We tend to picture Pomeii's peristyle gardens as formal because such gardens became fashionable after water from the aqueduct was available. Water from Pompeii's aqueduct doesn't seem to have been used in many homes to flush toilets; it's main use seems to have been to irrigate gardens and supply garden pools and fountains. Some peristyle gardens were so dominated by ornamental pools that they became water gardens with narrow planting strips between the pools and the surrounding peristyles.
Bibliography
Almost all of the gardens which were watered from cisterns had irregular, informal plantings within the geometric enclosure of their peristyles. Some of the trees were grown for shade while others were valued for their fruits and nuts. Southern Italy's intense sunlight allowed grapevines to fruit well when trained among the branches of trees; they are still grown that way near Pompeii.
My next article will delve into the relationship between Pompeii's houses and their gardens.
Bibliography
 |
 |
 |
The copyright of the article Pompeii's Peristyle Gardens
- Page 3 in Garden Design is owned by . Permission to republish Pompeii's Peristyle Gardens
- Page 3 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Kirk Johnson's Garden Design topic, please visit the Discussions page.