Park vs. Garden — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Fiza Rafique — Updated on October 30, 2023
A "Park" is a large public green area used for recreation, while a "Garden" is a plotted area where plants, flowers, or vegetables are cultivated.
Difference Between Park and Garden
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A "Park" is typically a spacious area, often owned by the city or state, where people come to relax, play, or engage in various recreational activities. On the other hand, a "Garden" is more focused on the cultivation and display of plants, flowers, and sometimes vegetables.
While you might find children playing soccer or families picnicking in a "Park," a "Garden" is generally a place where people might walk to appreciate the beauty and tranquility of the plants and flowers.
A "Park" can encompass a multitude of landscapes, including forests, lakes, playgrounds, and meadows. A "Garden," however, is usually a deliberately arranged space with a design or theme based on the plants within.
Many cities have large central "Parks" that serve as communal spaces for urban residents to escape the hustle and bustle. "Gardens," however, can be found in various settings, from personal backyards to larger botanical gardens open to the public.
Some "Parks" might incorporate "Gardens" within them, blending recreational areas with spaces dedicated to horticultural beauty and education.
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Comparison Chart
Primary Purpose
Recreation
Cultivation of plants
Typical Size
Can vary from small to very large
Generally smaller than parks
Ownership
Often public (city, state)
Can be private or public
Common Features
Playgrounds, benches, meadows, paths
Flowerbeds, plant arrangements, sometimes fountains
Associative Activities
Sports, picnics, walking, concerts
Planting, pruning, admiring flora
Compare with Definitions
Park
A designated area for a particular use.
She parked her car in the parking park.
Garden
An area for cultivating plants.
She planted roses in her garden.
Park
A communal open space in a town or city.
The children love to play in the local park.
Garden
A decorative outdoor area.
The estate has a beautiful ornamental garden.
Park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities.
Garden
A cultivated area adjacent to a residence.
They have a small garden behind their house.
Park
A piece of land with few or no buildings within or adjoining a town, maintained for recreational and ornamental purposes.
Garden
A public place displaying various plants.
The botanical garden showcases exotic flora.
Park
A landscaped city square.
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, or enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature, as an ideal setting for social or solitary human life. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is control.
Park
A large tract of rural land kept in its natural state and usually reserved for the enjoyment and recreation of visitors.
Garden
A piece of ground adjoining a house, in which grass, flowers, and shrubs may be grown
Children love playing in the garden
A garden gate
Park
A broad, fairly level valley between mountain ranges
The high parks of the Rocky Mountains.
Garden
A large public hall
Madison Square Garden
Park
A tract of land attached to a country house, especially when including extensive gardens, woods, pastures, or a game preserve.
Garden
Cultivate or work in a garden
She wrote books, kept journals, and gardened
Park
(Sports)A stadium or an enclosed playing field
A baseball park.
Garden
A plot of land used for the cultivation of flowers, vegetables, herbs, or fruit.
Park
An area where military vehicles or artillery are stored and serviced.
Garden
An arrangement of living material that is cultivated for food, as a fungus garden maintained by ants.
Park
The materiel kept in such an area.
Garden
Often gardens Grounds laid out with flowers, trees, and ornamental shrubs and used for recreation or display
Public gardens.
A botanical garden.
Park
An area in or near a town designed and usually zoned for a certain purpose
A commercial park.
Garden
A yard or lawn.
Park
A position in an automatic transmission that disengages the gears and sets the brake so the vehicle cannot move
Put the car in park and turned off the engine.
Garden
A fertile, well-cultivated region.
Park
To put or leave (a vehicle) for a time in a certain location.
Garden
An open-air establishment where refreshments are served.
Park
(Aerospace)To place (a spacecraft or satellite) in a usually temporary orbit.
Garden
A large public auditorium or arena.
Park
(Informal)To place or leave temporarily
Parked the baby with neighbors.
Parking cash in a local bank account.
Garden
To cultivate (a plot of ground) as a garden.
Park
To assemble (artillery or other equipment) in a military park.
Garden
To furnish with a garden.
Park
To park a motor vehicle
Pulled over and parked next to the curb.
