The whole process got me to thinking about historical gardens we've lost. One of the earliest gardens with fruits in recorded history is that of King Assurbanipal of Assyria, the seventh century B.C.E. A relief shows the king and queen feasting underneath a grape arbor. According to Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, author of "Landscape Design-A Cultural and Architectural History" (Harry N. Abrams), this garden featured numerous fruit trees, such as cherries, peaches, plums, figs, dates, and pomegranates. A close-up of this relief can be seen in "The Garden Book," published by Phaidon Press.
Also featured in "The Garden Book" is another vanished garden, that of Cyrus the Great. Ruler of Persia (Iran), he built Pasargadae Palace around 557-530 B.C.E. This monumental palace had an avenue of pomegranates, sour cherries, and cypress trees.
A few plans of ancient Egyptian gardens exist. One found in a tomb featured date palms, orchards, and a large vineyard. A tomb mural also showed vineyards with men picking the grapes, then treading them with their feet.
Whether the gardens and orchards Homer described in Ulysses ever really existed isn't really clear. But he gave wonderful descriptions of orchards I've ever read, and had fruits ripening throughout the year.
Later in Rome and Pompeii, many gardens disappeared. In such urban areas, space was limited, so Romans used various means to make gardens and houses seem larger. For an in-depth look at these gardens, I refer you to a delightful and informative book, "Gardens of Pompeii" by Annamaria Ciarallo, published by the J. Paul Getty Museum. It includes chapters for each group of plants, such as fruits and medicinal plants. In addition to a history of each plant, the book features mosaics and paintings as well as reconstructions of the gardens.
Some centuries after the fall of Rome, Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor, developed a keen interest in gardening. He recorded a list of plants to be grown on his estates, including almost all the fruits we now know in the West. His stewards made mulberry wine, apple cider, and perry from pears. He had many vineyards, and modernized the industry by introducing the hand press. An inventory of one of his properties listed the following fruit trees: pears, apples, medlars, peaches, mulberries, and quince (www.fo. His garden plans and plant list were copied by medieval monasteries, such as St. Gall in Switzerland.
