Gardenbuddies Magazine

404 File Not Found Sorry, the file you were looking for could not be found. It may have moved to a new location. Please use the navigation links at the top or search our forums. You will now be redirected to Gardenbuddies!

World Clock

Pacific Eastern Japan Finland Germany Australia UK

All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:49 PM.
Vbulletin 3.7.4 Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.2.0 Copyright ©2003 - 2008, Gardenbuddies.com

Contact Us - Gardenbuddies.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

A Haunting Beauty

Through the ages the lost voices of Pompeii and Herculaneum speak of their varied existence and humanity. They speak of commonalities shared with us now in the present.

Gardening was so important to these ancients that even the poorest set aside a corner of space to tend natural beauty. Gardens graced restaurants, hotels, schools, public buildings, temples, baths, theaters and so on. Their gardens were beautiful displaying colorful painted murals of mythology and various flora and fauna, mosaic fountains, cascading urns and statuary.

A large number of stone dining couches were found in garden spaces from the humble to the aristocratic, telling us that it was popular to eat out in the open air. Imagine enjoying a repast as late afternoon shadows crept quiet along tiled ground -- hear the soft birdsong.

"Ab ovo usque ad mala" "From eggs to apples" was the Roman description of a complete meal. To the ancients an apple (malum) was any fleshy fruit. And so grew the fruit trees and so twined the tendrils of vinyards ..everywhere!

houseofmarinevenuspompeii.jpg - 52424 Bytes

And then there were flowers: roses, lilies, violets, oleanders, bachelor's buttons, cockscomb, cyclamen and also ivy, wild marjoram, thyme, mint and other greens. "Blissful and heavenly loveliness." Pliny the Elder

"The open spaces which are between the colonnades under the open sky are to be arranged with green plots; because walks in the open air are very healthy... for the eyes." Vitruvius

Thanks goes to VRoma Project for images used here

Written by Mary

404 Page Not Found