Lusatian boulder park Nochten
The Lausitzer Foundlingspark Nochten ( Upper Sorbian Park błudźenkow ) is an approximately 20 hectare landscape garden southwest of Weißwasser in Upper Lusatia . It was created northeast of Nochten between 2000 and 2003 on the recultivation area of the Nochten open-cast lignite mine .
As a spacious, multi-colored garden area interspersed with only a few trees , the park covers an artificially piled up hilly landscape that rises prominently above its surroundings. As a characteristic and dominant design element, around 6000 boulders extracted from the overburden of regional mining were brought in, which were transported from northern Europe to Lusatia by the glaciers of the Ice Age . An educational trail opens up over 90 representative selected specimens, labels and information boards provide information about the type of rock and its origin.
The geological presentation takes up only a small part of the park. In the rest of the area, boulders and areas covered with different colored gravel , quarry stone or rubble form the basis or background for several specialized garden areas (e.g. rock garden, heather garden, pond garden) and replicas of natural biotopes (e.g. heather bog, forest bog, steppe) . These plantations, in addition to rhododendrons , succulents and over 500 different perennial species, also a collection of over 160 species and varieties of heather ( Erica ) and common heather ( Calluna ), are embedded in grassland, which is kept partly as a shear lawn, partly as a high-growing meadow of flowers. Several small ponds and artificial watercourses complete the park landscape. A network of paths about 3.6 kilometers long (three-meter-wide main paths) runs through the park, which is supplemented by side paths that are about three kilometers long (one meter wide).
History of the park
Basic idea up to the first groundbreaking
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The basic idea of creating a boulder park of this size came from the geologist and hobby gardener Hans Ulbrich in the early 1990s. It consisted of expanding the idea of landscape designer Otto Rindt to use the erratic boulders for recultivation in such a way that garden spaces are the highlight of landscape design. These garden spaces should be close to nature and cover all garden areas that can be designed with boulders. These are primarily the stone, heather and pond gardens. At the same time, there is a requirement that these garden spaces should not be placed in isolation in the landscape to be recultivated. The garden spaces must be a living part of the recultivated landscape and the recultivated landscape must form a suitable framework for the garden spaces.
The basic idea grew steadily through discussions among colleagues at LAUBAG and in 1996 a rough project was created. In the event that financing options are found, the project was included in the mine planning for the recultivation of the Nochten opencast mine as a possible variant. The decisive step towards this was the founding of the Lausitzer Findlingspark Nochten e. V. on June 11, 1999. On July 28, 2000 the first groundbreaking and the symbolic handover of the funds by the district president of the Dresden administrative district of Saxony took place .
Planting work
The planting work began in autumn 2000 with the creation of the natural heather area. In the spring of 2001, the actual plantings followed with a small part of the heather varieties in the heather garden. The autumn planting of 2001 continued in the heather garden. In addition, the thyme and upholstery phlox area as well as the area of the joint plants facing away from the sun were designed. Indigenous trees were planted in the edge area and the park-like part of the entrance area was completed. During the spring planting in 2002, the plantings in the heather garden with the heather slope and the grass area were completed. In the rock garden, the summer and succulent areas have been completed. At the edges the wood planting was almost finished and the planting in the moor began. For autumn 2002 the plantings remained in the area of dwarf conifers , the carnation , lime and wild rose area as well as in the pond garden. Before planting, all garden areas received a sub-soil made of up to 30 cm thick plant substrate. A topsoil application is used for the lawns and the edge of the wood .
Water system
At the beginning of 2001 the production of the waters began. The central body of water, the dewatering, the heather moor and the connecting river were completed by summer 2001. Also in 2001 the water supply system was connected up to the taps for the irrigation system. It is fed by a 180 m deep well on the edge of the municipality of Nochten. The pumping station at the water drainage pumps into a ring main from which both the sources of the river and the irrigation system are fed. The water retention circuit is closed again via the connecting flow. The construction of the two rivers to the central water body continued into 2003.
additional
The main and secondary routes were completed by June 2002. In 2005 an adventure playground was added; 2007 a visitor and information center. A year later, the area around the forest lake was created. In 2009 the entrance area was redesigned.
In 2009 the municipality of Boxberg signed a cooperation agreement for the parks Nochten and Uhyst to work on the garden culture path on both sides of the Neisse . This and the membership in the European Park Association Lausitz benefit the promotion and tourism marketing of the facilities.
