"Open Garden Gates": Private Gardens Open up their Gates
13 garden owners open their green oases up to the public
Making private gardens accessible is the aim of the campaign "Open Garden Gates". 13 garden owners in Düsseldorf, who want to open up their green space for a few hours to other garden and plant lovers. This program carries over three weekends this year - the weekends of the 17/18 May, 7/8 June and 12/13 July.
Photo showing an example of a garden from a previous year's Open Garden Gates.
In view of Düsseldorf's participation in the international competition Entente Florale, the Open Garden Gates campaign is a great opportunity to highlight the active involvement of citizens in horticulture. Whether it be house gardens, miniature gardens, green courtyards, cottage gardens or terraced houses with gardens - Düsseldorf's garden culture is abundant with gardens both big and small, imaginatively designed and lovingly cared for.
The 13 garden owners taking part this year have enabled the provincial capital to achieve a new participation record. Düsseldorf already had eleven garden owners taking part last year. By way of comparison: in 2006 "only" six garden owners took part. In the year of the international Entente competition the amount of participants may continue to increase. Active community involvement is crucial in convincing the international jury, who are running the rule over the city in the summer, that Düsseldorf is a worthy winner.
Dates for the Open Garden Gates program:
17/18 May 2008
7/8 June 2008
12/13 July 2008
Direct link to Dusseldorf gardens
Despite the fact that peace and quiet in their green oasis is often most important to garden owners, the campaign Open Garden Gates has gained more and more enthusiastic participants over the last few years. Whoever opens their garden gates, has the unique opportunity to share their enthusiasm for horticulture with others and exchange ideas, tips and suggestions. Not forgetting admiration from like-minded people of course.
For seven years Open Garden Gates has also taken place in the Rhineland attracting over 10,000 visitors each time. Today, nearly 200 garden owners take part and an average of around 100 people visit each garden. The campaign is coordinated and organised by the Centre for Garden Design and Landscape Culture in Schloss Dyck (Zentrum für Gartenkunst und Landschaftskultur in Schloss Dyck) in collaboration with the German Association for Garden Design and Landscape Culture (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gartenkunst und Landschaftskultur) (DGGL), the Ministry of Construction and Transport in Nordrhein-Westfalen (Ministerium für Bauen und Verkehr des Landes NRW), the Association for Garden Design between the Rhine and Meuse (Strasse der Gartenkunst zwischen Rhein und Maas), the Gardening Association in the Rhine area as well as several municipal garden offices.
(4 March 2008)
