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Nicknamed the rose among the palms - the thousand-year-old city of Marrakesh is characterised by its pink-coloured pise architecture and its deeply rooted tradition for gardens and green spaces. The majority of historic sites are inextricable from their gardens - or indeed are historic green spaces: the huge royal orchard pleasure-gardens of the Agdal were described by Monty Don as of international cultural importance on a par with Versailles or Villa d Este . Scores of traditional riads and hotels like the Mamounia- created by the French in 1923 on the site of an eighteenth-century royal residence- offer splendid gardens to the visitor. Yves Saint Laurent s Majorelle garden is an icon of modern garden design. The first book to be published on this fascinating subject- Gardens of Marrakesh champions the city s relevance today in a world of water scarcity and urban development and explores its green heritage- considering some twenty gardens both from an historic and cultural perspective....