Garden of the year: Without paving and concrete

No paved paths, no terrace slabs, no steps.

Instead, natural stone and lots of plants.

A garden near Hanover shows how one can do without the otherwise usual sealed surfaces.

There is no concrete, the stones are reusable, at least in theory, and the roof of the house is completely green.

A prime example of sustainable design?

The property is around 1900 square meters. It is somewhat hidden in a suburb of Hanover. Where once there was a building from the 1930s with a sheet metal garage, lawn and fruit trees, there is now an ensemble of residential building and rocky landscape. A spacious, single-storey building with a wooden facade and huge window fronts is nestled in a hillside garden. On one side it slopes down gently towards the living room, almost rolling through it to gently drain on the other side. Whoever sits inside is still in the middle of the green.

A single bubble ash (

) sets an accent between the perennials on the slope, further up oaks, rhododendrons and a walnut tree form a backdrop.

Another structure towers over everything, a tree house high up in the crown of one of the oaks.

The modern cube on stilts makes it possible to sit in the evening sun and enjoy a wide view of the surrounding area.

A counterpoint to the depression, surrounded by and floating above the green.

Rocks as stairs

Apart from the winter months, this green is extremely lush.

That was the wish of Till and Simone Dammermann, who wanted a garden full of plants, “if possible without right angles and dead straight walls”, with “little lawn and absolutely no gravel”: “No excessive cleanliness.

A garden has to be natural. "

The couple commissioned landscape architect Petra Pelz, who is known for her rich plant images. She

planted

perennials such as steppe

sage

(

), tube

star

(

) and Japanese forest grass (

), which make the boulders almost disappear under the leaves, flowers and stalks over the course of the season. Peonies and indigo lupins (

), sun hats

and asters mix in a matrix of blue grass (

). “This is about the interplay between plants and stones,” says the planner.

In winter, however, the ocher and gray tones of the greywacke determine the picture. Then you can see the structure that Peter Berg created. Because this is a joint project between the two designers. Around 350 tons of rock terraced the area, rocks act as irregular steps. The exact dimensions of the stones and the size of the bed areas were recorded using a drone.