a flower garden with beds and paths designed to form a pattern, the outdoor and botanical equivalent to an indoor Persian carpet; literally "on the ground" in French.
an ornamental flower garden; beds and paths are arranged to form a pattern
a construction consisting of a flower garden and planting beds
a flowerbed divided into a geometric pattern of compartments
a garden on flat ground, in which the pattern of the garden is usually as important as the
(From the French par=on + terre=ground). A level space, usually rectangular and on a terrace near a house, laid out in decorative pattern using plants and gravels. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3
An intricately patterned formal garden which often includes other features such as statuary, water basins and fountains (French).
In landscape gardening, a formal area of planting, usually square or rectangular.
A landscape construction that often consists of an ornamental garden having the beds and paths arranged to form a structured pattern. A parterre is commonly used to create a base for buildings to sit within.
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all. French parterres were elaborated out of 16th-century knot gardens, and reached a climax at the Chateau of Versailles and its many European imitators, such as Kensington Palace (illustration, right).