neither community, however, was an entirely self-contained garden city. The idea spread rapidly to Europe and the United States, but it commonly resulted in residential suburbs of individually owned homes. Under the auspices of the Regional Planning Association of America, the garden-city idea was more fully realized in the community of Radburn, N.J. (1928-32) outside New York City designed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright. Most of these satellite towns, however, failed to attain Howard's ideal, since local industries were unable to provide employment for the inhabitants, many of whom commuted to work in larger centers. The congestion and destruction accompanying World War II greatly stimulated the garden-city movement, especially in Great Britain, where the passage of the New Towns Act in 1946 led to the development of over a dozen new communities based on Howard's idea. The open layout of garden cities has had a great influence on the development of modern city planning.

garden, land set aside for the cultivation of flowers, herbs, vegetables, or small fruits, for either utility or ornament. Gardens range in size from window boxes and small dooryard plots to the public botanical garden and commercial truck garden (see truck farming). Garden types are also widely varied: a garden may be devoted entirely to one kind of plant—e.g., cactuses, aquatic plants, alpine plants (see rock garden), or herbs—or may combine many types of plants to achieve maximum beauty and productivity.

Landscape and Ornamental Gardening

In landscape gardening an overall aesthetic effect is sought, usually to enhance dwellings, public buildings, and monuments and to integrate and beautify parks, playgrounds, and fairgrounds. Formal landscaping involves artificial modifications of the terrain and emphasizes balanced plantings and geometrical design; the naturalistic style incorporates plantings with the natural scenery.

Ornamental gardening and landscape gardening are ancient arts. The Egyptians built formal walled gardens, and the Mesopotamians constructed private parks and terraced gardens—usually on artificial mounds or supported by columns, as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Persians were especially skilled in using water for decorative effects; the Moors carried Middle Eastern styles to Spain. In the East the planting of sacred groves was spread by the Buddhists from India to China and set a style there for naturalistic gardens, in which the beauty of the natural scenery was accentuated by distributing plants so as to allow them free growth and set off their colors and fragrances to best advantage. The Japanese adopted this principle and elaborated it into a distinct style of highly disciplined arrangements of plants and their settings with the object of achieving subtle beauty based on economy and simplicity. The Japanese art of bonsai gave rise to the unique miniature gardens and dish gardens.

In Europe landscape gardening was highly developed under the Roman Empire; formal gardens, often terraced and adorned with statuary and fountains, were designed by architects. The Crusaders brought back from the East new gardening techniques that gave great impetus to horticulture in Western Europe. During the Renaissance the classical style was revived in Italy; the Italian gardens, planned by leading artists, sometimes went to extremes of formality and decor, among them those employing elaborate waterworks displays (see fountain). The Italian style was widely imitated. In Spain the Italian influence was modified by Moorish features. In turn, the Spaniards and the Portuguese introduced their ideas in the Americas, where these techniques were combined with the already well-developed Aztec and Inca traditions. The Dutch, famous for the development of the nursery, were noted also for their topiary work, an art practiced earlier by the Romans. France became the leader in formal landscaping; the work of André Le Nôtre is exemplified in the gardens of Versailles. In the 18th cent. England inaugurated a revival of the naturalistic trend under such leaders as William Kent, Capability Brown, and Humphrey Repton.

The 19th cent. brought a partial reversion to formal landscaping and an interest in horticulture as well as in design. American landscape artists generally followed the example of the English masters. Landscaping, especially of public parks and buildings, was stimulated by the work of A. J. Downing, Calvert Vaux, and F. L. Olmsted and his son. Today landscape gardening stresses practical as well as aesthetic design, selecting from a wealth of gardening traditions and emphasizing casual, naturalistic effects.

Vegetable Gardening

Vegetable, herb, and fruit growing (see orchard and vineyard) have become more the province of large-scale agriculture as advanced marketing techniques have threatened the family farm. Home vegetable gardening provided a major source of food during the emergency conditions of both world wars, however, and has been a popular hobby ever since.

See also garden city.

botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. The plants in botanical gardens are labeled, usually with both the common and the scientific names, and they are often arranged in cultural or habitat groups, such as rock gardens, aquatic gardens, desert gardens, and tropical gardens. Botanical gardens perform diversified functions, e.g., the collection and cultivation of plants from all parts of the world, experimentation in plant breeding and hybridization, the maintenance of botanical libraries and herbariums, and the administration of educational programs for adults and children.

