Gardening is a hot subject these days with Universities starting courses in garden history and Landscaping while at the public level garden clubs, magazines and websites are proliferating all over the world. Trends in gardening are also associated with the environment movement and there is a visible move towards preserving and promoting local species like for example wild grasses in Australia. New Zealand even uses the word ‘green’ as part of its country branding.

A new publication ‘Gardens of Lanka’ due for release in November is a splendid pioneering compilation of this country’s unique and ancient garden history which upto now was familiar only to the archaeologists in the country. The chronology of the book reflects the diplomatic history of the island from the ancient contacts which resulted in the arrival of the Sri Ma Bo in this country, the oldest historical object of veneration.

Sigiriya has been described as the oldest existing garden form in Asia. The present Director General of Archaeology Dr. Senarath Dissanayake wrote his Ph.D thesis on the subject of Royal Gardens and extracts from this work are included in Gardens of Lanka covering both Sigiriya and other national treasures such as Ranmasu Uyana. The Mahawamsa and Chulawamsa are full of references to the ancient royal parks like Mahameghawana and Nandana and the fruit, flowers and trees that were grown there both for royal pleasure and public enjoyment.

Consequent to the arrival of Buddhism in the island in 3 century B.C., these royal parks were transformed into monastic sites. Different types of monastic gardens emerged, catering to the forest dwelling monks and the urban dwelling monks. The sophistication in the stone work, ponds, pathways and waterways mark the royal influence as well as the mastery of the early architects and builders. Sites such as Ritigala and Kaludiya Pokuna are beautifully maintained even today and Professor Nimal de Silva describes the monastic landscape with loving detail.

The photographs by Luxshmanan Nadaraja are hauntingly evocative. The book moves from a mood of serene contemplation in green and earth colours, lawns and grey stone work with water everywhere in Sri Lanka’s ancient garden sites, to the colourful flowers and plants which arrived with the colonial experiment creating botanical gardens as centres for global exchange of plants and commercial crops. The article on Kandyan Home Gardens records how, throughout the centuries, traditional home gardens held their own with their combination of trees and plants for multiple purposes, food, ayurveda, spices and herbs.

The book also takes the reader around the country from the Jaffna courtyards nostalgically described by Barbara Sansoni to the Eastern province gardens maintained so carefully throughout the years of conflict, from the village gardens to a Walauuwe garden with its Bo Malluwa in Ratnapura.

In conclusion, coming to the contemporary era, the section on designer gardens conveys the versatility of design depending on the location criteria and creative impulse.