Cactus Haage
| Cactus Haage
|
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | one-man business |
| founding | 1685/1822 |
| Seat | Erfurt |
| management | Ulrich Haage |
| Branch | Horticulture, ornamental plants, retail nursery |
| Website | www.kakteen-haage.de |
Kakteen-Haage is a nursery in Erfurt , which was founded in 1685 by Johann Peter Hage (approx. 1660-1725). In 1822 the company specialized in cacti , today the nursery is the oldest cactus cultivation in the world and at the same time the oldest nursery in Germany. The core business focuses on the shipping and sale of cacti and other succulents , seeds, special literature, tools, substrates and special accessories. Kakteen-Haage is a CITES company and a member of the Thuringian Horticultural Association.
A brief outline of the Haage family
The Kakteen-Haage nursery is run by the tenth generation (including the sixth generation of cactus gardeners) and is closely linked to the Erfurt horticultural tradition. In 1685 Johann Peter Hage (until 1807 the family only wrote themselves with an "a") was named as a gardener in Erfurt . This originally came from Zwätz near Jena and moved to the heavily depopulated cathedral city after the great plague epidemic in 1682/83. The established commercial gardening business was continued by the sons and grandchildren of Johann Peter Hage.
The Haage family has many branches. A branch of the family that goes back to Johann Heinrich Hage (1737–1800) founded a special nursery in 1769, which was primarily dedicated to the cultivation of watercress and was therefore simply called "Watercress Haage" in Erfurt. Their nursery fell into state hands in 1960. Today only the Villa Haage in the Erfurt Dreienbrunnen area reminds of the tradition.
Another branch of the family, the progenitor of which was Franz Anton Haage (1763–1836), probably founded another gardening company in Erfurt in 1787 and specialized in seed and commercial gardening. The nursery was liquidated in 1935 and passed to FC Heinemann. Here it continued to exist until it was expropriated by the GDR in 1975.
In addition there was the important branch of Johann Nicolaus Haage (IV. 1826–1878). He founded a seed nursery in Erfurt in 1861 . A year later, Ernst Schmidt (a son of the commercial gardener JC Schmidt) joined the company as a partner, so that from then on it was called Haage & Schmidt. In 1864 the business was expanded to become a commercial horticultural business, which made a name for itself primarily with rarities from all over Europe and overseas. The range of the range was unique, as plants were imported from all over the world. Haage & Schmidt supplied the botanists in Kew Gardens in London with their innovations. At the same time, they multiplied the best specimens and sold them all over the world. After Johann Nicolaus Haage's accidental death in 1878, his former apprentice, Carl Schmidt (not related to Ernst Schmidt), succeeded the deceased. After his death in 1919, his son and later his widow Martha Louise Schmidt took over the gardening business until she committed suicide in 1934. The rest of the story is difficult to reconstruct. After the Second World War , the business came to an end.
The history of gardening
Specializing in cacti
The branch of cactus gardeners of the Haage family was founded by Friedrich Adolph Haage (1796–1866), who is considered the "forefather" of Kakteen-Haage. His father Johann Nicolaus (II. 1766–1814), a great-grandson of Johann Peter Hage, was an art gardener in Erfurt . In keeping with the family, the young Friedrich Adolph began his training at the age of 15 under the direction of the court gardener Johann Heinrich Seidel at the court of King Friedrich August I of Saxony in Dresden . Due to his talent and horticultural skills, he was entrusted with the care of the cactus collection of the court gardening department. As a parting present he received a cutting of the "Queen of the Night" ( Selenicereus grandiflorus ), which was part of the basis of the later cactus collection. Back in Erfurt, after completing his apprenticeship in 1822, he founded his own nursery under the name "Friedrich Adolph Haage jun." With a focus on seeds. Haage was a visionary in promoting its products. In 1824 his price list appeared for the first time as a two-page sheet that was enclosed with local newspapers. After initial difficulties, the nursery soon expanded. Haage's particular passion was cacti and other succulents. Within just a few years he was able to build up one of the most extensive collections of succulents in Europe and became an extremely valued connoisseur. Important men such as the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Carl August , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Franz Liszt or Alexander von Humboldt visited him in his nursery in Erfurt to admire the plants that were still exotic at the time.
The nursery in crisis
After the death of Friedrich Adolph Haage in 1866, his son Gustav Ferdinand Haage (1830–1921) took over the fate of the nursery. He was a good cultivator and a recognized botanist. At the same time, however, inheritance disputes with his numerous siblings burdened him. With the expansion of the railroad in 1870, the company, which was still located in the Erfurt Fortress , had to move to the city gates to Daberstedt . The area in front of the city was considered unattractive, as the " fortress paleon " brought with it numerous bureaucratic hurdles and lengthy permits were required for each new building. The move had a negative effect on the company, so that Gustav Ferdinand Haage retired as boss in 1888 and handed over the management of the nursery to his son in the " three emperor's year ".
Rise to new bloom
Ferdinand Friedrich Adolf Haage (1859–1930) took over the business from his father. He managed to bring the nursery to a new bloom, mainly because he remembered his grandfather and specialized again more in cacti and other succulents. Haage had had a basic education in Great Britain and made the nursery "Friedrich Adolph Haage jun." Internationally known by participating in numerous horticultural exhibitions at home and abroad. He was able to make numerous and varied business contacts overseas, Eastern Europe and especially Russia. The business flourished, so that in 1903 the nursery moved again to a plot of land in the Andreasflur, where the company premises are still located today. At the same time, Haage expanded strongly, new greenhouses were built and an increased range of seed and plant cultures made the nursery one of the top addresses not only in the German Empire, but also internationally. With the beginning of the First World War , the rise came to an abrupt end, as all international trade relations broke off.
