An overcast spring day in early May may not be the perfect time to visit a garden in cold and windy Denmark, but I nevertheless got a good amount of photos of fresh spring greens and lovely flowers, mostly tulips and rhododendron, when I visited Egeskov Castle and the large park. A lot of flowers like roses, dahlias, fuchsias and others, will only bloom later in summer. But there’s one advantage to visiting rather early in the year – less tourists who cluster around the flowerbeds
I wrote a short version of the history of Egeskov Castle included in this blog post Egeskov Castle as we – mostly – can see today, was built in 1554 by the Danish nobleman Frands Mikkelsen Brockenhuus (1518-1569), military leader, diplomat, and member of the Royal Council, though an older building on the grounds is mentioned in 1405. Brockenhuus bought adjacent land and added the first park around the castle.
In 1656, Privy Councillor Otte Krag purchased Egeskov; his grandson Niels Krag the Younger (1699-1740) expandend on the formal gardens with their terraces, alleys, and geometrically shaped hedges. He also built the old labyrinth (which is now closed to the public because the roots of the old beech hedges have become too sensitive for a bunch of people trodding on the ground every day – only the gardening staff has access to the place now). Niels Krag also built the dam connecting the castle to the land (replacing the old drawbridge).
Niels Krag died rather young, leaving behind a widow, Sophie, with no surviving children (unfortunately, I could not find any information about her). She sold the estate to the Bille-Brahe family in 1784. Their descendant Jessie married Julius Ahlefeldt-Laurvid (1875); the counts Ahlefeldt Laurvid-Bille still own the castle and park.
Jessie and Julius, together with the Danish landscape gardener H. A. Flindt, created the English Garden with its meadows, tree-and-hedges arrangements, and free standing trees, among them yews, plane trees, cypresses and others. The lawns are a popular picnic spot in summer. They also modernised many rooms in the castle.
The next couple to have an incfluence on the gardens were their grandson Gregers and his wife Nonni. They opened the gardens to the public in 1960 after major renovations. It was foremost Countess Nonni who felt responsible for the gardens, starting a tradition that is continued by the current countess (see below). Nonni brought in a French garden architect and – among others – re-designed the Renaissance garden at the castle.
Their son Claus opened the castle itself to visitors. He decided to transform the part of the estate that was still used for agriculture into more gardens and tourist attractions – like the veteran and vintage car museums located in former barns – because the size of the estate no longer made farming with modern machines worthwile, but he wanted to keep the farm workers in employment.
Once, the treasure of a farmer had been the manure pile, usually located in the yard between the wings of the farm buildings (closer to the stables than the main house, but I suspect it still was the wrong sort of ‘fragrant’). The manure pile had vanished long ago – the house is used as estate office – but the Fragrance Garden was established only in 2002. Its layout with the woven wicker fences retains the traditional look of farm gardens (which were ususally located outside the farm yard, behind the main house), but the plants have been chosen primarily for their scents.
The old farm buildings look much like the ones I’ve seen in the Funen Museum (photos in the link above).
Some of the flowerbeds hold scented geraniums, but also herbs for use in the kitchens (there is a restaurant on the grounds). Egeskov Gardens have 180-200 different herbs – though I suppose that includes the ones in the Herb Garden we will later visit on our virtual tour – besides the ones in this place. There is also blackthorn and bog myrte that are used as ingredients in a local schnapps.
The present owners of Egeskov Castle are Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille and his wife, Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (no, I didn’t make those names up; some noble families just keep collecting them). Count Michael and Princess Alexandra take a keen interest in the gardens, and especially Alexandra contributed to a number of new or enhanced features during the last years.
Head gardener in Egeskov since 1995 is Peter Bonde Poulsen. He and his team received the European Garden Award in 2012. Poulsen inherited his green thumbs from his father, who had been head gardener in Fredensborg Castle – he said he basically grew up in a large park.
The hedges are one of Egeskov’s signature features. They frame many of the various gardens in the park, overall stretching over 7 km, and are up to 8 metres high. Some are really old, dating to 1730, the time of the first labyrinth (the one that is now closed). They are mostly beech, privet, yew and other plants that grow into hedges.
After learning a bit about the history of the Egeskov Gardens, let’s have a closer look at more of their features not yet visited during the history lesson. Join me on a little virtual tour.
Rhododrendrons can be found in several spots in the park – including a special Rhododendron Garden (see below) – and many of those are in bloom in early May. Like this lovely riot of flowers near the entrance.
Some of the newer gardens follow philosophical concepts in the choice of plants, their colours, fragrances, times of the year when they are in flower etc. The Garden of Life, developed in 2015, is one of those. It stands for the passage of life and the rhythm of the seasons. I could detect some spring flowers like pale blue hyacinths, gold columbine and peonies, but else, it was mostly shades of green and reddish perennials that form a base for the flowers to come in summer.
The structure of the garden is formal, an outer circle, a middle circle divided into 8 'cake pieces' with wells in the centre of each of the sections, and an inner circle with a sun dial in its centre. The plants in that inner circle follow the sunlight during the day, from bright yellow to darker reds.
The Garden of Life replaces a yew labyrith developed by Piet Hein (the head gardener at the time of Count Claus in the 1970ies) which had to be taken down due to a yew disease.
I next went to the castle – the main reason I visited Egeskov – and the gardens on the islet. One of those is the Rose Garden, established in 2004, which must look stunning in summer, with more than 100 different types of roses blooming. Most of those are English and local Danish rose variants. The design is based on a Maltese cross, the flower beds bordered by boxwood hedges. In early May, those hedges were the most visible part of the design.
