National Public Gardens Day
National Public Gardens Day is observed next on Friday, May 9th, 2025 (209 days from today).
National Public Gardens Day is celebrated every Friday before Mother’s Day in order to conduct for promoting the awareness of botanical gardens, zoos, arboreta, historic gardens, and other North America’s public gardens.
There are different ways to define the word garden. Indeed, the term includes everything from a small plot of land where flowers are grown to areas where we can grow fruits and vegetables. Likewise, a garden can be a large open space with a variety of plants. These public spaces are often the perfect place to spend time with family and friends outside or enjoy some great entertainment. It is not uncommon for public spaces to be used for outdoor stages and live music.
Public gardens include beautiful centers of large cities and communities. Filled with different types of flora and fauna, they are bright and colorful beacons in the middle of a big and colorful metropolis. They are a reminder of the beauty that nature preserves, a great place to picnic and take the kids out. But where and when did the first public garden originate? Join us as we delve into the past of National Public Garden Day!
History of National Public Gardens Day
Mesopotamia, the "land between the rivers" of the Tigris and Euphrates, consists of an area of hills in the north and flat, alluvial soil in the south. Its peoples have been urban and literate since about 3,000 BC.
Evidence for their garden comes from written texts, pictorial sculptures and archeology. According to Western tradition, Mesopotamia is the site of the Garden of Eden and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The gardens in the temple were developed from the representation of a sacred forest. Several distinct styles of royal gardens are also known.
The courtyard is surrounded by the walls of a palace. On a larger scale is a farming place within the city walls. At Mari on the Middle Euphrates (circa 1,800 BC), the Court of Palms is one of the enormous palace courtyards. It is crossed by baked brick walkways. The king and his entourage will enjoy meal there.
At Ugarit (1,400 BC) there was a stone water tank, not centrally located as in later Persian gardens, since the central feature was probably a tree (date or tamarisk). The 7th-century BC Assyrian king, Assurbanipal, is shown on a sculpture partying with his queen, lying on a bench beneath a vines, and in attendance of musicians.
Conquest titles are on display, including King Elam's naked head hanging from a fragrant pine branch! A Babylonian text from the same period is divided into sections as if to show beds with the names of medicinal plants, vegetables, and herbs written in squares, perhaps representing a distinct design.
On a larger scale, royal hunting parks were established to house exotic animals and plants that the king had acquired during his foreign campaigns. King Tiglath Pileser I (1,000BC) listed horses, oxen, donkeys, deer, gazelles, and ibex, boasting, "I numbered them like sheep."
From around 1,000 BC, a style of gardening city had incorporated natural layouts, water flowing from river headwaters, and exotic plants from their foreign campaigns by the Assyrian kings.
Assurnasirpal II (883-859BC) lists different types of pine, including cypress, juniper, almond, date, ebony, rosewood, olive, oak, tamarisk, walnut, terebinth, ash, pomegranate fir, pear, quince, fig and grape. The canal water flows into the gardens. Moreover, the fragrance pervades the aisles. It is very interesting that there are a lot of streams of water in the sky flow in the garden of pleasure.
Like a squirrel picking fruit in a garden." The city garden culminated with the palace design of Sennacherib (704-681 BC) with an aqueduct extending 50 km into the hills. The garden is taller and more ornate than any other and he prides himself on the intricate technologies he has implemented, calling his garden mansion a “Wonder for Everyone”.
While public gardens may have deep roots in the past, Public Parks Day is a rather modern celebration. The celebration started in 2009 and it was created as a way for both to enjoy and celebrate these beautiful spaces. The day is also the time for awareness campaigns about these spaces and what they mean to the local community. In addition to often being a prime location for public events, public gardens can also be an area for environmental conservation. Therefore, it is common to see that on this day, there are campaigns to draw attention to this and ensure that both tourists and locals remember these places.
Some people even consider this day as the opening day of spring. Of course, this is not the official start of spring, but it seems to be the time when many people get out and enjoy nature with their loved ones and those they hold dear.
How to celebrate National Public Gardens Day
From roses to daisies, all we have to do is go out into the public garden and admire the diversity of flora. The beauty of nature cannot be taken lightly. Maybe we can plant some own gardens to get more colors to our homes.
The Biblical Book of Genesis mentions the Tigris and Euphrates as two of the four rivers that surround the Garden of Eden. No specific location has been identified, although there are many theories.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were listed by classical Greek writers as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Ruins excavated in Babylon do not reveal any pertinent evidence, which leads some scholars to suggest that they may be purely mythical. Mesopotamia is believed to be the origin of the public garden and we must say we disagree.
Observed
National Public Gardens Day has been observed the Friday before Mother's Day.Dates
Friday, May 12th, 2023
Friday, May 10th, 2024
Friday, May 9th, 2025
Friday, May 8th, 2026
Friday, May 7th, 2027