Gardens to Decipher and Gardens to Admire pleasure garden — what Bacon called the princely garden —be- Jongsto the city. Irs an expression of urban values and of an urban way of life; itis 2 space created by urban tastes and intel- fect, and it flourishes whenever and wherever cities ate powerful and rich. ‘Butbefore che pleasure garden appeared on the sceae in the 7th Century, and after the medieval garden had fallen into "decay, there existed, for pechaps no more than two or three _generstions, a garden of a transitional style. Though it was com- mon throughout western Eurgpe, most histories of garden de- sign dissnies ie as without botanical or esthetic merit. Yet T tink it deserves a more synapathetic treatment. Ie no: only pro- videsa link between two very dissimilar idioms, it Hlastrates how people reacted to the firs: discovery of the cnvircarment in the rsth and réth Centuries aad bow they sought to preserve some of the values of the past, ‘Weare familiar with the symbolic natare of the medieval ga connected cither with che castle ar the monastery, and its exclusive, otherworldly character. Whatever itscharm and id to be deciphered to be appreciated, rather than viewed. The talents of the gardener, the astrologer, the akhemise were all involved in its composition, and to enjoy the result one needed to be a member of a small society of inkats "Tbe medicval villager or townsman had no part in this aristo- cratic garden culture; each was more concerned with useful produce, Even the occasional lily or rosehush was valued less for its beauty chan for its healing properties. It was only in the 13th34 THE NECESSITY FOR RUINS of returning to origins, of seeing the archetypal garden once again. We have much to lesrn about how the common garden served to bridge the enormous geographical and cultural gap for the setlers who left 77th Century Enrope behind and con- fronted the North Araerican wilderness, and how itallowed them to transplant household values and household customs. ‘The early German gardens in Pennsylvania were, many of them, belated examples of the medieval herb garden, strongly in- uenced by ancient astrological doctrines and ancient medicinal folklore; how much of those survive today? The Appalachion «garden, a blend of imported English and native Indian ethno- botanical wisdom, sill fourishes in many yarts of the South, and is only now being discovered by folklorists and eukaral geographers. ‘The Mexican garden, noteworthy for its many Spanish, Indian and Mexican components, survives, almost un- studied, in remote villages of the Southwest and in the barrios cof Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio and other cities. Least Known of all our indigenous American gardens, end in some ways the richest in variety is the garden ofthe Blacks; dating bac) Arica and the West Tndies, and it has served o aceisnatize ‘any tropical and suly