栽培草本植物、水果、花卉、蔬菜或喬木的一塊土地。現存最早的花園細部計畫屬於埃及，可以追溯至西元前1400年，其中呈現出樹木成行的大道和長方形的水塘。美索不達米亞的花園是可以享受樹蔭和涼水的地方。希臘式花園在陳列貴重材料方面是極盡奢華的，這個傳統由拜占庭花園承接。伊斯蘭花園常在池中使用水，並由類似灌溉溝渠的狹窄水道供水。在文藝復興時期的歐洲，花園反映出人類有能力使外在世界保持井然有序的自信。義大利花園強調住宅與花園的統一。17世紀的法國花園是極講究對稱性的，而法國當時主導了歐洲文化使這種風格普及到下一個世紀。在18世紀的英國，因逐漸增進對自然世界的瞭解而導致「自然」花園的發展，其中使用不規則而不對稱的佈局。中國花園通常與自然景緻保持和諧，採用遠方採集來的巖石，作為共通的裝飾特徵。早期的日本花園仿照中國的原則，後來的發展是可能以沙子和巖石為主的抽象花園，還有在盤中做成的迷你花園。
garden
Plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables, or trees are cultivated. The earliest surviving detailed garden plan is Egyptian and dates from about 1400 BC; it shows tree-lined avenues and rectangular ponds. Mesopotamian gardens were places where shade and cool water could be enjoyed; Hellenistic gardens were conspicuously luxurious in their display of precious materials, a tradition carried over by Byzantine gardens. Islamic gardens made use of water, often in pools and fed by narrow canals resembling irrigation channels. In Renaissance Europe, gardens reflected confidence in human ability to impose order on the external world; Italian gardens emphasized the unity of house and garden. French 17th-century gardens were rigidly symmetrical, and French cultural dominance in Europe popularized this style into the next century. In 18th-century England, increasing awareness of the natural world led to the development of “natural” gardens that made use of irregular, nonsymmetrical layouts. Chinese gardens have generally harmonized with the natural landscape, and have employed rocks gathered from great distances as a universal decorative feature. Early Japanese gardens imitated Chinese principles; later developments were the abstract garden, which might feature only sand and rocks, and miniature gardens made in trays (see bonsai).
