For hundreds of years, cottagers planted whatever decorative plants they could get hold of around their houses, mixing them with essential edible crops.

Some, such as bay and box, are already highly valued as decorative plants and, aside from an annual clipping, are undemanding, low-maintenance plants.

The requests included not only edible crops such as cucumbers and peppers but also decorative plants such as marigolds and sunflowers.

Crop plants account for 75% of released mutagenic species with the remaining 25% ornamentals or decorative plants.

Later, in the portals, arches were formed with archivolts, i.e. a sequence of concentric arches decorated with simple or decorative plants or geometric mouldings.