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In A Persian Garden

© Mel. White

Tiram indeed is gone with all his Rose,
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine,
And many a Garden by the Water blows.
-- the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Americans often think of wildscaping as being something they invented, but nothing could be further from the truth. As far back as history records there have always been gardeners who improved their surroundings with the best of local plants, turning their homes into a refuge for birds and small animals. They're a practical sort of environment, these American plots. But before there was an America and before the borders of many modern nations had been set, there were gardeners who knew how to make a natural fantasy -- to bring a landscape into a household and make it more than a little wilderness.

In the Middle East, gardens were one of the most important areas of the house. The land is dangerously hot and dry, and well-designed gardens were a refuge for humans and animals seeking relief from the intense heat of the environment. Even the poorest people generally had a pomegranate tree around their houses, but it was behind the high walls of the villas of the nobility that garden design flourished.

They had gardens for many purposes -- gardens for food, of course, and gardens for meditation and many types of gardens built for pleasure. The gardeners of Mughal India and Persia created fantasy moonlight gardens using flowers such as the night-blooming jasmine, lilies, tuberose, narcissus, gardenias, white poppies, tuberoses, magnolias, and some of the night flowering cactuses.

The basic element that made this all possible was something available only to the very wealthy -- water and the technology to move it from point A (a river) to point B (the garden). Channels of water divide the traditional Persian garden into four quadrants, symbolizing the belief that the universe is divided by four great rivers. The center of the garden represents Paradise, the source of the four rivers. In the garden, water is carried north, south, east and west to water smaller areas (symbolic paradises) where it would often emerge in fountains or water jets that cooled the air and provided a soothing backdrop for meditation.

This pattern is also found in the Mogul gardens of India; the most famous example of which are those surrounding the Taj Mahal at Agra. Here, the four reflecting pools are lined with cypresses, a symbol of death. Bright flowers border the area, drawing our eyes to the tomb that's the focal point of the garden. The Persian design influence can also be seen in Spain in the magnificent