This viridarium represents the first example of a garden reconstructed in all its parts through a complex study of the ancient soil and the plant remains found in it.
The flowerbeds, symmetrically divided by paths of packed earth, were bounded by a fence of thin reeds interwoven in pairs and supported by thicker reeds, behind which grew Lychnis coronaria and Cerastium, whose flowers were used in composing wreaths for rituals. Plants of Artemisia, probably southernwood or absenthium, grew in the peripheral flowerbeds outside the fence.
The symmetry of the flowerbeds was emphasized by the alternation of rose bushes and broom, while the back wall was masked with festoons of grapevines, and the little channels were rimmed with clumps of polypody. All of these plants were used for therapeutic purposes as well, confirming that it was customary at the time to grow useful plants that also had a decorative effect.
