A garden is usually a piece of land that is used for growing flowers, trees, shrubs, and other plants. The act of caring for a garden by watering the flowers and plants and removing the weeds is called gardening.

Types of gardens 
There are many types of gardens. People have small private gardens in the backyard outside their house. Some gardens are built indoors in malls, public buildings, or greenhouses. Greenhouses are special buildings where plants are grown. A greenhouse has a transparent glass or plastic roof and walls that let sunlight in.

Water gardens are plants that are grown in ornamental (decorative) pools and ponds. People doing water gardening plant water lilies and other aquatic (water) plants.

Gardening can be done outside of the home, as well. There are in city gardens, botanical gardens (places where plants are grown), zoos which have gardens, and theme parks which have gardens. These types of gardens are cared for by people called gardeners or groundskeepers.

Gardens compared with farms 
Gardens are related to farms (agriculture); both gardens and farms are used for growing plants. But farms are much larger than gardens. A farm may have hundreds of square kilometers of plants and crops. A garden in a person's backyard is usually only measures a few square meters. 

Farms are businesses which sell the crops, fruit, and vegetables that are produced. Some gardens are businesses, which charge a fee to enter the garden. However, private gardens in people's backyards are used as a hobby or as a recreation, not as a business.

Features of gardens 

In addition to plants, many gardens also have landscaping features such as pathways, seats, rock gardens, ponds, fountains, a small stream with or without a waterfall. Some incorporate gazebos and structural designs to accommodate for places to sit or to place a hammock for a siesta. Roman gardens will have its own columns, fountains and statures placed at strategic places depending on its sizes and uses. Japanese gardens have their own unique designs and features.

Role of gardens 
Some gardens are created in people's backyards, outside their home (note that in Britain the whole area is called a "garden", not a "yard"). People with gardens in their backyards use gardens as a place to do gardening. Gardening is a type of physical activity which can use enough energy and increase your heart rate that it can be rated as a form of exercise for to relax and exercise certain muscles depending on whether on the activity you do that day such as planting, pruning, weeding, or simply just walk around your garden continuously for 15 minutes or more. 

Many people find gardens relaxing especially if the garden is full flowers with strong scents. Some flowers like roses, bougainvilleas, orchids and many others are just beautiful to look at. Many people think that gardens are very beautiful and a place to relax and /or entertain. A garden can have a place to barbecue, to sit and to read.

In many countries and cultures, designing pretty gardens is considered to be an art. In Japan, for instance, Zen monks build decorative gardens with stone and waterfall features using natural materials such as bamboo, rock and BONSAI trees like spruce, pine, and other trees with they trained into miniature forms. In Europe in the 1700s, kings and queens had formal gardens built (for example, the gardens at Versailles, France). In China they also feature Chinese forms of gardens. Now some enterprising people start to have herbal gardens to feature useful herbs used in alternative, traditional, and homeopathic medicine

Related pages

 Botanical garden
 List of garden plants
 Zoo

 
Plants
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