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Pliny the Younger was a Roman of the first century A.D. who delighted in gardens and outdoor design. He left colorful descriptions of his villas?EUR??,,????'??? landscaping, which form some of the earliest examples of the literature of landscape architecture.
Born to an upper-class Roman family, Pliny?EUR??,,????'???s uncle was Pliny the Elder, who perished in the year 79 when curiosity drew him too close to the erupting volcano at Vesuvius.
The catastrophe sealed the fate of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but preserved the magnificent Villa of the Papyri at the latter town. When excavated, the villa helped provide the rough design for J. Paul Getty?EUR??,,????'???s recreation in Malibu, Calif. In the early 1970s, landscape architect Denis L. Kurutz read the younger Pliny?EUR??,,????'???s descriptions to help him reproduce the most authentic landscape possible at the Malibu site.
This January, the villa reopened after years of construction and the addition of close to 400 trees and 2,000 shrubs. Kurutz died in 2003, but associates Matt Randolph and Amy Korn continue his work there.
Garden writer Cindy McNatt recently dug into Pliny?EUR??,,????'???s legacy in a newspaper column.
?EUR??,,????'??Pliny the Younger didn?EUR??,,????'???t get his hands dirty, ?EUR??,,????'?? McNatt writes. ?EUR??,,????'??His highest-ranking garden slave was the Topiarius ?EUR??,,????'??? the person in charge of the bushes. The second-ranking garden slave was the Aquarius, responsible for fountains and pools.
?EUR??,,????'??For outdoor events, Pliny the Younger would drift finger snacks and wine on floating dishes in his water features. Can?EUR??,,????'???t you just imagine that on the cover of a current magazine??EUR??,,????'??
McNatt says Pliny didn?EUR??,,????'???t get dirty, but the Roman?EUR??,,????'???s writing suggests an intimacy with soil. Describing ?EUR??,,????'??a detached garden building,?EUR??,,????'?? Pliny says, ?EUR??,,????'??I call it my favorite?EUR??,,????'??? I put it up myself.?EUR??,,????'??
Scroll below to read Pliny?EUR??,,????'???s Letter to Gallus, in which he takes us on a tour of his villa at Laurentium, an ancient resort overlooking the Mediterranean about 17 miles from Rome.
?EUR??,,????'??You are surprised, you say, at my infatuation for my Laurentine estate?EUR??,,????'??? You will cease to wonder when you are told the charms of the villa, the handiness of its site, and the stretch of shore it commands?EUR??,,????'??? The exercise ground has a border of boxwood, or rosemary where the box does not grow well?EUR??,,????'??+for box thrives admirably when it is sheltered by buildings, but where it is fully exposed to wind and weather and to the spray of the sea, though it stands at a great distance from them, it is apt to shrivel. On the inside ring of the exercise ground is a pretty and shady alley of vines, which is soft and yielding even to the bare foot. The garden itself is clad with a number of mulberry and fig trees, the soil being specially suitable for the former trees, though it is not so kindly to the others. On this side, the dining-room away from the sea commands as fine a view as that of the sea itself. It is closed in behind by two day-rooms, from the windows of which can be seen the entrance to the villa from the road and another garden as rich as the first one but not so ornamental. Along its side stretches a covered portico, almost long enough for a public building?EUR??,,????'??? In front of the portico is a terrace walk that is fragrant with violets. The portico increases the warmth of the sun by radiation, and retains the heat just as it keeps off and breaks the force of the north wind. Hence it is as warm in front as it is cool behind. In the same way it checks the southwest winds, and similarly with all winds from whatever quarter they blow?EUR??,,????'??+it tempers them and stops them dead?EUR??,,????'??? Well, do you think that I have just reasons for living here, for passing my time here, and for loving a retreat for which your mouth must be watering, unless you are a confirmed town-bird? I wish that your mouth did water! If it did, the many great charms of my little villa would be enhanced in the highest degree by your company. Farewell.?EUR??,,????'??
The exercise ground has a border of boxwood, or rosemary where the box does not grow well?EUR??,,????'??+for box thrives admirably when it is sheltered by buildings, but where it is fully exposed to wind and weather and to the spray of the sea, though it stands at a great distance from them, it is apt to shrivel. On the inside ring of the exercise ground is a pretty and shady alley of vines, which is soft and yielding even to the bare foot. The garden itself is clad with a number of mulberry and fig trees, the soil being specially suitable for the former trees, though it is not so kindly to the others. On this side, the dining-room away from the sea commands as fine a view as that of the sea itself. It is closed in behind by two day-rooms, from the windows of which can be seen the entrance to the villa from the road and another garden as rich as the first one but not so ornamental.
Along its side stretches a covered portico, almost long enough for a public building?EUR??,,????'???
In front of the portico is a terrace walk that is fragrant with violets. The portico increases the warmth of the sun by radiation, and retains the heat just as it keeps off and breaks the force of the north wind. Hence it is as warm in front as it is cool behind. In the same way it checks the southwest winds, and similarly with all winds from whatever quarter they blow?EUR??,,????'??+it tempers them and stops them dead?EUR??,,????'???
Well, do you think that I have just reasons for living here, for passing my time here, and for loving a retreat for which your mouth must be watering, unless you are a confirmed town-bird? I wish that your mouth did water! If it did, the many great charms of my little villa would be enhanced in the highest degree by your company. Farewell.?EUR??,,????'??
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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