Das Paradies auf Erden

In search of the lost paradise, more and more people are interested in the history of gardens and horticulture. They visit monastery gardens, for example, because horticulture in our latitudes began with the monks in the Middle Ages. A special role was played by the Cistercians, who took it upon themselves to transform wild, uninhabited areas into fertile land. They cleared land, drained swamps, created gardens and ponds, and cultivated new varieties of fruit, which spread across Europe with the new monastery foundations. From the monasteries as models, new horticultural techniques radiated out into the surrounding countryside. Today, only traces of this enormous cultural achievement remain: on the one hand, plant motifs in the simple architecture of the Cistercians, on the other hand, fruit varieties such as the Gray French Renette or the Ruländer. On the basis of numerous Pho.