Nature in the garden

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Nature in the garden is an action that the federal state of Lower Austria launched in 1999 to promote and support ecological gardening in private and public gardens.

Emergence

In 1999, Wolfgang Sobotka launched the “Nature in the Garden” campaign with the basic idea of ​​“Gardening with nature” in his former role as Environment Councilor. The core criteria were already defined back then: gardening without chemical-synthetic pesticides and fertilizers as well as peat. The “Nature in the Garden” campaign was intended to promote diversity in the garden. Since then, the state of Lower Austria has succeeded in building this gardening movement into an indispensable platform for natural and ecological gardening in the private sector as well as in public green areas in Lower Austria. Subsequently, Johanna Mikl-Leitner , Karl Wilfing and, since March 2018, Martin Eichtinger, were politically responsible for the campaign.

Holdings

Both private individuals and municipalities can participate in the various campaigns. If the activities were initially limited to the federal state alone, the area of ​​activity expanded to Austria and later the German-speaking area. At the Tulln Garden in 2009 , the main German-speaking horticultural institutions, such as the Austrian Horticultural Society or the German Gardening Academies , agreed on the use of the uniform logo.

In 2010 there were also links to the Czech Republic under Přírodní zahradničeni with the Veronica Institute in South Moravia and Chaloupky ops in Kraj Vysočina , Slovenia under Narava na vrtu Korška and Hungary under Természet a kertben , which pursue similar goals. In 2010 the first show garden in the Czech Republic was opened in the Tiree Chmelar herb garden at Valtice Castle .

Through this cross-border cooperation, the projects are also co-financed by the ERDF of the European Union.

Further collaborations have also been started within Austria. The federal state of Salzburg and the Ministry of Life have also been cooperation partners since 2011 . Since 2012 there has been a cooperation with the Stiftung Lebens Qualität eV in Vorarlberg.

Actions in Lower Austria

  • The central contact point for all questions about natural gardening and the offers of the "Nature in the garden" campaign is the Lower Austria garden telephone
  • The show gardens are already an integral part of Lower Austrian tourism. In 2009 alone, 2.9 million tourists visited show gardens.
  • Quarterly advisory magazines on the subject of natural gardening appear.
  • Consulting service for municipalities in the field of ecological green space maintenance and design
  • Nature in the garden academy
  • Garden advice for near-natural gardens - on site
  • Attempts are also being made to bring the philosophy of ecological gardening to the population through schools and kindergartens.
  • Natural playgrounds
  • Participants in the campaign are also those who maintain historical gardens, such as that of Schloss Hof .

After 20 years of existence in 2019, over 15,500 gardens in Lower Austria were awarded the Nature in the Garden award .

European Garden Association - Nature in the Garden International

Since 2012 the “European Garden Association - Nature in the Garden International” has been a cross-border platform for natural and ecological gardening.

Members:

Milestones

  • 2005: Start of the ORF series "Nature in the Garden": In the "Nature in the Garden" season 2018, a total of 1.89 million viewers (the broadest group of viewers) were there. This corresponds to 25 percent of the entire TV population aged 12 and over. Up to 250,000 garden fans accompany Karl Ploberger every week on his journey through Austria's wonderful garden culture.
  • 2008: Opening of GARTEN TULLN / “Nature in the Garden” world of experience: a total of over 2.6 million visitors since 2008
  • 2012: Founding of the "European Garden Association / Natur im Garten International": The "Natur im Garten" badge is awarded not only in Austria but also in regions in Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy. Throughout Austria in Lower Austria, Styria, Upper Austria, Tyrol, Burgenland & Vorarlberg
  • 2014: 1. Children at UNI Tulln: 120 8- to 12-year-olds do experiments for one week, research animals and plants and get to know various environmental professions.
  • 2015: Start of the 1st academic course "Ecological Garden and Green Space Management" in cooperation with Danube University Krems

facts and figures

  • Private: over 15,500 “Nature in the Garden” plaques in Lower Austria
  • Municipalities: 146 "Nature in the Garden" municipalities (the 1st nature in the garden municipality was Tulln on the Danube)
  • "Nature in the Garden" Telephone: A total of over 590,000 inquiries and contacts (by phone, email, post)
  • "Nature in the garden" partner companies: 75 "Nature in the garden" partner companies
  • "Nature in the Garden" seal of approval: 231 products have been awarded the "Nature in the Garden" seal of approval
  • "Nature in the Garden" show gardens: 131 show gardens in Lower Austria (all are members of "The Gardens of Lower Austria") plus two knowledge partners
  • Community gardens: 64 projects in the Lower Austrian municipalities
  • Educational program: Since 2012 around 120,000 participants in lectures and seminars in Lower Austria
  • “Nature in the Garden” magazine: 124,526 subscribers

(Status: January 22, 2019)

Awards

In Lower Austria by 2009 more than 7,500 badges were given to private individuals whose gardens meet the prescribed standards. Depending on the size of the community, the community itself can be awarded a plaque location for a certain number of awarded gardens , in order to encourage the communities to take their own initiative.

In 2018 there were 132 show gardens in Lower Austria alone, which work together in the show garden network "The Gardens of Lower Austria". Of these, 19 have already merged to form the so-called Kamptal Gardens . Since these alone were able to register 600,000 tourists as visitors, they received the State Prize for Tourism in 2009 .

In 2015 the project was the first Austrian award winner to receive the Sonja Bernadotte Prize for ways to educate nature on the island of Mainau .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quality of Life Foundation eV
  2. ↑ Nature in the garden internationally  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed June 25, 2010.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.naturimgarten.at  
  3. ^ "Nature in the garden": Without poison and fertilizer on ORF from June 2, 2014, accessed on June 3, 2014.
  4. ↑ Tulln is the first "Nature in the Garden City"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Tulln Info accessed on June 24, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / 195.58.166.60  
  5. ↑ State Prize for “Nature in the Garden” partner ( memento of the original from August 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed June 25, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.naturimgarten.at
  6. ↑ Award for “Nature in the Garden” on ORF Online from October 17, 2015, accessed on October 17, 2015.