The rest of the story to this day
After the First World War, Walther Haage (1899–1992) took over the management of the nursery from his father in 1923 . The well-known connoisseur and cactus lover managed to keep the company alive and even expand it despite inflation , so that Haage was soon in demand again as a cactus nursery with its large special range. He was also able to build on his father's successes. As early as 1935, Kakteen-Haage owned the most extensive range of succulents in Germany and was active in international retail. During the Second World War, the nursery was forced to grow mainly vegetables as a result of the tightened supply situation. In the winter of 1945/1946, the collapse of the fuel supply threatened the entire collection of cacti that were still being cultivated in secret. The intervention of the Soviet city commander at the time, Colonel Baranov, who was director of the Botanical Garden in Leningrad before World War II and was familiar with the Hague's succulent collection, saved the nursery from ruin.
In the GDR , Kakteen-Haage re-established plant and seed production and was still a sought-after specialist for cacti and other succulents. The company remained in private hands until 1961, after which it was partially nationalized until, in 1972, the company was incorporated as the “Brigade Cactus Cultivation” of the “Nationally Owned Gut Saatzucht Ornamental Plants”. Since the state could not find a suitable manager for the gardening business, Walther Haage's son Hans-Friedrich Haage (* 1942) succeeded his father. The "cactus boom" that started in the 1970s throughout Germany ensured that the nursery expanded again and was expanded fivefold. After the political change in 1989/1990, Hans-Friedrich Haage re-privatized the nursery in September 1990 and began to convert it into a retail and mail order nursery. The restart was successful, mainly because the name "Kakteen-Haage" was still very well known. In 1996, Ulrich Haage (* 1970) took over the family business from his father in the sixth generation and has been running it successfully to this day.
Products
With 15,000–20,000 articles in 3500 different types and around 2000 varieties, Kakteen-Haage offers one of the largest ranges of cacti and other succulents in the world. This includes an extensive selection of seeds. In addition to substrates, fertilizers and pesticides, the customer receives additional accessories for growing and caring for the plants as well as special literature. Kakteen-Haage is also a CITES-certified species protection company and is allowed to reproduce plants that are subject to the Washington Convention on Endangered Species .
Traces in Erfurt
Since 1894 a memorial in the Hopfengrund des Steiger in Erfurt has been commemorating Friedrich Adolph Haage , whereby the City Beautification Association honored his services. Destroyed by vandalism, it was renewed in 1934 and stood on Hedemannsweg in Steiger. Today the memorial plaque is owned by the family.
The monument is to be restored by the company's 200th anniversary at the latest in 2022.
Cactus Museum
Within the company premises (Blumenstraße 68, 99092 Erfurt) there has been a cactus museum since 1992, in which numerous exhibits show the history of cactus growing in Europe and the history of the Haage cactus nursery in a small exhibition. The museum can be visited free of charge during the open house tours.
The cactus food
On May 22, 1997, the cactus meal took place for the first time in a greenhouse in Kakteen-Haage, and in 2017 it celebrated its 20th anniversary. Once a year, the “culinary brave” meet on four evenings for a “cactus dinner” in Erfurt . Cacti are always part of the 5-course menu. These are the young leaves of Opuntia ficus-indica , which come in any form, for example as a cactus leaf sauce, cactus ice cream or as an original Thuringian cactus bratwurst.
literature
- Tamara Hawich: A cactus for the lady of the heart, in: Brücke. Erfurter Stadtzeitung 68 (2004), pp. 27–31.
- Ilsabe Schalldach: The Haage family - 325 years of gardening history, in: Martin Baumann / Steffen Raßloff (eds.): Blumenstadt Erfurt, Erfurt 2011, pp. 74-107.
- Immanuel Voigt: My little green cactus, in: tamtam - The city magazine for Erfurt and region 13 (2017), pp. 18-20.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schalldach, Familie, p. 76.
- ↑ Schalldach, Familie, pp. 77–80.
- ↑ Schalldach, Familie, pp. 81–86.
- ↑ Schalldach, Familie, pp. 98f.
- ↑ Schalldach, Familie, p. 100f.
- ↑ Voigt, Kaktus, p. 18f. and Hawich, Kaktus, p. 27.
- ↑ http://gaertnerei.kakteen-haage.de/geschichte/friedrich-adolph-haage/ , accessed on July 30, 2017.
- ↑ Voigt, Kaktus, p. 19.
- ↑ http://gaertnerei.kakteen-haage.de/geschichte/ffa-haage/ , accessed on July 30, 2017.
- ↑ http://gaertnerei.kakteen-haage.de/geschichte/walther-haage/ , accessed on July 30, 2017.
- ↑ Hawich, Kaktus, pp. 30f.
- ↑ Voigt, Kaktus, p. 20.
- ↑ Schalldach, Familie, p. 90.
- ↑ http://gaertnerei.kakteen-haage.de/geschichte/kakteen-museum/ , accessed on July 30, 2017.