of Roman gardens. The xystus often overlooked a lower garden, or ambulation. The ambulation bordered a variety of flowers, trees, and other foliage, and it served as an ideal place for a leisurely stroll after a meal, conversation, or other recreational activities. The gestation was a shaded avenue where the master of the house could ride horseback or be carried by his slaves. It generally encircled the ambulation or was constructed as a separate oval-shaped space. Paths or walkways were often constructed through the garden. These were made with loose stone, gravel, sand, or packed earth. Gardens featured many ornamental objects, from sculpture to frescoes to sundials. These depicted nature scenes or were put in place as a shrine (aedicula) to the gods or otherworldly creatures. Even though an atrium is found inside the house, it is considered part of the garden because it has an opening that would allow Romans to collect rain water, known as an impluvium. The garden walls had both aesthetic and practical value. Walls were decorated with statues, paintings, and design elements to enhance the theming of the garden. More practical gardens, such as the shop garden at Pompeii excavated by Wilhelmina Jashemski, contained fragments of pottery embedded into the perimeter walls, to prevent vandalism and theft. Plants Overview The plants that were grown ranged from flowering plants to herbs and vegetables for everyday culinary and medicinal use, as well as trees. Types of plants in Roman gardens can be determined from historical sources, wall frescoes depicting garden scenes, as well as pollen and root cavity analysis. Romans cultivated both local and imported plant species. The most popular plants found in a typical Roman family's garden were pine trees, roses, cypress, rosemary, and mulberry trees. Also possibly included were a variety of dwarf trees, often pruned for ornamental purposes, tall trees, marigolds, hyacinths, narcissi, violets, saffron, cassia, and thyme. The types of plants in a specific garden often depended on the purpose, location, and scale of the garden, but were commonly planted in size order, with the smaller plants at towards the front of the bed, and the larger at the back. Flowering plants A variety of flowers would have been found in a Roman garden. Rose, violet, geranium, and buttercup pollen samples have been uncovered at garden sites, and lilies, irises, daisies, and other common flowers feature prominently in garden frescoes. Large scale, commercial