Garden
Hortus Conclusus
Behind walls beside St George's Church, this enclosed parish garden reinterprets the ancient hortus conclusus and the Garden of Eden, with a central spring, four channels and thousands of spring tulips.
The story
Garden designer Ronald van der Hilst laid out the garden in 2018 and has tended it ever since. As in the Garden of Eden, a spring of life sits at the centre, feeding four small streams that water the plot and divide it into four square beds. A walkway circles the planting as in old monastery gardens, keeping the plants central, and by tradition there are no statues or paintings, since contemplation is the point. The abundance of species, colours and textures symbolises paradise. Tulips are van der Hilst's passion: one year 4,000 filled the beds, and thousands of tulips and other bulbs bloom each spring. The garden also serves as a plant laboratory for testing unfamiliar species and seeing how familiar ones cope with the climate.
Good to know
TAGGG AI- ✦Expect an inner garden planted with many species native to the region.
