De Kleefse reis van Jan Jacob Brants

John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen was stadtholder of the German city of Kleve from 1647 onwards. He created his own paradise there and during the following centuries many Dutch travellers found their way to this city just across the border. Kleve (Kleef in Dutch) was also the destination for Jan Jacob Brants and his fellow travellers in or around 1790. The record of their trip (and the route taken) comes in the form of an overview of costs incurred. It raises the question whether Brants deliberately visited some gardens created by the architect he himself had employed just before he went on this trip. Johan Georg Michael had created gardens and parks closer to home, but Brants possibly wanted to see the ones further afield?

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Summary

John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen was stadtholder of the German city of Kleve from 1647 onwards. He created his own paradise there and during the following centuries many Dutch travellers found their way to this city just across the border. Kleve (Kleef in Dutch) was also the destination for Jan Jacob Brants and his fellow travellers in or around 1790. The record of their trip (and the route taken) comes in the form of an overview of costs incurred. It raises the question whether Brants deliberately visited some gardens created by the architect he himself had employed just before he went on this trip. Johan Georg Michael had created gardens and parks closer to home, but Brants possibly wanted to see the ones further afield?

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Corten steel aesthetics: still questionable, but here to stay

In de Benedentuin van Paleis Het Loo wordt op dit moment de laatste hand gelegd aan de recreatie van de parterres. De figuren zijn gelegd in corten-staal, en op basis van nieuwe kennis over de oorspronkelijke situatie worden de haagjes lager en smaller dan voorheen het geval was.
De corten-stalen randen zijn wat mij betreft veel te goed zichtbaar, en helaas heeft dat ook praktische redenen: ze dienen als rails voor het vrijwel geheel gemechaniseerde knipproces. Wat mij betreft had die stalen rand minder zichtbaar gekund, maar de praktische voordelen zijn onmiskenbaar.
Toch jammer.

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Summary

In de Benedentuin van Paleis Het Loo wordt op dit moment de laatste hand gelegd aan de recreatie van de parterres. De figuren zijn gelegd in corten-staal, en op basis van nieuwe kennis over de oorspronkelijke situatie worden de haagjes lager en smaller dan voorheen het geval was.
De corten-stalen randen zijn wat mij betreft veel te goed zichtbaar, en helaas heeft dat ook praktische redenen: ze dienen als rails voor het vrijwel geheel gemechaniseerde knipproces. Wat mij betreft had die stalen rand minder zichtbaar gekund, maar de praktische voordelen zijn onmiskenbaar.
Toch jammer.

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Box disease: different approaches

Box disieases force owners of historical gardens to look out for viable replaments. Different gardens choose different plants. The experience of historical gardens could well change in the near future.

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Summary

Box disieases force owners of historical gardens to look out for viable replaments. Different gardens choose different plants. The experience of historical gardens could well change in the near future.

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Replacements at Het Loo

Just over six years ago (oh, how time flies…) I wrote about a possible penalty for Paleis Het Loo for using too much water for their fountains, causing problems with groundwater levels in the surrounding areas. The main problem was a leak in the basin of the Venus fountain. Now,…

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Corten steel aesthetics: questionable

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.

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Summary

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.

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Paleis Het Loo: the Reetz design and the current situation compared

In this earlier post I mentioned the design by T. Henry Reetz for the garden of Paleis Het Loo, which discovery was made public by Cascade. They also mentioned that the upper part of the garden that had not been restored in the past decades, would be restored in 2007,…

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