Garden
To plant or tend a garden.
Park
(Slang)To engage in kissing and caressing in a vehicle stopped in a secluded spot.
Garden
To work as a gardener.
Park
An area of land set aside for environment preservation or recreation.
Garden
Of, suitable to, or used in a garden
Garden tools.
Garden vegetables.
Park
A tract of ground kept in its natural state, about or adjacent to a residence, such as for the preservation of game, for walking, riding, or the like.
Garden
Provided with open areas and greenery
A garden community.
Park
A piece of ground in or near a city or town, enclosed and kept for ornament and recreation.
Hyde Park in London;
Central Park in New York
Garden
Garden-variety.
Park
An enclosed parcel of land stocked with animals for hunting, which one may have by prescription or royal grant.
Garden
An outdoor area containing one or more types of plants, usually plants grown for food or ornamental purposes.
A vegetable garden
A flower garden
Park
(US) A wide, flat-bottomed valley in a mountainous region.
Garden
(in the plural) Such an ornamental place to which the public have access.
You can spend the afternoon walking around the town gardens.
Park
An area used for specific purposes.
Garden
(attributive) Taking place in, or used in, such a garden.
A garden party;
A garden path;
A garden spade
Park
An open space occupied by or reserved for vehicles, matériel or stores.
A wagon park;
An artillery park
Garden
The grounds at the front or back of a house.
This house has a swimming pool, a tent, a swing set and a fountain in the garden.
We were drinking lemonade and playing croquet in the garden.
Our garden is overgrown with weeds.
Park
A partially enclosed basin in which oysters are grown.
Garden
(cartomancy) The twentieth Lenormand card.
Park
An area zoned for a particular (industrial or commercial) purpose.
Business park;
Industrial park;
Science park
Garden
(figuratively) A cluster; a bunch.
Park
An area on which a sporting match is played; (soccer) a pitch.
Garden
(slang) Pubic hair or the genitalia it masks.
Park
(UK) An inventory of matériel.
A country's tank park or artillery park.
Garden
To grow plants in a garden; to create or maintain a garden.
I love to garden — this year I'm going to plant some daffodils.
Park
A space in which to leave a car; a parking space.
Garden
Of a batsman, to inspect and tap the pitch lightly with the bat so as to smooth out small rough patches and irregularities.
Park
(transitive) To bring (something such as a vehicle) to a halt or store in a specified place.
You can park the car in front of the house.
I parked the drive heads of my hard disk before travelling with my laptop.
Garden
Common, ordinary, domesticated.
Park
To defer (a matter) until a later date.
Let's park that until next week's meeting.
Garden
A piece of ground appropriated to the cultivation of herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables.
Park
(transitive) To bring together in a park, or compact body.
To park artillery, wagons, automobiles, etc.
Garden
A rich, well-cultivated spot or tract of country.
I am arrived from fruitful Lombardy,The pleasant garden of great Italy.
Park
(transitive) To enclose in a park, or as in a park.
Garden
To lay out or cultivate a garden; to labor in a garden; to practice horticulture.
Park
To hit a home run; to hit the ball out of the park.
He really parked that one.
Garden
To cultivate as a garden.
Park
To engage in romantic or sexual activities inside a nonmoving vehicle that was driven to a suitable spot for that purpose.
They stopped at a romantic overlook, shut off the engine, and parked.
Garden
A plot of ground where plants are cultivated
Park
To sit, recline, or put, especially in a manner suggesting an intent to remain for some time.
He came in and parked himself in our living room.
Park your bags in the hall.
Garden
The flowers or vegetables or fruits or herbs that are cultivated in a garden
Park
To invest money temporarily in an investment instrument considered to relatively free of risk, especially while awaiting other opportunities.
We decided to park our money in a safe, stable, low-yield bond fund until market conditions improve.
Garden
A yard or lawn adjoining a house
Park
(Internet) To register a domain name, but make no use of it (See domain parking)
Garden
Work in the garden;
My hobby is gardening
Park
To enclose in a park, or partially enclosed basin.
Garden
A plotted space for growing vegetables or flowers.
