2015 edition - Extraordinary gardens, collector's gardens

02. LES CHASSEURS DE PLANTES DE JARDIN

published at 15/09/2017

This garden is an ode to everyone who, since the dawn of time, has gone off exploring in the plant world: plant gatherers. They were the real collectors.

"Les chasseurs de plantes de jardin", Festival des Jardins 2015 - © E. Sander

And they weren't just botanists, but adventurers and explorers too. They survived shipwrecks and slavery, fought pirates, escaped bandits and resisted the hostility of natives. They spent months at sea to reach unknown lands, islands peopled with savage tribes and dangerous animals, rife with exotic diseases, and risked their life in the sole aim of finding one unknown plant, bringing it back to Europe and making it part of an extraordinary collection, like the one at Kew Garden. Some of these plant gatherers have become legend, such as Charles Darwin, the naturalist of the great explorer James Cook, who travelled alongside Sir Joseph Banks, one of these plant gatherers.

The Plant Gatherers' Garden recreates the fascinating, adventurous world that plant gatherers ventured through in search of unheard-of plants, and offers up:

- an extraordinary landscape: the plot's ground is in fact an uneven surface strewn with plants harking back to the different landscapes that these gatherers could have laid eyes on across the world. Most of the plants on display in the garden were introduced in the 17^thand 18^th centuries.

- greenhouses: right in the middle of this astonishing plant world, three greenhouses symbolise man's presence in the intact landscape. These exquisite objects are installed in the garden to tell the tale of these plant pioneers.

- exploration: as a visitor you are given the chance to step into the shoes of these real plant gatherers and experience what it was like for them to discover a new world.

DESIGNERS

Claire LAEREMANS, landscaper, Ellen STEENWEGEN and Katherine ENGELEN, landscape architects

BELGIUM

From left to right: Claire Laeremans, Ellen Steenwegen and Katherine Engelen

The three designers have know eachother by their joint study landscape architecture in Brussels. In 2010 they have won the prestigious contest of the Bouwfonds in Holland with the project ‘"First Line together".

Claire Laeremans earned her bachelor landscaping with highest distinction in Brussels (Vilvoorde) and then did the Master landscape architecture at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. With her graduation project, “The Necessity of Ruins” was nominated in 2014 for the Archiprix and she won the Honorable Mention (2nd place). Professionally Claire was 8 years working as a landscape architect / project manager at the renowned Dutch landscape architects H + N + S landscape architects in Holland. In 2013 she started with Jorryt Braaksma the office LAMA, LAndscape MAnifesto, landscape architects. A landscape architecture firm based in Antwerp that operates both nationally and internationally. She is a passionate designer with an eye for quality and attention to detail.

Ellen Steenwegen studied for her Bachlor Landscape architecture at the Erasmus Hoge School in Brussels (Vilvoorde) After that she did a Master Stedenbouw en Ruimtelijke Planning (Henri van de Velde, Antwerpen). She is a landscape architect and urban designer working in Belgium. At the moment she is working at BUUR ‘bureau for urbanism’.

Katherine Engelen studied for her Bachlor Landscape architecture at the Erasmus Hoge School in Brussels (Vilvoorde) and is finnishing here Masters Landscape Architecture at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. She is a landscape architect working in the Netherlands. At the moment she is working at DRO, Spatial Planning Service for the City of Amsterdam.

DESIGNERS

THE GARDEN'S PLANTS