Historical Gardens

Plans to reconstruct the forecourt of Elswout have been presented by Stichting Plein Elswout. I’m wondering what they’ll do with the large trees at the edges of the site…

It is by no way restricted to Limburg, it happens all over the country: perfectly well developed trees are cut down in forests, avenues and woodland gardens because… the species involved are not ‘local’. In this particular case many specimens of what we call Amerikaanse eik (American Oak, or Quercus rubra), are removed from the [...]

The sudden cutting of trees at Duinvliet and Elswout in Overveen might show I was right about the early landscape layout of part of the garden – which partly consists of the now disappeared Sandenhoeff.

The removal of trees around the Koepel van Stoop was probably a correct decision. But what about the follow-up? Is there any intention to replant the group of trees?

In its june 2011 session Unesco has entered the ‘Persian Garden’ on their World Heritage list. It is an acknowledgement of 2600 years of gardening in ‘failed state’ Iran. Nine locations are entered, ranging from gardens that only show bare essentials to pristine layouts.

While the World War II bunkers at Beeckestijn are buried forever, the bunkers at Toorenvliedt are made visible. One of them is even turned into a WW II information center. An idea to introduce at other locations?

It never rains, it just pours, is what the good people at the Hortus of the Vrije Universiteit must be thinking. Although this time it came in the form of snow, and it didn’t shut down the garden.

An original design feature in the Jardínes de Pedro Luis Alonso in Málaga has not been replanted during the recent reconstruction of the park.