Their vegetable garden provides fresh produce.
Park
To promenade or drive in a park.
Park
To display style or gait on a park drive.
Park
A piece of ground inclosed, and stored with beasts of the chase, which a man may have by prescription, or the king's grant.
Park
A tract of ground kept in its natural state, about or adjacent to a residence, as for the preservation of game, for walking, riding, or the like.
While in the park I sing, the listening deerAttend my passion, and forget to fear.
Park
A piece of ground, in or near a city or town, inclosed and kept for ornament and recreation; as, Hyde Park in London; Central Park in New York.
Park
A space occupied by the animals, wagons, pontoons, and materials of all kinds, as ammunition, ordnance stores, hospital stores, provisions, etc., when brought together; also, the objects themselves; as, a park of wagons; a park of artillery.
Park
A partially inclosed basin in which oysters are grown.
Park
Any place where vehicles are assembled according to a definite arrangement; also, the vehicles.
Park
A position of the gear lever in a vehicle with automatic transmission, used when the vehicle is stopped, in which the transmission is in neutral and a brake is engaged.
Park
To inclose in a park, or as in a park.
How are we parked, and bounded in a pale.
Park
To bring together in a park, or compact body; as, to park artillery, wagons, automobiles, etc.
Park
In oyster culture, to inclose in a park.
Park
To bring (a vehicle) to a stop and leave it standing; - typically a parked vehicle is off of the public road, the motor is not running, and the driver has left the vehicle.
Park
To place (an object) in a temporary location; as, to park oneself on the couch; to park one's money in a mutual fund.
Park
To promenade or drive in a park; also, of horses, to display style or gait on a park drive.
Park
To come to a stop [in a vehicle] off of the public road and leave the vehicle standing; - typically the motor of a parked vehicle is not left running; as, he parked in a no-parking zone.
Park
A large area of land preserved in its natural state as public property;
There are laws that protect the wildlife in this park
Park
A piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area;
They went for a walk in the park
Park
A facility in which ball games are played (especially baseball games);
Take me out to the ballpark
Park
Scottish explorer in Africa (1771-1806)
Park
A lot where cars are parked
Park
A gear position that acts as a parking brake;
The put the car in park and got out
Park
Place temporarily;
Park the car in the yard
Park the children with the in-laws
Park your bag in this locker
Park
Maneuver a vehicle into a parking space;
Park the car in front of the library
Can you park right here?
Park
A public area for leisure and recreation.
The city built a new park downtown.
Park
A green space in an urban environment.
Central Park is an oasis in New York City.
Park
Land reserved for environmental preservation.
The national park protects wildlife.
Common Curiosities
Is a Park always larger than a Garden?
Not necessarily, but parks are typically more expansive than gardens.
Are botanical gardens the same as regular Gardens?
No, botanical gardens are specifically for displaying a wide variety of plants for educational and scientific purposes.
Can you grow vegetables in a Park?
Typically, parks are for recreation, not cultivation, unlike gardens.
Is it common for a Park to have a playground?
Yes, many public parks feature playgrounds.
Can a Garden have recreational features like a playground?
Yes, some larger gardens or estate gardens might have recreational features.
Do all houses have a Garden?
No, not all residences have a garden.
Do all Parks have trees and grass?
Most do, but some urban parks might prioritize other features.
Why are Parks important for cities?
They provide green spaces for recreation and help improve air quality.
What's the main purpose of a Garden?
To cultivate, display, and enjoy plants, flowers, or vegetables.
How often should a Garden be maintained?
Regular maintenance, like watering and pruning, is essential for a healthy garden.
Can a Park be private property?
While most parks are public, there are private parks, often owned by organizations or entities.
Do all Gardens require a lot of water?
Water requirements vary based on the plants and the climate. Some gardens are designed to be water-efficient.
Is it free to enter all Parks?
While many public parks are free, some national or private parks might have entry fees.
Can a Garden be indoors?
Yes, there are indoor gardens, often referred to as atriums or conservatories.
Are Parks beneficial for the environment?
Yes, parks can help in biodiversity conservation and air purification.
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Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