Back on the mainland, the next stop was the Herb Garden. It not only provides the castle with herbs, vegetables, and flowers for decoration; it is also designed as a beautiful place to spend recreational time in, with raised flowerbeds, arched walkways, pavillions, and a pond with goldfish. The design – albeit set up in the 1970ies – follows the old 17th century Renaissances kitchen gardens.
The plants for the herb garden are grown in Egeskov’s own greenhouses (many of the plants had not been put outside yet), and grown organically, without the use of pesticides.
Framed by high hedges, the Dahlia Garden lies hidden and sheltered. But when I entered through the opening in the hedge, I was surprised to find an amazing array of tulips in every colour, and all in full bloom for a change. The dahlias were still snug in the warm greenhouses.
There are 70 different variants of tulips, 10,000 plants overall. Since the fruit trees in this garden department are also in bloom, it is the prettiest spot in the Egeskov gardens in spring. Here’s some of the photos I took.
The garden was originally a fruit garden, protected by the high hedges which create a specific microclimate. The temperature is always a bit warmer – +2-3°C – than the more open park, thus dahlias thrive there. There are 140 variants, including giant dahlias with flowers of 30cm in diametre; they’re often called 'dinnerplate dahlias'. The dahlia tubers are dug up every autumn and stored in the greenhouse, then replanted at the end of May. The tulip bulbs are then taken out and given to owners of an annual card if they're interested in acquiring some pretty tulips.
Another summer garden, adjacent to the Dahlia Garden, is the Fuchsia Garden (minus the spring tulips, so there are no photos of that one). Egeskov has one of Europe’s largest collection of fuchsia with 800 different variants. Some of the plants are 50 or even 75 years old. Since fuchsia don’t tolerate frost, they – like the dahlias – have to be dug out in autumn, moved to the controlled conditions in the greenhouse, and replanted when there is no more danger of night frosts.
There are more gardens in the estate not pretty enough in early May to warrant photos. One of those is the Hop Garden. Hop gardens already were part of medieval herb and vegetable gardens, since beer was often safer to drink than water, and was locally brewed in monasteries (which always had a herb garden), on estates of the nobility, in towns and villages. Thus a hop garden has a long tradition in Egeskov.
The White Garden follows an old Renaissance pattern with symmetrical, boxwood framed flowerbeds, albeit dating to 2020. It is designed a midsummer garden with white and cream coloured flowers – another garden waiting for summer.
A garden I admit to have missed since I didn’t follow the official route, but just went around in search for pretty motives, is the Perennial Garden hiding in a corner. The first perennial garden dates to the time of Countess Nonni (1967), but was dismantled in the 1980ies. Count Michael and Peter Bonde Poulsen restored the garden to the original plans in 1996.
On my way back to the entrance, I went through the Rhododendron Garden. It is one of the newest additions to Egeskov, designed by Princess Alexandra. The ground had been a woodland with shrubs and trees, some of which remain. It is a quiet and mostly shady corner with bright, colourful variants of rhododendron and azaleas blooming between the trees.
The rhododendron and azaleas are interspersed with grasses, like this bright green Japanese mountain grass, presented in a rondell of local fieldstone.
Another quiet and shady place was the Water Garden. I liked the reflections of trees and water; they made for some nice photo motives. The water flows from the moat around the castle over a little waterfall and a canal to the river Hågerup Å. The Water Garden, also planted with rhododendrons and azaleas that prefer acidic soil, is another design by Princess Alexandra.
In summer, dragonflies can be found in the water garden. Midges, too, I suspect, but the website doesn't mention those. *grin* But there are eels living in the water.
The red bridge across the pond was inspired by Monet's famous paintings of the bridge of Giverny.
So, that’s the photographic result of spending several hours in the Egeskov Gardens on a spring afternoon. Too bad it is a bit far from my hometown, or there would be a good reason to return in summer, tourists nonewithstanding. The roses, dahlias and fuchsias, among others, must look spectacular.
The information about the history of the castle and the various gardens was mostly obtained from the website of Egeskov Castle: Garden Guide.
And because I got so many photos of those, here's another pretty tulip variant.
Beautiful photos. ❤️ Thank you 😊 so much for sharing your journey. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada 🇨🇦
ReplyDeleteAhhh, noch mehr Schönes von Deiner Dänemarkreise. Das ist ja ein beeindruckendes Gartenparadies. Ich bin richtiggehend begeistert. Hoffentlich kommt dort nicht irgendwann auch der Buchsbaumzünsler an. In meinem Garten hat er gerade die einzige kleine Hecke niedergemacht. Das ist sicher nicht so sehr dramatisch. Aber es gibt hier im Wohngebiet Hecken, um die es wirklich schade ist, z.B. als Umrahmung einer riesigen Grünfläche. Da stehen jetzt nur noch graubraune Strünke.
ReplyDeleteLieben Gruß an dich von der Silberdistel
Ouch, das kling ja nicht schön mit dem Buchsbaum-Killer. Hoffentlich finden die dänischen Gärtner da Mittel und Wege, falls er dort auftaucht. Um die 8 Meter hohen Hecken wäre es wirklich schade. In Deinem Garten kannst du es mit Eibe versuchen, die lassen sich auch gut zu Hecken erziehen und sind immergrün.
ReplyDeleteIch habe mein Stückchen Buchs inzwischen weggenommen. Mal schauen, ob und womit ich die kleine Beetumrandung ersetze. Man kann nur hoffen, dass der Zünsler gar nicht erst bis Dänemark kommt. Um solche riesigen Hecken, die ja nicht von heute auf morgen gewachsen sind, wäre es wirklich schade.
Delete