Flowers instead of lawn – a stroll through the sunken garden
Home › Projects › Garden projects

Flowers instead of lawn – a stroll through the sunken garden

No lawn at all, but plenty of blooms and colour – all year round.

LocationUnterhaching
Size630 m²
DesignJan Vandebotermet
ImplementationFuchs baut Gärten GmbH – Gärtner von Eden
PhotographyFuchs baut Gärten GmbH
Award“Gärten des Jahres” 2021 (Callwey) – nominated and published in the book · View the project in the competition

“Plants, boulders and natural stone form a counterpart to the architecture of the building, as do the organic shapes of the beds and paths.”

— Jan Vandebotermet

Some gardens are defined by walls, pools and paving. This one relies almost entirely on plants. The couple wanted a plant oasis – a garden where your eye can wander and you keep discovering something new. Curving gravel paths lead between lush beds, and the hard elements are kept to a minimum.

Four colours throughout the year

The colour scheme is pink, purple, white and blue, and the planting is built so that there is something to see in every season. In spring, peony and Siberian bugloss; in summer, roses in several varieties, steppe sage, lavender ‘Hidcote’, gaura, catmint, phlox, poppy and delphinium; in late summer, coneflower, asters, Japanese anemone and black cohosh. Grasses such as fountain grass ‘Hameln’ and Chinese silver grass are left standing over winter. In the shady corners, hostas, heucheras, Japanese forest grass, hellebore and male fern. The plants came from Lorenz von Ehren.

Why planting design is more than a list

This is how we measure this project ourselves: the planting works in our region and it does something for nature. We deliberately chose nectar-rich perennials and trees and shrubs for insects and bees – steppe sage, catmint, coneflower, serviceberry – plants that don’t just flower but provide pollen and nectar. A planting that looks better three years after construction than on the day of handover doesn’t come from choosing beautiful plants, but from the right combination for soil, light and climate. More on this under plants and planting design and perennial planting.

And the structures? They are there, but they take a back seat. A concrete seating wall runs alongside the path, serving as both bed edge and bench. Block steps lead to the front door, a pergola spans the terrace, and a garden house of timber and glass closes off the garden at the back. Boulders give the beds weight. The sunken garden with its seating area remains the sheltered spot within the garden as a whole. Everything else is planted.

The garden was featured in CUBE Magazin München: “Blumen statt Rasen” (issue 01|21).

This garden was nominated for “Gärten des Jahres 2021” and is published in the Callwey book. Book from Callwey Verlag · Project portrait at the competition · All awards

← All garden projects

Impressions
Red roses in a perennial bed, with grasses and old trees behindRoses and perennials in front of the glass façade, with the seating area on the rightThe concrete seating wall along the path, with beds and the garden house behindThe approach to the house with block steps, flowering perennials on either sideThe pergola over the terrace, with the gravel path in frontThe house seen from the street, with roses, grasses and boulders in frontFrom above: the paths meander between the bedsThe terrace with a table, with the seating wall and the bed in frontRoses and perennials reaching right up to the wall of the garden housePerennial bed with red blooms beside the lawnThe sunken garden with a seating area by the house wallTimber furniture in the sunken garden, surrounded by bedsThe design plan: house, raw concrete edge, garden house and island beds

Photos: Fuchs baut Gärten GmbH · “Gärten des Jahres” 2021 (Callwey) – nominated and published in the book

Let's talk about your project

We are happy to advise you in person, with no obligation.

Request a consultation
CallConsultation