Interview
"Now this is no longer your father's garden -he is yours. And you are responsible for all:and for the beauty that people loved so much, and formistakes,” wrote one of the visitors inMarianne Forster's guest book.
The famous German breeder Karl Forster established his garden on the outskirts of Potsdam in 1912. For almost a century of history, this picturesque corner has experienced both prosperity and almost complete desolation. But thanks to the efforts of the city council in 1981, it was reconstructed and opened its doors again. Later, the daughter of the great gardener, who worked in Belgium and created about nine hundred “green projects” there over 30 years, returned home. We met her in a cozy "drowned" garden in front of the house.
- Mrs. Forster, your father went down in the history of gardening as one of the founders of the natural garden. Recently, there has been a lot of arguing about what is the "real" naturgarten ...
— How much has changed in your garden since you returned from Belgium?
- You traveled a lot. Is it possible to say that the national color is inherent in the gardens?
Have you ever argued with your father? Did he have a difficult personality?
Karl Forster was an outstanding breeder. How many varieties does he have?
Now it is difficult to say, it is believed that from 300 to 600. The father sowed the seeds, selected the best seedlings, and the rest went into compost. Selected specimens he observed, observed and observed again. If they remained just as good after 5 years, they were multiplied and put on sale. Karl Forster never patented new cultivars, he wanted them to be available. If the variety diverges all over the world, then it is really popular. However, in our time, even the translation of the name often becomes a problem. But how can you translate ‘Eva Foerster’ into English? But it also happens worse. If you carefully look at some catalogs, you will find Karl Forster varieties under completely different names. Be careful: old well-known cultivars are sold as novelties.
You mentioned a variety named after your mother. Are there plants named after Marianne Forster?
- And translated into Russian "If so, then so". By the way, do you have Russian varieties growing in your garden?
— We grew Gaganovsky phlox ‘Success’. Blue in the morning and evening, and purple in the afternoon. And there's nothing you can do about it.
“Since my father’s time, only trees and shrubs have remained here. I plant a lot of flyers. In perennial plants, there may be gaps in flowering from time to time, here annuals come to the rescue. In addition, the whole season I want to have flowers for home bouquets.
What color combinations do you find the most beautiful?
- I like everything, but there is one thing: in this garden you will not find orange plants. I still have one poppy that I tried to get rid of even with the help of a roundup, but it still grows every year. Orange just doesn't suit my garden, it doesn't go well with anything.
— Your garden is beautiful at any time. What season seems to you the most decorative?
- Father believed that there were seven seasons in the garden: winter, pre-spring time and spring, early and high summer, autumn and late autumn. Seven very different natural landscapes. I love autumn - it's the most beautiful time. The beginning of the year is very dull: dried cereals have already been cut, bare ground ...
- Definitely not in rockeries, I'm not fond of plants for a rocky garden. Rather, in the "drowned" garden in front of the house. I like to sit on a bench between birches and a pond. Or admire the beautiful view from the terrace: the garden and the house should be one. By the way, an artificial island in a pond on styrofoam plates is a very practical find. Thus, the water practically does not freeze. In summer, self-sowing rudbeckias bloom on this small piece of land.
- Light sand on top, slightly improved with compost, clay underneath. There is no question of any fertility, so we have two golden rules. First, with any transplant, my gardeners always throw away the old soil. It can be infested with diseases and pests and depleted. Secondly, we try to use only organic fertilizers.
- At the same time, you have achieved such a stunning decorative effect and such a variety of plants ... And what would you never plant in a garden?
I don't want to have bamboo in my garden anymore. If only with a seven-millimeter rubber limiter, not a single root will break through it. Besides, nothing high: I already have enough shade. Prickly plants can also become problematic, they can be seriously injured. Despite this, my Juliana barberries on the spring path are the most beautiful in the world. Evergreen, blooms yellow, with blue berries and charming autumn colours.
