Historical Gardens

Father and son Zocher are often mentioned as designers of the beech avenue at Keukenhof. An analysis of their rejected design (by lack of a preserved final one) casts some doubt on that assumption. They probably didn’t bother, or weren’t allowed to.

In an attempt to revitalize the layout and to ensure visitor safety, de Keukenhof is ‘replacing’ 180 year old beeches in an avenue. While they’re at it, they seem to create something de Keukenhof has never witnessed before. Or…

Land en Bosch was bought by Natuurmonumenten in December 2007, as mentioned in this earlier post. It is part of a large group of estates the organisation owns in ‘s-Graveland. Natuurmonumenten has since then been preparing the estate for public entrance (in parts of the garden). Most of that work has remained unseen, and will [...]

Misplaced park furniture can ruin the total experience of a perfect design.

The strips of corten steel that are used to (re)create parterres de broderie are purely functional. Somehow -and to my dismay- the increasing interest in steel as a gardening material seems to result in ugly rims of steel around box hedges.

The replanting of an island at Broekhuizen was done in a ridiculous manner, showing how bad execution can ruin good ideas. The good thing is that it won’t be visible anymore in a few years time.

A small hill I ‘discovered’ on a bicycle ride near Goor in 2008 can now finally be identified as part of the garden layout of Wegdam.

A recently renovated underpass by architect Leonard Springer in Schoonhoven brings to mind an often forgotten similar bridge and underpass at the school where the architect was trained some 45 years earlier: Frankendael in Amsterdam.