Gardening as an essential element to promote tourism: tips for creating a beautiful garden
March, 10; 2026. By Arscodex
Pool with views of Trujillo at sunset from the rural house Lagar el Altozano
In Europe, two main gardens stand out (although there are many more, of course): the gardens of the Palace of Versailles (near Paris) and the Generalife Gardens in the Alhambra of Granada (which are very well described in the work of José Tito Rojo, the Granadan botanist). Both have a slightly different approach due to their different latitudes, but in essence, they share the freshness and delight of what it means to have a good garden.
Gardens today can be of three types: symmetrical or orthogonal (primarily using straight lines as a unifying element), organic (using more natural or curved forms), or mixed. As an example of symmetry, we can again invoke these two main gardens of Europe (Versailles and the Alhambra). As a mixed type, we mention, for example, the garden of the Lagar el Altozano country house in Trujillo, Extremadura (directly connected to this publication).
And now, the "little tricks" for creating a good garden; don't forget them: The first is to listen to nature itself and use plants that are suited to the latitude and altitude of the garden's location (that is, don't try to plant a fir tree in Cuenca or a cactus in Norway, or something like that).
Another trick is to use flowers liberally, if possible. Flowers are always welcome (just ask the gardens of Córdoba), and easy to maintain. Likewise, mastering the use of water; whether through irrigation ditches, fountains, ponds, etc.
We can also refer to the Japanese garden philosophy, which says, somewhat ironically, that "a garden can sometimes also include a plant." This means that the more inert material we include in our garden, the easier it will be to maintain, echoing the principle of Japanese gardens, and also encouraging the use of inert materials to reduce the amount of weeding.
In short, we urge all public squares that call themselves "tourist" to keep their gardens well-maintained; if it's a municipal park, they shouldn't skimp on staff to make the place as beautiful as possible, and if we're talking about a foundation or a private garden, they should do the same (although in this case they tend to be more careful in general, for their own benefit).