- The most interesting story happened in the early 90s with a grape snail. My mother was lying on the terrace, she was bored and I wanted to cheer her up. I found a snail in the garden, planted it on a tray and planted hosta flowers. She devoured them very quickly. Mom became so attached to her that she decided to call her Carl. We wrote the name on the house to distinguish this snail from others. Sometimes visitors met Karl in the garden, he was very funny. And there are really a lot of birds here. I feed them balls of oatmeal and fat. One day a friend gave me a bundle of dog hair. I put it in the birdhouse. And now titmouse constantly fly into it for wool for nests. Have you ever seen a titmouse with a mustache? I constantly try to photograph them, but, unfortunately, I never captured this moment.
— You have so many flower vases…
- This is our common passion with my father. Everything is filled with vases. There used to be three hundred of them, now there are only 250 left. But there is still no suitable vase for bouquets.
“Karl Forster once said: “If I come into this world again, I will become a gardener again…”
“..because for one life this profession is too big”, this must not be forgotten!
Would you like to be a landscape architect again?
— I would become an architect, I like good houses. And I can get terribly angry when I see the bad ones.
- And finally, a wish to our readers ...
“Father used to say: “He who is satisfied with his garden does not deserve it.” Don't be afraid to be dissatisfied!
LITTLE TRICKS BY MARIANNA FORSTER
- If you pinch a third of the phlox buds before flowering, the bush will bloom longer. White and pink phloxes respond well to this procedure, red ones are the worst.
- For all too tall herbaceous plants (gelenium, tall rudbeckia), you can remove the growth point. The bush will take on a more lush appearance, and the flowers will be better distributed in height.
- Cut off faded flowers in a timely manner, this stimulates the flowering of neighboring ones. Scissors can prolong the flowering of each plant.
Garden address: Potsdam-Bornim, Am Raubfang 7. Open daily from 9-00.
— Mrs. Forster, your father has gone down in horticultural history as one of the founders of the natural garden. Recently, there has been a lot of arguing about what is the "real" naturgarten ...
- In such a garden, plantings look natural, color combinations do not hurt the eyes, and the stone does not dominate. Even a classic symmetrical base can be filled with plantings in a natural style, like here. Once a tourist from England said to me: "Your garden looks like every plant has chosen the place where it would like to grow." This is a big compliment. You shouldn't be afraid to experiment. Father always joked that harps and timpani were playing in our garden. Harps are sun-loving air grasses, and timpani are hostas that prefer partial shade. However, they grow well together for me. Karl Forster worked more by eye.
— How much has changed in your garden since you returned from Belgium?
“Eighteen years ago I didn't find a single grain here. It was so sad to see the restoration plantings when the garden became a historical monument. That plan offered easy-care but insanely boring autobahn-inspired borders. I decided to change everything. People should be surprised to meet a new plant every couple of meters. Now I have twenty-seven different cereals. This is indeed a successful outcome. My favorite is miscanthus. Graceful in summer, bright in late autumn, they endure any conditions. Miscanthus is a plant for all situations, endures any conditions.
- You traveled a lot. Is it possible to say that the national color is inherent in the gardens?
- How can I say ... In France, for example, there are much more regular gardens than in Germany. And even in private there are differences. In France, they do not plant anything special at the entrance, for passers-by. Only upon entering the territory, you receive an invitation to inspect the garden. In Germany, everything is different: we show everything in the front garden, we start already from the street. And the garden behind the house is boring. The lawn usually occupies the lion's share of space and time.
Have you ever argued with your father? Did he have a difficult personality?
- Yes. He was mainly engaged in tall plants, because he himself was two meters tall. I told him: “We, little people, must always turn our heads up. Please put something down." He answered: “But it’s beautiful when tall plantings create the background.” I resisted: "It's a pity that you can not see the flowers." But in matters of color, we always coincided: blue is our favorite color. My father was a very trusting and friendly person. He always expected the best from people and believed only in the good. “A person cannot be bad at all, this does not happen,” he always said. Only once did I see him get very angry when the gardener scattered fresh pig manure right on the beds. From a careless attitude to work, he could explode.
