Dutch gardens were perhaps more plentiful than those of French communities. Eighteenth-century plans of both New Amsterdam and Albany show enclosed yards behind buildings to have been carefully structured into geometric beds or orchards. Whether the gardens were ornamental or productive is unknown, but at New Amsterdam the colonial governor did maintain an ornamental garden and esplanade near his palace at the Battery. This had a geometric symmetrical arrangement similar to many others of the period. It is likely that Dutch colonists followed the contemporaneous design and maintenance practices of their homeland, planting many bulb plants and clipping shrubs and small trees as topiary.