The two most important gardens in the United States are the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York City (est. 1891) and the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mo. (est. c.1860 and affiliated with Washington Univ.). The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, formerly Blaksley Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara, Calif. (est. 1926), is noted for its collection of desert and subtropical ornamental plants. Other well-known botanical gardens are the Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, Mass. (est. 1872 as part of Harvard); Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, N.Y. (est. 1910); Highland and Durand-Eastman parks, Rochester, N.Y.; Bartram's Gardens, Philadelphia (founded 1728); the United States Botanic Gardens (est. 1820) and the National Arboretum (est. 1927), Washington, D.C.; Fairchild Tropical Garden, Coconut Grove, Fla. (est. 1938); Fort Worth Botanic Garden, Fort Worth, Tex. (est. 1933); Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, Anaheim, Calif. (est. 1927); Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, Calif; the botanical gardens at Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto, Canada; and the numerous botanical gardens of Europe, including the Royal Botanic Gardens, known as Kew Gardens, London; and the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

balsam, garden, common name for the species Impatiens balsamina, a member of the jewelweed family.

Welwyn Garden City, city (1991 pop. 40,665), Hertfordshire, E central England. It is a garden city, founded by Ebenezer Howard in 1920. Its industries produce a variety of products, including radio and television sets. Most of the local population, however, commutes to work in London. The city's growth was expected to alleviate London of overpopulation.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum was designed by Gordon Bunshaft to house 6,000 pieces of the enormous art collection amassed by the industrialist Joseph H. Hirshhorn and presented by him to the nation in 1966. Opened in 1974, it is the capital city's first museum devoted exclusively to modern art. The building is a circular, windowless slab of concrete faced with pink granite. The sculpture garden extends from the glass-walled interior courtyard of the building; it contains a shallow pool and a fountain surrounded by masterworks of 19th- and 20th-century sculpture that are considered the chief strength of the collection. The painting collection is especially strong in works by Eakins and examples of pop art, op art, color-field painting, and the new realism. In addition to works from the collection and new acquisitions, temporary exhibitions organized in collaboration with other museums are presented. The museum's full name is the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Garden, Mary, 1874-1967, Scottish-American operatic soprano, b. Aberdeen, Scotland, studied in Paris. Her debut (1900) occurred when she replaced, without rehearsal, the star of Charpentier's Louise, at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. In 1902 she created the role of Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. In the title role of Massenet's Thaïs she made her American debut (1907) with the Manhattan Opera Company, New York City, and was a member of the Chicago Opera Company from 1910 to 1931.

Garden of the Gods, park, 770 acres (312 hectares), central Colo., near Colorado Springs; noted for its unusual, multicolored rock formations. Narrow-crested sandstone hills and ridges have been eroded into fascinating groups with such fanciful names as Kissing Camels. Gray Rock serves as a natural amphitheater.

Garden Reach, city, West Bengal state, NE India, on the Hugli River. It is a suburb of Kolkata (Calcutta).

Garden Grove, city (1990 pop. 143,050), Orange co., S Calif., a suburb of Long Beach and Los Angeles, on the Santa Ana River; founded 1877, inc. 1956. Many of its residents work in nearby aerospace and defense installations, and there is light manufacturing. The city's Crystal Cathedral was constructed with over 10,000 panes of glass.

Garden City. 1 City (1990 pop. 24,097), seat of Finney co., SW Kans., on the Arkansas River; inc. 1887. A trade center in an irrigated farm and dairy region growing wheat, sugar beets, and alfalfa, it has a gas and an oil field, cattle feedlots, and hide-processing and meatpacking plants. Farm machinery, cultured marble, and fertilizers are produced. The city has an agricultural experiment station, a zoo, and a wild game refuge.

2 City (1990 pop. 31,846), Wayne co., SE Mich., a suburb of Detroit; inc. as a city 1934. Chiefly residential but with a noted population decline, the city produces gauge systems and aluminum extrusions.

3 Village (1990 pop. 21,686), Nassau co., SE N.Y., on Long Island; inc. 1919. It is a high-income residential community, with printing, publishing, and retailing as the major industries. Garden City was founded in 1869 and planned by the merchant Alexander Stewart. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh began his historic transatlantic flight from the nearby former Roosevelt Field. Adelphi Univ. and Nassau Community College are in the city, as is the Museums at Mitchel complex, including a children's and an aviation museum.

Eden, Garden of, in the Bible, first home to humankind. In it were the trees of life and of the knowledge of good and evil. Having eaten the forbidden fruit of the latter tree, Adam and Eve were banished from the garden and God's presence. Eden, often called Paradise, is symbolic of eschatological fertility and bounty. It is also mentioned in the Qur'an.

