As part of the International garden festival in Amiens, SYLVA & COSMOS Landschap were asked to design a garden looking at the future of the specific landscape of the Hortillonages: the peat landscape faced with the challenges of the intensification of human activity and climate change.
The proposed garden is a walk through time where one can discover the different stages of peat evolution. Peat landscapes are precious ecosystems, have great historical value and absorb large amounts of carbon.
The garden visualizes its ecological succession: starting with ponds and aquatic plants, passing by the formation of trembling islands, followed by a meadow of colorful annual plants and finally forming a cushion of peat forest. The final stage shows the renewal of the landscape with the death of a tree and pioneer plants.
It's a landscape with no ending or clear beginning; the garden is in constant evolution and each biotope has its own specific flora and fauna.
Visitors are invited to follow a narrow pathway, moving slowly through a landscape that is both thousands years old and extremely fragile. This landscape is not lost, but has the ability to regrow again, as long as we give it time.
Project Data
'1000 years : a peat garden' is part of the International Garden Festival – Hortillonnages Amiens
Location
Amiens, France
Assignment
Garden design
Design & Construction
2024-2025
In collaboration with
Charlotte van der Woude - Cosmos LandschapCopyright
SYLVA Landscape & Cosmos Landschap