Karl Forster was an outstanding breeder. How many varieties does he have?
— Now it is difficult to say, it is believed that from 300 to 600. The father sowed the seeds, selected the best seedlings, and the rest went into compost. Selected specimens he observed, observed and observed again. If they remained just as good after 5 years, they were multiplied and put on sale. Karl Forster never patented new cultivars, he wanted them to be available. If the variety diverges all over the world, then it is really popular. However, in our time, even the translation of the name often becomes a problem. But how can you translate ‘Eva Foerster’ into English? But it also happens worse. If you carefully look at some catalogs, you will find Karl Forster varieties under completely different names. Be careful: old well-known cultivars are sold as novelties.
You mentioned a variety named after your mother. Are there plants named after Marianne Forster?
- Once I told my father that my mother has "her" phlox, but I have nothing. Then he showed me a yellow chrysanthemum: "We'll call it 'Gold Marianne'", he said and I agreed. In general, there were many curiosities with the names. Do you know how the Wennschondennschon variety appeared? When my parents were standing near the phlox patch, one said “Wenn schon”, the other “Denn schon”. And so this name was born. I don’t know why, but it is written without fail in one word.
And immediately a question. galenven gave me a plant last year that she did not bloom. It won't bloom for me either. What could it be? one of the bad guys?
Amsonia, Mera's fescue, pike.
Agastache Alabaster and peony Sarah Bernhardt. Autumn picture.
Veronicastrum virginiana Roseum turned yellow. Handsome!
Sporobol spreading after rain. All in drops, and seeds, like drops.
And this is his autumn color. The sporobol company is made up of echinacea and gaura.
Siberian spodiopogon still tries to color before it withers. But he rarely succeeds.
Spiraea japonica f. large-leaved - fire and nothing more!
I really like how Pink Brushes burnet looks after flowering. Here she is accompanied by echinacea, Kalr Foerster lightning, and white Sibirica turf acts as a background.
The black elderberry Black Lace (Eva), which I plant every year on a stump, this year gave out shoots of record length. Next to it sits white turf Elegantissima, and behind it is a hedge of white turf Sibirica.
Yellow-terracotta-brown large-flowered broadbell. I got sowed in 2016, I left everything. Let's see what year the seedlings will bloom.
Green phlox paniculata Pleasant Feelings.
Peristoscens Viridescens
He is also Amsonia.
Found a non-flowering peristoschetinnik. Weird! Lightning Transparent leaned over him.
Already yellowed lightning Windspiel, ornamental apple tree Gorgeous and paniculate hydrangea Limelight.
Molinia Karl Foerster, Peristoscens Viridescens, Brilliant Rudbeckia Goldsturm.
Karl Foerster lightning hedge along white Sibirica turf hedge (left), Windspiel lightning (right) and Gorgeous apple tree.
Miscanthus chinensis Kaskade.
Decorative apple tree Gorgeous.
Kirengeshoma palm-shaped, short-haired reedweed Mona and autumn anemone.
Hydrangea paniculata Limelight and apple tree Gorgeous.
Willow sunflower in bloom.
Gillenia three-leafed is now completely red.
And her pink-flowered cultivar Pink Profusion too.
Gentian Chinese decorated. I was told that it was probably rough gentian.
Gaura Lindheimer lies down after the rain. By the way, I recently learned from the German botanical press that the genus Gaura was included in the genus Oenothera, so now Enotera Lindheimer will be correct. Kind of unusual, right?
Bluehead yucca, Echinacea purpurea Alba, Lightning Transparent and Stakhis Hummelo.
Dendrantema Dernier Soleil, aster heart-leaved Little Carlow and amsonia.
They are also the lightning Windspiel.
Skumpia tannery Green Fountain.