Covent Garden, area in London historically containing the city's principal fruit and garden market and the Royal Opera House. The market was established in 1671 by Charles II on the site of the abbot of Westminster's convent garden, from which the area's name is derived. In 1974 the entire market was transferred to a new site at Nine Elms on the South Bank of the Thames near Vauxhall. Since then, Covent Garden has renovated old market buildings and become a popular shopping area, with many individual stores and stalls that sell high-quality goods. The Royal Opera House was erected on the site of the Theatre Royal built in 1732. After being repaired and enlarged in 1787, the theater burned down in 1808 and again in 1856. It was rebuilt in 1858 to house opera and ballet. The Royal Ballet began performing there in the spring of 1946. The Royal Opera House reopened in Dec., 1999, after an 18-month renovation.

or zoological garden

Place where wild and sometimes domesticated animals are exhibited in captivity. Aquatic zoological gardens are called aquariums. The first zoos were perhaps associated with domestication. Pigeons were kept in captivity as early as 4500 BC; other animals (e.g., elephants and antelopes) have also been kept in captivity since antiquity. Animal collections were kept by Charlemagne and other European monarchs. Hernán Cortés described a zoo in Mexico (1519) so large that it required a staff of 300. Modern zookeeping started in 1752 with the founding of the Imperial Menagerie at Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace. Open-range zoos were first established in the early 1930s, some so large that visitors drive through in cars, as on an African safari. There are now more than 1,000 animal collections open to the public throughout the world (e.g., in the U.S., the Bronx Zoo and San Diego Zoo).

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Pungent herb (Thymus vulgaris) of the mint family, native to southern Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and Central Asia, and cultivated in North America. A small, low-growing shrub, it has small, curled leaves that give off a fragrant odour when crushed. The dried leaves and flowering tops are used to flavour a wide range of foods. Bees are fond of thyme, and Sicily's thyme honey has been famous for centuries. The essential oil has antiseptic and anesthetic properties and is used as an internal medicine; it is also used in perfumes and toothpastes.

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Any of more than a dozen species of snakes (genus Thamnophis, family Colubridae) with a striped pattern that resembles a garter: usually one or three longitudinal yellow or red stripes, with checkered blotches between. Forms in which the stripes are obscure or lacking are called grass snakes. Found in gardens and vacant lots, garters are among the most common snakes from Canada to Central America. They are small (usually less than 24 in., or 60 cm, long) and harmless, though some will strike if provoked. They eat insects, earthworms, and amphibians.

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or rocket

Yellowish-flowered European herbaceous plant (Eruca vesicaria sativa), of the mustard family, cultivated for its foliage, which is used especially in salads. The leaves taste sharp and peppery when young and succulent but become bitter with age. A medicinal oil is extracted from the seeds.

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Ideal planned community as envisioned by the British town planner Ebenezer Howard (1850–1928). It was to be a small city that combined the amenities of urban and rural life; it would be compact, with contained growth. At the center would be a garden ringed with a civic and cultural complex, a park, housing, and industry, the whole surrounded by an agricultural green belt. Traffic would move along radial avenues and ring roads. The first garden city was built at Letchworth, England, in 1903. Though Howard's ideas have been widely influential, imitators have often ignored his stipulation that the town be a self-contained, true mixed-use community.

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or botanic garden

Originally, a collection of living plants designed to illustrate relationships within plant groups. Most modern botanical gardens are concerned primarily with exhibiting ornamental plants in a scheme that emphasizes natural relationships. A display garden of mostly woody plants (shrubs and trees) is often called an arboretum. The botanical garden as an institution can be traced to ancient China and many Mediterranean countries, where such gardens were often centers for raising plants used for food and medicines. Botanical gardens are also reservoirs of valuable heritable characteristics, potentially important in the breeding of new varieties of plants. Still another function is the training of gardeners. The world's most famous botanical garden is Kew Gardens.

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City (pop., 2000: 165,196), southwestern California, U.S. Located south of Anaheim, it is a growing suburban residential area. It is the site of the Crystal Cathedral, a church sheathed in 10,000 panes of glass, designed by Philip Johnson.

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City (pop., 2005 est.: 4,291,000), capital of the Republic of Singapore. A free port centred on the southern part of Singapore island, it so dominates the island that the republic is now commonly considered a city-state. Known as the Garden City for its many parks and tree-lined streets, it offers glimpses into the cultures brought to it by immigrants from all parts of Asia. It was traditionally founded by a Shrivijayan prince and was an important Malay city in the 13th century. Destroyed by the Javanese in the 14th century, it was refounded by Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company in 1819. It became the capital of the Straits Settlements in 1833 and developed as a port and naval base; today it is one of the world's great commercial centres. Its thriving banking, insurance, and brokerage firms make it the chief trading and financial centre of Southeast Asia. It is home to the National University of Singapore (1980).

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Square in London. It is now the site of the Royal Opera House, home of the British national opera and ballet companies. The land around the site, once a convent garden, was laid out as a residential square in 1630. The original Covent Garden playhouse, called the Theatre Royal, was built in 1732 and served for performances of plays, pantomimes, and opera. Twice destroyed by fire and rebuilt, the theatre became the Royal Italian Opera House (1847) and was replaced by the Royal Opera Co. (1888). The square was also the site of a fruit, flower, and vegetable market from 1670 to 1974.

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