Karin Standler

Forest Garden – an innovative type of garden: high ecological value, low-maintenance, low-cost

Inspired by the layered structure of sparse woodlands, the Forest Garden is a newly created type of outdoor space that combines the virtues of a garden with the qualities of a forest. Its composition features different varietals of fruit trees and timber trees, among them rarities such as Asimina triloba, Ziziphus jujuba and Eriobotrya japonica, as well as edible climbing plants and a variety of berries like Lycium barbarum, Lonicera caerulea kamtschatica and Rubus fruticosus x idaeus, making it a bounteous outdoor space. It is a showcase for an abundance of crop plants, robust strains of which will flourish in our climate, too, when planted in the right spot. In view of climate change, these cultivars may well gain further significance in the future.

The Forest Garden is a contribution to redefining contemporary outdoor spaces, exploring forward-looking questions about low-cost, ecologically valuable outdoor spaces and new types of plantings for public, suburban outdoor spaces. Its tree-based design moderates temperature extremes and increases air moisture, and the leaf canopy acts as a filter, mitigating dust and pollen levels.

A Forest Garden has been planted as a show garden for the garden fair Die Garten Tulln and can be visited starting in spring 2017:  www.diegartentulln.at/de.