EBTS Germany has a new website
www.deutsche-buchsbaumgesellschaft.de
Please click on this for further information
EBTS Germany Secretary - Wolfgang Riede
Box
Box
enjoys increasing popularity in most German gardens and is mostly
used in shaping those pretty small front gardens left to nowadays modern
buildings. Lovely, old-fashioned examples of "parterres" are found in many
cottage gardens all over the country. On a smaller scale in the south (Bavaria,
alpine and pre-alpine regions) and with the farm houses being much larger (and
richer). However in the north some farmhouse (cottage garden) box parterres have
almost "gentry like" dimensions.
And
then all over Germany, the Baroque and Renaissance Gardens, of all those "Schlösser",
the castles of our many smaller and larger former feudal lords, neglected since
1918, are now finally receiving a new life and many of the lost ones are
even being re-created. A famous example, is Schloss
Herrenhausen in Hanover. Other than in England our monasteries (at least in the
catholic parts of Germany) did survive and with them those strictly and quite
simply laid out gardens, shaped with box.
Topiary
There is almost no Topiary on a larger scale like in England (with Yew e.g) to be found in private German gardens. There is no tradition existing. An exception are a few almost stately large farmhouses with Topiary Yew (and Box) Gardens near and around Cloppenburg in Northwest Germany. Otherwise Topiary on a grander scale is only found (though not often) in some Baroque gardens of one of our "Schlösser", castles. Usually old, large clipped Yew hedges.