October 2008 No. 11 (46)
PLOT
Away
"Happy birthday, Mr. Brooks!" In September, the most famous landscape designer in England turned 75 years old. SergeyKalyakin congratulated John Brooks on his anniversary in his own garden.
Special project
« Family and school: fun holidays» How to decorate a pond beautifully? Can a playground be fun, cozy and safe at the same time? Where can you barbecue without damaging the garden? Landscape architect and dendrologist Alexander Sapelin together with Tulip family seeks and finds answers to these questions.
My garden
School of Design
"At the right height" Stage, podium, podium - we usually raise above a flat surface what deserves our close attention. Flowers deserve it too, says candidate of biological sciences Andrey Lysikov and offers you several options for raised beds.
A simple solution
"About the gate" Gate - a portrait of the owner of the garden, considers Olga Ivanova. And he presents you a work of garden art, the creator of which is endowed with a sense of humor, artistic flair and an unconventional outlook on life.
garden culture
"Die Hard 5" A lot has been written about the walnut, and absolutely everyone knows it. Other representatives of the walnut genus are much less frequently discussed - and there are about twenty of them! PhD in Agricultural Sciences Alexey Antsiferov recommends five of them for growing in our gardens.
All living things
« Song about rabbits» As a child, it seemed to us that they were all sweet and kind, like Stepashka. And only when we ran into them in the country, we began to doubt: are the hares really white and fluffy? A song about hares is performed by a biologist from St. Petersburg Andrey Ganov.
Everyday life of a gardener
"All sleep" Unpredictable winters in our latitudes are a serious test. And for heat-loving plants, and for inexperienced gardeners. Especially after such a wet summer as the last one. How to help plants prepare for winter Irina Bochkova.
We do together
"Rose in a cattail" In order for climbing roses to survive the winter cold without loss, you need to take care of shelter. Let's build it together with the designer Elena Buevich from the well-known cattail, the thickets of which are found in swamps, along the banks of lakes and rivers.
Rose garden
"Strokes to a portrait" The stripe is the simplest and at the same time the most complex pattern for a couturier, an interior designer, and a gardener. A collector writes about the best "variegated" roses Tatyana Zhirkova.
FLOWER
flower of the month
"Oktyabrinki" We all dream of flowers that do not require our constant attention. About flowers that, after planting, you can safely leave to fate, completely without fear for this very fate. And such plants exist. Marina Vasilyeva from St. Petersburg professionally deals with perennial asters and shares his experience with us.
New
"Most Unique" Where can you see the hottest garden novelties? Of course, in Holland, at the international exhibition Plantarium, which was recently held in the city of Boskop.
Solo
"Neither from the rain nor from the sun" Tasty and poisonous, rare and growing everywhere, these plants attract attention with their unusual appearance and pleasant aroma. Lelya Golovanova talks about the most decorative umbrellas for your garden.
Composition
"No blues!" What to do if autumn garden landscapes make you feel sad? Englishman John Cock, the owner of the famous English garden Bury Court in Surrey, advises: play in contrast.
"Green" alphabet
Trypsakum dioecious, southern reed, medium shaking, large hakonehloy, whose reed grass and sprawling roughness are described by a collector of ornamental grasses Tatyana Zheltovskaya.
GARDEN
vegetable patch
"Such a parsley" You can not grow cucumbers and tomatoes, forget about potatoes and completely neglect carrots. But parsley ... There is always a place for this vegetable in the garden, says Tatyana Kazakova. If not in the garden, then maybe in the flower bed. In extreme cases, in a pot on the windowsill.
Herbalist
"Bitter spirit of wormwood" Vermouth, absinthe... Don't think that Olga Ivanova decided to write about alcohol. We are talking about wormwood, which bears these names, respectively, in German and French.
Green collection
"Thick and Beautiful" Many people dream of such a houseplant that blooms beautifully, does not require special care, can put up with both the lack of light and the dry air of a city apartment. Doctor of Biological Sciences Alexey Bobrov confirms that the choice is not so great. But, undoubtedly, one of the first on this list will be Kalanchoe.
