Aztec Style Landscaping

Water features

• Aztec rulers displayed their power and wealth in part through elaborate, creative water features. Kings commissioned waterfalls, fountains and once a bathing pool cut into a cliff face. In the pleasure gardens of the palace in Yehualica, water features included a shrine to a water god and numerous ponds. Tepetzinco, a large game preserve situated around a palace, included natural hot springs and a shrine to the corresponding water god. In 1520, pools and springs formed the primary attraction at least half a dozen large gardens in the Aztec world.

Flowers

• Dahlias, cosmos and marigolds all originated in Mesoamerica, and the Aztecs used these colorful flowers in gardens surrounding the homes of the elite. Aztec lords exchanged and displayed cut flowers when they convened and demanded rare plants in tribute. The horticultural gardens that provided the cut flowers for these events also functioned as seedbed and propagation nurseries for expanding the garden or giving as gifts. Large gardens located in hostile, mountainous border regions, such as Yehualica, Calpulalpanand Mazaapan, specialized in cultivating medicinal plants.

Groves

• Aztec nobility cultivated large groves of the Mexican national tree, called the Montezuma cypress or ahuehuetl. These groves recreated the idea of an original paradise where the first men and women lived and when grown carefully in a straight line, projected an aura of strength and majesty of the nobility. Some gardens feature trees in elaborately designed geometric shapes. The ahuehuetl grove at Acatetelco involved more than 500 trees in two rows all centered around a rectangular-shaped reservoir that required rerouting the San Juan River to fill.

Other Characteristics

• The Aztecs used terracing to grow orchids in hilly or mountainous regions. Agents of the king often gave away the surplus orchids to the local poor during special ceremonies. Aztec pleasure gardens often provided the setting for zoological collections. Texcoco's aviary complex included a series of exotic birds unable to survive the local climate, illustrated in precious stones and metals. In the 1460s, sculpture in Aztec landscaping included carving the faces of kings into the cliff faces in palace gardens at Chapultepec.