The Garden...

is a product of domestication of both plants and animals. It is a utilitarian place and a place of ritual–a place of the miracle of the transformation of seed to plant, food, fruit, flower, and fragrance. Above all it is a place of life, a model of symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. The garden is a landscape idealized and transformed by design. The garden wall is a net, capturing elements of the wild landscape in preparation for their domestication and display. In the study of garden history we see places gradually evolving from their formative utilitarian agricultural function of food production into settings of expanded possibilities; places of leisure, pleasure, delight, and artistry. The garden should be understood and appreciated as a art of agriculture. Embellished and displayed it is the agriculturalist's art–the materials and forms transcending their basic nature. The "art" and the "agriculture" constitute another of the garden's dialectics, symbolic of the contrast between our most basic needs and profound desires. The garden can be a source of spiritual as well as physical sustenance. Kenneth Helphand

Mark Francis and Randolph T. Hester, Jr.(1990). The Meaning of Gardens-Ideas, Place, and Action. The MIT Press. pp-104