Winter Garden
"Laws of the Home Jungle" Perhaps it is because of the long dull autumn and gray-white winter that the most popular type of winter gardens has become tropical. But there are other reasons, he says. SergeyIsaev and tells how to arrange a "jungle" at home.
home doctor
"The Cold: Myths and Facts" The cold season, open in October, reaches its peak by November. A rare gardener will avoid an acute respiratory scourge after planting bulbs in freezing rain or covering roses on frozen ground. Ekaterina Savostyanova advises: prevention is the best way to avoid trouble.
gardener's kitchen
"Sit on a stump, eat a pie" If you don’t know what to do with pumpkins grown in your own garden, try making placinte according to the recipe from the new book “About Pies” - the most delicate Moldovan cakes with juicy minced meat.
ARSENAL
Constructions
"Third Eye" To protect their home from intruders, people have come up with locks, a variety of sensors that give signals about ongoing violations, and cameras that allow these same violations to be observed and recorded. Gennady Sytnik and Tatyana Eremenko assessed the CCTV camera market from a consumer point of view.
Technics
"Snow is falling" Just a few years ago, snow removal in a suburban area was perceived as an inevitable labor service, performed manually. Now the shovel is no longer needed. Snow blowers have become available to almost everyone. A tour of modern snowplows Andrey Krotkov.
Historically, the style of 20th-century German garden art has been identified with the Naturgarten. Based on the selection of authentic plants for the ecological conditions of each particular location, and, as a result, easy and low-cost care, the natural garden was popular throughout Northern Europe, but it was in Germany that it reached its zenith. After driving through German gardens from south to north and from west to east, I came to the conclusion that Naturgarten is no longer the dominant garden style. What is it, a modern private German garden? What happened to the natural garden? Let's try to find answers to these questions.
The appearance of each garden is formed not only under the influence of the desires and diligence of its owners. There are objective and subjective factors that leave their mark on any private garden of the average citizen of each particular country. The number of these factors is quite wide: from the geographical characteristics of the area to the national mentality, but within one country, I think, this number is unique.
For the German garden objective external factors steel influences:
1. The legendary German bureaucracy with strict legislative regulation of the smallest issues of building a private house: from what color the roof should be to the minimum number of parking lots on the site. strictly enforced norms of distances from structures and landings to the boundaries of the territory and. Even the species composition of hedges along the perimeter of the land allotment is often regulated by local municipalities by compiling a list of plants acceptable for use. On the one hand, this has its own plus, because German villages, unlike Russian ones, look from an architectural point of view as a single whole, and not "some in the forest, some for firewood." On the other hand, this whole list of requirements and approvals creates serious restrictions in the design of the house and garden.
2. Recent events in recent history - the unification of Germany, the expansion of the European Union and the introduction of the euro - greatly weakened the country's economic growth: prices were skyrocketing, and wages were marking time. As a result, the most sold steel very small, by our standards, areas from 2.5 to 4 acres, and even now only very wealthy Germans can afford to purchase as many as 6 acres of land. It is clear that a house on such a plot will always be the dominant feature, no matter which side you look from, it is always close to the road, and from the remaining area you also need to subtract a place for a parking garage. As a result, we get a small garden in its classic version.
3. The country is distinguished by a very uneven relief, especially in its most densely populated lands. So terracing of the site and the use of retaining walls here is a traditional landscape technique. The abundance of various local stone allows you to show maximum imagination not only in the choice of materials and patterns of paving, but also in other stony undertakings - be it rockeries, dry and wet streams or small architectural forms. The stone in the German garden performs in all roles - figuratively comparing with the Russian garden, from the chain-link mesh to the decorative bark.
