Richard Hansen (gardener)

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Richard Hansen - Memorial at the entrance to the perennial gardens he founded

Richard Hansen (born July 10, 1912 in Nortorf ; † August 18, 2001 in Freising-Weihenstephan ) was a German gardener and horticultural scientist. He was a pioneer in the sighting of ornamental plants in Germany, especially of perennials .

Life

After an apprenticeship as nurserymen Hansen worked among others in 1934 as a journeyman in the famous perennial garden of Karl Foerster in Bornim near Potsdam. From 1936 to 1939 Hansen studied horticulture at the Agricultural University in Berlin . After the Second World War, he was a research assistant of Reinhold Tüxen at the central office for vegetation mapping in Stolzenau / Weser. In 1947 he was appointed lecturer for botanical science at the Institute for Garden and Landscape Design of the State Teaching and Research Institute for Horticulture in Freising-Weihenstephan near Munich (today part of the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences). In the following year he became head of the newly established Institute for Perennials, Trees and Applied Plant Sociology at this engineering school. On the basis of an idea by Karl Foerster, who had laid out a viewing garden on Potsdam's Friendship Island before the war , Hansen founded the widely known Weihenstephan viewing garden in 1947 , the first scientifically supported facility for the viewing of perennials in Germany on the test site affiliated to the Weihenstephaner Anstalt . From 1949 he taught at the Technical University of Munich (today Weihenstephan Science Center of the Technical University of Munich ). In the decades that followed, Hansen played a key role in developing the perennial sighting system in Germany: In 1952, the working group for the selection and breeding of flowering perennials was founded, and he was in charge of it until 1977. In 1957, a national, later international, registry office for perennial cultivation was founded at his institute.

After several years of research on garden lawns, Hansen received his doctorate on this subject in 1961. On the basis of knowledge about the natural habitat requirements and growth characteristics of the plants, Hansen developed an index system published in 1972 together with Hermann Müssel, with lists derived from it for the use of perennials. In 1981 a book was published together with Friedrich Stahl, which became a standard work with several editions and was even translated into English. Here he introduced the term “areas of life” and also gave recommendations for the combination of matching perennials, bulbous and bulbous plants, ornamental grasses and woody plants on the various types of site. With this system, which is still in use today, and his numerous technical articles and lectures on the use of perennials, Hansen made a significant contribution to the rapidly growing use of perennials in public green spaces. Richard Hansen retired in 1977, his successor at the institute was Peter Kiermeier .

Known students

One of Hansen's first students was Hans Simon , who did his doctorate with him and later ran a nationally renowned experimental and range nursery in Marktheidenfeld . Another student, Urs Walser built, and later as a landscape architect, together with Prof. Hans Luz the show and Hermannshof in Baden-Wuerttemberg and forwarded this for many years.

Publications (selection)

  • Richard Hansen: Names of the perennials . Stuttgart 1972.
  • Richard Hansen, Friedrich Stahl: Colorful perennial world (Our garden 3). Munich 1972.
  • Richard Hansen and Hermann Müssel: A code number system for the natural use of perennials . In: Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences (ed.): Annual report 1972 . 1973, p. 48-64 .
  • Richard Hansen, Friedrich Stahl: The perennials and their areas of life in the garden and park . Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1981; translated into English under the title: Perennials .

Honors

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hansen, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German gardener and horticultural scientist
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Nortorf
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 2001
Place of death Freising-Weihenstephan