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extent that the types of plants which have such hardiness are useful when
plants are grown in our dry-heated homes.

Garden types
What constitutes a garden is largely a definition made by the individual.
In some gardens, plants are strictly in the minority contrasted with cement,
gravel, stone or rock. Some people can make as attractive & garden for
ornamental purposes with vegetable crops as the most esthetically minded
individual can desire. The common cabbage can be used in its numerous
variations to produce a satisfying color and form garden. Espaliered (formed
on a trellis) fruits, i.e. pears, apples, cherries or peaches, can provide
a marvelous background for any garden. Recall that tomatoes were once con-
sidered as much or more an ornamental than a food plant.

Some of the most useful culinary herbs are grown as hobbies by people
as much interested in design and architecture as they are in the value of the
produce from the garden. A favorite form for the herb garden is the "knot"
garden where rows of dissimilar color forms are intertwined for the effect
of a knot. But it is likely that the form and design aspect grew out of an
earlier need, where the housewife either grew her own spices and herbs near
the kitchen stoop, or did not have any of the useful food adjuncts--the grocery
stores did not stock them. Medicinal herbs once provided the druggist with his
major source of curative materials, and indeed, one of the great stimuli
for the study of plants was the interest developed from the need for medicine.

Definitions of herbs are as complex as any other aspect mentioned in this book.
Many herbs are used as garnishes (parsley, Petroselinum crispum, and water-
cress, Nasturtium officinalis) or as fresh greens; others, such as sage (Salvia
officinalis), thyme (Thymus vulgaris) and many more are used primarily in
cooking; some are used for beverages (mint tea, etc.) and still others as
pleasant odor-producing materials in nosegays or sachets. The primary charac-
teristic of all these is that they contain some pleasant, aromatic, essential oils.