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A. Introduction to Garden History
Horticulture is both a science and an art. The inventors of
horticulture were people who lived in the New Stone Age nearly
7,000 years ago. To these Neolithic people we owe the fundamental
tools and techniques of the craft. Throughout history, horticulture
has evolved to become the varied and complex field that it is today.
The word, horticulture, is derived from the Latin word, hortus,
meaning garden, and colere, to cultivate. Thus, the term horti-
culture refers to the culture of a garden and crops, whether the
crops be vegetables or ornamentals. Horticulture is a part of
agriculture (the culture, colere, of fields, ager) which today
refers broadly to the production of plants and animals.
B. Medieval Gardeninq
After the fall of the Roman Empire, gardening during the so-
called Dark Ages (1200-1400) became an integral part of monastic
life providing food, decoration, and medicines within enclosed
"cloister" gardens. The hortus (garden) was a rectangular enclo-
sure with a central path leading from the gardener's house and
many long and narrow beds of equal size on each side. The physic
or medical garden, herbularis, was smaller with four beds on both
sides of a central wall. Small individual beds bordered with low
hedges were first used to separate medicinal herbs, each labelled
with its name and virtue. Since these walled gardens offered
limited space, fruit trees were commonly espaliered or trained
upon the walls.
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