Wildlife Gardening in other European Countries
There are wildlife gardening movements and organisations in several Northern European countries. Their histories are different to that of wildlife gardening in the UK, and reflect different traditions and gardening cultures in each country.
In the Netherlands there is a history of gardens and parks planted primarily of native plant species, influenced by the work of Jac P. Thijsse from the 1930s onwards. The most famous such garden and one of the oldest is the Thijssepark in Amstelveen, close to Amsterdam. This is easy to get to and well worth visiting if you are staying in Amsterdam. The main Dutch wildlife gardening organisation is called Stichting Oase, ('Oasis Foundation') www.stichtingoase.nl a membership organisation based in Beuningen, near Nijmegen in the east of the country, where Stichting Oase has a shop and an interesting garden open to the public. Amongst various activities the organisation publishes a guide to 160 wildlife gardens, ecological parks and wildflower gardens in the Netherlands and Flanders. Stichting Oase also has members in Belgium.
In the Republic of Ireland I am not aware of any organisation but there is one excellent garden to visit called Brigit's Garden, situated a few Km to the west of Galway city on the N59 at Roscahill. This interesting and imaginitive new garden shows great promise - combining use of local wildflowers and landscape features with stylistic themes based on Ireland's cultural landscape. Open daily April - September, www.brigitsgarden.ie .
In Germany, the Naturgarten eV ('Nature-gardens Association') www.naturgarten.org is a membership organisation founded in the early 1980s. They produce an informative newsletter and run a 3 or 4 day residential training and educational event every February. Their chair, Reinhard Witt, is a garden designer and author who specialises in designing 'natural experience' playgrounds around schools. A combination of wildlife garden and adventure playground, These are far more ambitious in scope than any school garden I have seen in the UK. I visited a few of them in 2005 - here are some pictures:
Click on thumbnails for larger images:
Secondary School,
Dietenhofen (8kb)
Dietenhofen (12K)
Dietenhofen (6kb)
Nursery School (7kb)
In Switzerland the Verband Natur Garten ('Nature-gardens Alliance') works towards the goal of getting more wildlife and increased biodiversity in gardens and built-up areas. It is a membership organisation that also runs courses. www.vng.ch
I have no information so far about wildlife gardening organisations or movements in France, the Republic of Ireland, or the Southern European countries. I would be happy to receive information to list on this page.
© Marc Carlton 2006. Contact