The Garden in front of the Southern Pavilion

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The Biedermeier flower garden

By the mid 19th century, the western half of the park had been turned into an English-style landscape garden, while the eastern half heading towards the "Eggenberger Allee" (Eggenberg avenue) retained its formal Baroque character. After 1848, major changes were, however, also made to this section and it was integrated into the landscape garden. Head gardener Friedrich Wägener was asked to proceed economically and therefore had to retain a section of the Baroque pathways. It was also during this phase that the Biedermeier-style flower garden in front of the southern pavilion was created and the original shooting range in the formal garden, in front of which target practice had been carried out for entertainment, was converted into a summer apartment and rented out to "distinguished tenants".

This is definitely the best documented section of the garden at Eggenberg as shown in two contemporary views, which were instrumental in the recreation of the original pathways and their incorporation into the surrounding park. All the trees and shrubs from the historic garden were recovered and damaging overgrowth removed. Circular flower beds with seasonally changing blooms can now once again be found in front of the Pavilion, and the ceramic flower bed borders with their beautiful antique palmette shapes, which date back to the Biedermeier period and seem to repeatedly emerge during excavations, have simply been copied to create harmonious borders for the plants. The elaborately designed flower garden in front of the house seemingly merges into the landscape garden by means of shrubs and trees enriched with a myriad of perennials. The selection of plants is taken from the only remaining catalogues of the Herberstein Nurseries (1836/40), therefore only plants and flowers from the first half of the 19th century have been used to capture and create a rather unique and perhaps unfamiliar vista of subtle natural beauty in the gardens.

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