History of Gardening in India

From ancient times gardening has been popular in India.  The Ramayana tells us that Sita was kept captive in Ashokavana, or a forest of Ashoka trees. These are beautiful tall straight trees which  grow in height but not much in width. They are excellent for avenues. Gardens, parks and artificial lakes were present in Indraprastha (ancient Delhi) and are described in the Mahabharata.  Poet Asvaghosa describes Nandanavana where Siddharta Gautam  (Buddha) saw flowering trees and lotuses in the 6thC. BC.

King Ashoka planted roadside trees in 233 BC . Kalidasa, in his play "Shakuntala" (57 BC) has mentioned a pleasure garden and several beautiful trees are named.  The art of gardening has been described by Saragadhara (1300 AD) where he has also mentioned some trees.

Classical Sanskrit literature as well as the flower and tree motifs seen in old sculptures and architecture of the first century AD , and those in the Ajanta caves (100-600 AD) tell of the love of flowers and gardening in Indian culture. Some of the well known Indian trees are Ashoka, Kachnar, Tulip tree, Red Silk Cotton, Yellow Silk Cotton, Dhak, Amaltash, and Pink Cassia.