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Understory garden

stone path leading through lush vegetation

The Understory garden is a slightly wilder area of the garden. Here you find a selection of plants that thrive in the shade under the various trees of the Rosaceae family growing here. Among other things, you can admire a collection of hellebores (Helleborus) blooming from winter to spring. At the beginning of May, the first peonies (Paeonia) emerge.

In this part of the Botanical Garden the plants are allowed to grow more freely and the area is not as neat and tidy as some of the other areas of the garden. Self-seeded plants are allowed to remain until they flower, and trees and shrubs are planted in the flower beds. Dead wood and natural debris offers habitats for many other species.

This form of controlled wildness requires a lot of work, but the result is a lush environment that favours biodiversity. 

old wood on the ground

Gardening for biodiversity

Different types of vegetation and different materials and substrates in the garden favours diversity. When an old tree fell in the Shade garden in 2023, part of the wood was left on the site. It creates a habitat where insects, fungi and microorganisms thrive. These, in turn, are vital for other species to live and for ecosystems to function.