Garden shows 2021 – overview

Four garden shows will be held in Germany in 2021: a Federal Garden Show in Erfurt, two State Garden Shows in Ingolstadt and Überlingen and a Garden Show in Lindau. Everything you need to know about the 2021 garden shows can be found here.

Following the highly acclaimed Federal Garden Show in Heilbronn in 2019, the Thuringian state capital of Erfurt will welcome hundreds of thousands of guests to the horticultural industry’s mega-event this year. Erfurt has gone down in the history books as the city of horticulture like no other city in Germany. It is no coincidence that the German Horticultural Museum is based in Erfurt. Erfurt is also important as an exhibition venue for horticulture. The first international garden show was held here in 1865.
The Federal Garden Show is presented at three core locations, two of which are prominent in Erfurt – firstly in the egapark on the south-western outskirts of the city and secondly on the Petersberg, which towers over the old town. In addition to egapark and Petersberg, the Northern Gera floodplain has become very important for the city thanks to the BUGA. The floodplain now stretches as a continuous green ribbon right into the city center.

All photos: BUGA Erfurt 2021 / Steve Bauerschmidt Photography

Europe’s largest ornamental flowerbed

Gardeners and landscape architects are probably familiar with the egapark. It was designed by Reinhold Lingner for the “First International Horticultural Exhibition of the Socialist Countries . iga 1961”. So this is where the heart of this year’s garden show beats. The park presents itself as one would expect from a city associated with horticulture, floriculture and the seed trade. The BUGA promises “flowers without end”. It could fulfill this promise alone with Europe’s largest ornamental flowerbed, which has always welcomed ega visitors. On 6,000 square meters, the gardeners show that the city is committed to its reputation. On many other areas, 36 hectares in total, the focus is on flowers. New varieties have been added to the existing 20,000 square meter rose garden. When the main bloom there fades, dahlia flowers will take over. With the lily garden or the Karl Foerster Garden, the show deliberately draws lines back to the time when the park was created, whose landscape architectural concept was internationally praised.

BUGA with a total of 25 outdoor locations

The “Danakil” desert and rainforest house, named after the hostile desert in Ethiopia, is also a new addition to the garden show. Here, specific plants and their strategies for survival in conditions of water scarcity and abundance are presented. As you would expect, visitors are offered themed gardens, indoor displays (a whopping 23!) and elaborately designed children’s playgrounds. The horticultural museum should be particularly attractive in bad weather.
From a horticultural point of view, things are a little more tranquil on the Petersberg – here the location above the old town and the historic building complex are the big highlights. However, the open spaces have been greatly upgraded for the BUGA in terms of landscape architecture and horticulture. In addition to the new pathways and the resulting area structure, the focus has shifted to the topic of useful plants.
In addition to the three core areas, the Federal Horticultural Show has included 25 outdoor sites in its concept, predominantly prominent gardens and parks in Thuringia, which the Free State is so rich in and which will be actively marketed as part of the BUGA.

The garden show company lists the planners involved in the BUGA as follows:

Under the motto “New green for generations”, the Bavarian State Garden Show Ingolstadt is taking place in the densely populated north-west of the city on an area of 23 hectares – one year late due to coronavirus. A new landscape park has been created with a 6,000 square meter lake as well as extensive meadows, play and sports areas for the people who live and work here. Surrounded by housing estates, roads, businesses and industrial agriculture, the landscape architects came up with a strict design language. The new Piussteg, a pedestrian and cycle bridge, leads onto the site. It and the approximately six kilometers of cycle paths and footpaths within the park will continue to attract many families with children, old and young people and employees of the surrounding companies to the green lung after the show.

4,000 square meters of orchard, 600 newly planted trees

The Piussteg, planned by the renowned Stuttgart office Schlaich Bergermann, is now an important part of Ingolstadt’s fast cycle path network currently under construction. With “Inspiration Nature”, an exciting motto has been found, which the garden show organisers are bringing to life, firstly in themed gardens covering around 4,000 square meters and secondly in the so-called city laboratory. In addition to the usual program of events at a garden show, young visitors in Ingolstadt are also invited to take part in colorful hands-on activities and discovery tours through the garden show grounds. The permanent site will include around 600 newly planted trees, 4,000 square meters of fruit meadow and five hectares of flower meadow. The Därr office from Halle an der Saale was responsible for the overall planning.

The Überlingen State Garden Show also opened a year late. This year, two garden shows are taking place on the shores of Lake Constance, which has never hosted an event of this kind before. However, we will come to the Lindau Garden Show later.
The shore of the Swabian Sea is the terrain on which visitors move for long stretches – as they walk through the villa gardens and the lakeside park. During the garden show, flower beds were laid out in the lawns with mature trees. relais landscape architects from Berlin and Stuttgart tidied up the narrow strip of today’s riverside park to the west. They redesigned it “in the field of tension between ecological demands and the usage requirements of a public park”, as the garden show company puts it. The ecological dimension in Überlingen is symbolized by the endangered forget-me-not Myosotis rehsteineri, which is only found on Lake Constance and Lake Starnberg.

Involved among others: relais Landschaftsarchitekten

In addition to the omnipresent Lake Constance, a walk through the city moat up to the Rose Nobel Gardens and the Menzing Gardens, which the garden show has made permanently accessible to the public, will enhance the attractiveness of the garden show. Among other things, fruit and vegetable growing play a role here. Those who are not interested in this will at least be rewarded with insights and views into hidden corners of the old town or of Lake Constance from above.
In addition to the relais office, which also planned the renovation of the corresponding projects Landungsplatz, Uferpromenade and Mantelhafen, the offices 365° freiraum + umwelt (Überlingen) were also responsible for the green network in the city, Petra Pelz (Sehnde) for the alternating flora and Mark Krieger (Hamburg) for the perennial planting. Herbert Dreiseitl planned a semi-circular jetty in Lake Constance to which the “Floating Gardens” dock.

Bavaria alternates between a “large” and a “small” state garden show, which determines the size of the area and the budget. Thanks to Corona, however, two garden shows are being held in Bavaria this year, with the small one now taking place in Lindau.
Most of the world-famous island in Lake Constance has an extremely attractive old town ensemble to offer. Until now, however, around a quarter of it has led a shadowy existence, partly as a large parking lot. To the west of the now reduced railway tracks in front of the dead-end station, Atelier Loidl from Berlin has created a citizens’ park. It is intended, for example, to provide Lindau residents and the many tourists with a spacious green area on the island.

Plant expert Petra Pelz active in Erfurt, Lindau and Überlingen

The most striking element at this point is the large stepped area, which is predestined for sunsets by the water in its western orientation. The existing Luitpoldpark with its old trees and the promenade between the railway tracks and Luitpoldpark were also incorporated into the garden show area and given the typical themes. Petra Pelz was brought in as a plant expert not only in Überlingen and Erfurt, but also in Lindau. She has created “colorful powerhouses” here. The garden show is also a preparatory measure for the construction of residential buildings on the island, and the resulting permanent plants are an accompanying measure.

You can read more about garden shows here:

State Garden Show Kamp-Lintfort (2020)

State Garden Show Bad Iburg (2018)

In 2018, we dedicated an entire Garten + Landschaft issue to the 2018 garden shows