4. Climate in Germany it is very, very mild: the Gulf Stream provides the northern part of the country with an additional portion of heat, and in the south the sun shines all year round. This allows the Germans, firstly, to grow more capricious heat-loving plants in their gardens (I remember the huge curtains of cortaderia in the north of the country, and palm trees in Bavaria), and, secondly, to focus on deciduous evergreens in garden design. However, there are still differences in the gardens depending on the geographical location: in the north, one feels the proximity of England. For example, Maxwaldpark, one of the large landscape parks, is designed in the style of Gertrude Jekyll. North Germans are drawn to cold tones, the main colors here are white and blue. The southern lands are much brighter: typical landhouses here with balconies around the perimeter are hung with pots of petunias and pelargoniums, the use of heat-loving plants and succulents sometimes makes you think that this is more a Mediterranean garden than a German one. Walking through a huge private garden - the island of Mainau on Lake Constance - you will feel like in Italy more than once.
5. The history of Germany, undoubtedly, left its bizarre imprint on the German garden style: the turbulent twentieth century became for this country a century of both division and reunification. The consequences of these tragic events are still noticeable. The Eastern Lands (former GDR) keep the traditions of Karl Forster. It is here that he lives on private property. nature garden, and the gardens themselves look very natural, although I do not exclude that only for the Russian eye. Paint cracked from time on a wooden pergola entwined with nasturtium, cereals among simple flowers, cozy neglect, but not ostentatious, as in glossy magazines, when they want to show a “natural” style, but natural, necessary for East Germans for peace of mind. All this is not in the Americanized West of Germany with its typical German garden described below - for the most part self-satisfied, sterile, "picture-staged". This is due not only to many years of transatlantic influence, but also to the subjective characteristics of the German national mentality.
6. Ordnung muss sein. " Order comes first ' is a favorite German proverb. Saying this phrase, the typical German has a very soulful expression on his face. The innate love for cleanliness, in the opinion of the Russian inhabitant, sometimes takes the form of quiet insanity. Saturday-Sunday morning lawn mowing, when all normal people still have to bask in bed, the periodic plucking of seed heads from pansies and the complete absence of weeds in flower beds and paving crevices are the smallest sacrifices that the Germans can make to maintain order. It comes to the point that long distances between plantings of perennials are specially left so that you can freely walk and weed. And then wash the tool to a shine (or even disinfect it) and put it on a specially designated shelf in a garden shed with starchy white curtains on the windows.
7. The Germans have an amazing property combine the incongruous . Even in the most practical solutions (and the Germans are well-known pragmatists!) they will always add a drop of romance. For example, when choosing garden lamps, a typical German will always ask himself: why spend money on stationary lighting if the Moon exists, and from less global luminaries - torches, solar-powered lanterns and candles, which will also create a more intimate mood in the evening garden? Stationary light, well, at the entrance to the house it is necessary, but only with motion sensors. These savings will justify the cost.
8. Love for comfort and relaxation pushes the Germans not only to the neighborhood with the Russians in the resorts of Turkey, but also to carefully plan their site under the motto " Minimum worries - maximum pleasure ". This approach dictates a certain structure of the garden: usually it is a large lawn or paving areas larger than planting areas, sometimes with tapeworm, sometimes without. Indeed, fewer plants means less work. The desire to have as much free time as possible explains the attachment to coniferous and evergreen deciduous trees and shrubs, decorative all year round and not requiring special care - once planted and you can safely rest all four seasons. Rarely does anyone grow letniki from seeds - seedlings cost a penny, are purchased as needed, and plants are thrown away immediately after they lose their decorative effect. One of the main elements of the garden is a recreation area with an obligatory barbecue (meat in all its manifestations is a traditional German food) - an American version of our barbecue, around which the whole family gathers every weekend. How does this fit in with mowing the lawn and plucking pansies, you ask? Yes, order - first of all, and then barbecue. In addition, a little work in the garden is also a pleasure.