Visitor numbers
- 2005: 104,000
- 2006: 91,000
- 2007: 124,600
- 2008: 117,300
- 2009: 107,000
- 2010: 150,000
- 2011: 120,000
- 2016: 60,000
Representation of the individual parts of the park
Rock garden
The rock garden forms the center of the erratic boulder park. Morphologically, it is modeled on a mountain range with a central mountain range and three mountain ranges perpendicular to it, which enclose two valleys. Streams with cascades and waterfalls flow through the valleys . The streams flow into a central body of water. Its environment forms its own part of the garden (see pond garden ). The summit area of the rock garden is given a rocky character by long gravel heaps. Succulents ( Opuntia , Sedum , Sempervivum , Lewisia ) grow in this area with accompanying plants. The planting sites of the succulents are covered with lava rock. The summit area also serves as a viewing platform for open-cast lignite mining and recultivation. In the south, the view opens up to the Lausitzer Bergland and the Boxberg power station .
The upholstered phlox area is laid out on the south side of the central and middle ridge. In the rock garden it forms the first peak of the year in bloom and is also the most colorful part of the entire park. On the west side of the middle ridge, a dwarf conifer area has been set up in the rear part of the western valley. Thyme grows in the central part of the middle ridge. In terms of design, it has to transition from the colorful upholstered phlox area to the pond garden. In between, in a cut in the path, there are fugitive plants on the steep northern embankment that like to be in the shade. The upholstered phlox-thyme area and the area of the joint plants facing away from the sun are covered with diabass chippings.
The eastern ridge takes up the summer area. Here, from late May to summer, the blue of sage , bluebells and catnip , which are planted in large mats, dominates. The basalt gravel was chosen as the cover. The western ridge includes the carnation and alpine rose area as well as the area with limestone boulders. The late summer area is on the north side of the central ridge. For design reasons, all valleys are covered with rubble and only sparingly planted.
The rock garden ends in the pond garden in the south. Otherwise, lawn areas lead over to the other parts of the garden. Depending on the location, the lawn areas are designed as landscape and herb lawns.
Heather garden
The main function of the approx. 1.5 ha large heather garden in the north and west of the boulder park is to gradually transition from the stone and pond garden to the recurring heather landscape behind the park fence. It begins with the winter heather , which comes from the high mountains and blooms from November to April. These areas directly adjoin the gravel areas of the rock garden and are arranged on flat hills. The transition to the Calluna heather is reached via a grassy valley in which larger trees border the rock garden like a backdrop. The Calluna heather is laid out on elongated dunes and begins with a heather rock garden (heather slope), on which mainly flat growing varieties predominate. The heather slope is richly structured with gravel areas and partly covered with basalt gravel. Between the dunes there is a valley with wide areas of gravel, which is mainly reserved for grasses. The transition to the pond garden is reached through a rocky slope with wild roses. The direct transition from the heather garden to the natural heather area is formed by the dune with countless varieties of Calluna heather.
Natural heath area
The natural heather area in the park only houses plants and trees that are also found in the surrounding nature. A special highlight is the heather moor, which houses rare plants and small trees that were recovered from the Nochten open-cast mine before being dredged over. The natural heather area in the park connects to an almost 30 hectare natural heather basin outside the park, which is surrounded by forest-covered dunes.
Pond garden
The pond garden encompasses the approx. 0.4 hectare central body of water and the adjacent bank zone. In the design and especially in the setting of stones in and around the water, design principles of Asian garden art were used. The central body of water is only sparsely populated with aquatic plants. On a headland in the western part, perennials are arranged that match the vicinity of the pond. The northern part of the bank at the end of the middle ridge of the rock garden is rocky and mostly planted with conifers that remain flat. On the southern bank there are rhododendrons on a slope facing away from the sun. On the eastern bank, a dry valley from the summer area of the rock garden flows into the pond (also rhododendron planting).
The edges of the park outside the natural heather area are planted with deciduous trees in the southern part and mainly with conifers in the northern part.
In the stone and heather garden, larger trees have to be subordinate to the boulders. The boulders should keep the dominant role.
The transition from the entrance to the garden areas is reached via a park-like lawn.
Others
In an internet survey by the MDR , the Findlingspark took third place behind the Wörlitzer Park and the Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau when it came to choosing the most beautiful park in Central Germany .
Web links
- Lusatian boulder park Nochten
- Findlingspark on the homepage garden culture path on both sides of the Neisse
Individual evidence
- ^ Regina Weiß: Boxberg project partner for garden culture path in: Lausitzer Rundschau November 24, 2009, Weißwasser edition, accessed on June 3, 2018
- ↑ Regina Weiß: Park Association draws larger circles in: Lausitzer Rundschau June 14, 2017, Weißwasser edition, accessed on March 3, 2018
- ↑ (hnr.): Lausitzer Parkverbund grows from four to nine in: Der Märkische Bote March 3, 2018, Senftenberg u. Surrounding area, accessed on March 3, 2018
- ↑ Weekly courier: Findlingspark is preparing for 2017 , November 14, 2016.
Coordinates: 51 ° 26 ′ 10 ″ N , 14 ° 36 ′ 15 ″ E