From David Zocher up to now…

The garden as you see it now has a design history of almost two hundred years. The logical, historical  line in the landscape was cruelly disrupted by the Second World War. In 2015, historical research was carried out, among other things to find out about the design history of our garden. This research was done by René Siemens, the results have been described in a special Bulletin, to be ordered for €5,=.

Broad line

The history of the landscape begins in the second part of the 19th century, when the fields on the “Wageningse Berg” are used initially to build a tea pavilion, and to design a garden around it. The original designs are by David Zocher jr, a landscape architect who was influenced by the English  Landscape school. Lawns, plant sections and mainly round shapes characterized the garden. From old photographs and available maps, we see that, over the years, a number of changes have been applied. For example, the entrance of the garden used to be a lot further east.

After the war

After the second World War, not a lot was left over from the garden. On what was then still the estate Belmonte, German supplies for the war had been stored, a target for shootings and bombings.  To protect both themselves and the supplies, grooves were made by bulldozers that could accommodate trucks with supplies. These grooves were covered with large trees that had been cut down.

Botanical garden

In 1951, a design by professor  Bijhouwer was used to turn the garden into an arboretum. Longer, straight  lines became the leading concept, collections were planted. Later, a large rododendron collection was added, for which purpose the eastern part was reshaped. The last changes that were carried out happened in 2015, when the entire rose collection was replanted.