9. The need to show a certain level of wealth and be at least as good as your neighbors is another characteristic German trait. It is usually reflected in decoration of the entrance area - deliberately for show, for a casual observer from the road. This pseudo-openness, flowering plants, usually hydrangeas, roses, clematis, architectural grasses, yuccas, are designed to give the impression of stability and prosperity, and fulfill the same role as a photograph with a snow-white smile of thirty-two teeth on a resume of an ordinary German. The seasonal change of container plantings and decorative ornaments at the entrance and on the balcony often turns into a competition between neighbors - who is brighter, more interesting, more beautiful. The reason for changing the scenery is not only holidays (Christmas, Easter), but also simply, for example, the beginning of autumn.
10. With all the friendliness and seeming openness of the Germans, in urban gardens (or with dense buildings) the boundaries of public and private are very clearly marked. This is manifested not only in the lowered blinds on the evening windows, but also in the presence of a strictly defined personal area in the garden, which is allowed access only to close people. If there is a plot behind the house, it is usually hidden from neighbors by high, dense hedges. In villages where houses are more sparse and there are many beautiful landscapes, owners can afford to use beautiful landscape views in the garden structure without fear of "getting under surveillance."
11. The Germans are more born engineers and architects than gardeners. Germany is famous for its beautiful landscaped parks, stunning urban landscaping and creative water features. In private gardens and public parks, you can see many compositions that are successful from an architectural and coloristic point of view. But at the same time, the Germans, unlike the British and Russians, completely no botanical interest - what difference does it make what this variety is called, the main thing is that it looks the way it should. Therefore, very often in garden shops you can see, for example, roses with the label "Hybrid Tea Rose" and a photograph of a flower, without specifying the variety. Here everyone is a designer for himself, so professionally made small gardens in Germany are a rarity.
12. Love for a small homeland and its history is reflected in private gardens. In the former coal-mining regions of North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, you can often find a disused mining cart adapted for a flower garden. It looks touching, if not fabulous. Speaking of fairy tales, it was in Germany that garden gnomes were invented and generously placed their figures in their gardens. Sometimes they look out of place, sometimes it's obvious kitsch, but it's definitely clear - this is a typical German way of decorating a garden. The Germans are not usually limited to gnomes, and garden centers sell dozens of varieties of plastic ducks for the pond, cats and dogs for the garden, and garden sculptures from various materials. I do not presume to condemn the Germans for such a love for decorations, but, in my opinion, in their gardens there is a clear overabundance of small architectural forms.
13. The inhabitants of Germany are hardworking people, and, like Russians, they are drawn to the land, because such a pastime helps to relax and unwind in nature from home and office, exclusively for their own pleasure. Many city dwellers, who have green spaces only on the balcony, rent "dachas" - plots of land one or two acres unsuitable for construction, usually along railways, just to have plenty of gardening on the weekends. It's amazing how these german dachas similar to ours, only a little smaller and more well-groomed. A garden, a shed, sun, air and good beer are one of the German recipes for happiness, and this is confirmed by statistics. Societies of summer residents are growing year by year, and the average age of their members has become ten years younger since the mid-nineties.
Three directions for the development of German private gardens
Having traveled far and wide in Germany, I came to the conclusion that now a private German garden is developing in three main directions.
The first, and most numerous, is the typical Americanized cottage garden , in which the lawn and barbecue play a dominant role - now it is most popular among the middle class.
The second way - exclusive themed gardens , which reflect the hobbies of the owners, for example, oriental (Japanese, Chinese, or an explosive mixture of both), antique (when the garden focuses on small architectural forms in the form of old things and pretty rusty pieces of iron), bonsai garden or Mediterranean. This path will always exist, but will never take the lead and become a national garden idea.
I would venture to suggest that most likely the German garden will trample on a crossroads and choose the third option as its new style - ecological garden . Recently, the Germans have been paying more and more attention to the environment, ranging from waste sorting, the use of solar and wind energy, extremely stringent exhaust gas standards, and ending with support at the government level for the National Garden Exhibition, the main idea of which is the sanitation and reclamation of lands affected by environmental disaster. So in 2007, the former uranium mine in Ronneburg was reborn from the ashes as a flourishing valley.
