Newark, DE 19711 - University of Delaware Library Institutional ...

In laying out their gardens in Salem, Moravians adhered
closely to the medieval patterns of gardening they had known in
Europe. They cultivated rectangular vegetable plots of equal
size separated by narrow workpaths. The medieval custom of rais-
ing the garden bed well above ground level was also imitated
frequently by the Moravians.
Rectilinear planting beds were not peculiar to the Moravians
but were common in most of colonial America. Beds were commonly
planted with mixtures of herbs, vegetables, and flowers.
C. Renaissance Gardening
Garden beds in Salem were also possibly adaptations of
parterres characteristic of Italian, French, and German gardens
during the European Renaissance. Parterres, by definition, were
planting beds "on" or "along" the ground which were frequently
edged with a low-growing plant such as boxwood. Renaissance
parterres were simply more elaborate versions of rectangular
medieval planting beds.
German Renaissance gardens, like those of medieval times,
exhibited a high degree of order and precision, usually with
rectilinear parterres on either side of a central axis.
the country from which the Moravians emigrated to the New World,
had always been a follower rather than a leader in garden craft
and architecture during the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet, a
Germany,
strong German influence on Moravian gardens in Salem can be felt.
German gardens were simple, but ordered and precise. Rectilinear
beds formed interesting geometric patterns on the ground. They
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