Already now, qualitative changes based on an ecological approach are slowly but surely taking place in private German gardens: from house design, solar energy and vertical gardening, widespread composting and mulching and rainwater conservation, to green roofs, planning special plantings and feeders with drinkers to attract birds and insects. Naturgarten as a style based on the planning of flower beds, taking into account the ecological requirements of plants, is now rare. It has remained in historical gardens and parks, in a few gardens of enthusiasts, but a new round of it is already visible in ecological gardens. There are more and more green roofs, honey plants and living creatures in the garden, more and more cereals, more and more sustainable design solutions. I think this is a good reference point for our, as it seems to me, still undecided Russian garden.
Convenient for life. So for ten years they raised the level of the site - somewhere by half a meter, somewhere by one and a half. I even had to buy an old dump truck: during all this time they brought 150 sand trucks to their 30 acres, and they didn’t even count how much land. To ensure dry, the house was placed on an artificial hill.
They dug a length of about 20 m, the deepest place is now 1.7 m. It is without -. The plot is planned so that all the water flows into the pond. And from it, through the drainage ditch, after heavy rains and melting snow, excess water goes into the common channel. , rushes, feel great. The pond has completely switched to self-sufficiency - even weeding is no longer necessary.
weeping gnome- very flexible. Local winds constantly rocked the tree along with props, and after severe weather weeping gnome always lay in the pond. The problem was solved by a metal pipe driven one and a half meters into the ground. The tree is 9 years old, all the years it was formed to get an openwork crown on a thick trunk. After a strong pruning, she "shot" with new shoots and grew taller than usual.
It is believed that drought-resistant do not tolerate stagnant and groundwater. This is mistake! They grow well on the banks of the pond. More than ten years ago, Olga bought seedlings, dug small holes in the clay, poured loose earth and planted at random. Now all the guests of the garden are surprised by these luxurious coastal specimens of mountain pine.
The soil taken out of the bed of the pond went to the slopes around the house, fertile soil was poured over it and made of three. Installing stones and planting alpines is a creative job. To achieve harmony, you have to redo it more than once. However, the first steps of the stone staircase are already overgrown with plants and look very natural.
Among the 25 cubic meters of stones brought for rolling pins, unusual specimens came across. A table was "composed" from a large flat stone, a chair was picked up for it. Now only a chair is missing - maybe there will be more.
Olga and Vasily choose plants that do not need to be "pulled by the ears": they should enjoy life themselves and please the owners. Therefore, evergreens are a logical choice as the basis of the northern garden. Year-round decorative effect, undemanding care, winter hardiness and a wide range - everything speaks for them.
It was not planned to plant, but a friend gave me several varieties, and they fit into the flower beds. Now favorites have appeared: absolutely unpretentious and abundantly blooming Cinderella , blue blue paradise , smoky Ural tales , capricious, but beautiful blue joy and gentle blush girl .
There was no separate place for it, so it was made an extension to the barn - it turned out very convenient.
Honored in this garden. For example, spartina is unpretentious, large, but graceful. They say that this plant sits, sits, and then explodes, but its aggressiveness is not manifested on local clay. Siberian spodiopogon feels great. Although it has one significant drawback - the leaves lose their decorative effect early, quickly becoming rusty yellow. But the lightning, which turns bright yellow, is decorative all autumn.
4 small discoveries of Olga Kobets
1. The best way to save your favorite varieties of lilies is to plant them in containers and dig them into the flower garden.
2. Golden cob new - very tasty! It has a dry-teared stem, but it is more convenient to cut branches and disassemble them on the veranda. Berries directly with short branches - into a meat grinder, squeeze the juice. This one has no offspring at all, at least on local clay.
3. Driftwood is good not only for design, but also for creating a good microclimate. Spread them in places where there is a constant draft, and the plants will feel better.
4. Wangutta Gold Fountain provides an attractive yellow "spot" in the flower garden and at the same time it winters well.
