Our goal is to be among the best. We compete with unique projects, but we also want to be among the best as a training company within the gardening and landscaping industry. For a joint “training week” in the mountains, we were able to visit the Tauplitzalm (Austria) with the entire team.

Accompanied by Tobias Angerer as our cross-country skiing coach for the first few days, we had an enthusiastic start. This was followed by an exciting day with Felix Gottwald. Personal impulses and motivation – Felix inspires! We were able to reflect, set goals and see how we can help each other in process. Finally, there was a lively exchange with our management consultant Ansgar Lienert. A look at the gardening and landscaping industry, our company, personality profiles and inspiring one-to-one discussions rounded off the week at Hierzeggers.

The Tauplitzalm is not just a wonderful place for cross-country skiing. The Alps inspire our work and the seclusion in the mountains gives us peace and quiet and the framework to set new goals for the year ahead.

We are looking forward to 2025 and are grateful for a blessed and unique coaching week on the Tauplitzalm.

Creating embankments is a popular approach to tackling a slope. But these are expensive and should never be steeper than 33 degrees to prevent slippage. One of the biggest risks is that heavy rainfall could cause erosion and severe washouts.

It makes much more sense to use dry stone walls to stabilise slopes and make the space useable. By cleverly constructing terraces, the space becomes bigger, and the maintenance easier. These walls also make ideal seats and tables. Other advantages include their flexibility, which makes them less vulnerable to frost, and how they create a habitat for animals and plants. Dry stone walls can be integrated into the surrounding landscape by adding plants that thrive in rocky conditions, high-quality grasses, perennials and particularly striking trees and shrubs.

You can find a selection of our hillside garden projects here

Over the years, Peter Berg has developed a particular specialism for properties on a slope. By placing stones, building dry stone walls and through clever terracing; the slope can be harnessed, the useable area increased, and the level of maintenance reduced.

You can find more videos in the blog

We are delighted to be part of the new issue of “Gardens Illustrated”. The stunning photos by Marianne Majerus and the report by Tony Spencer show our project in its full splendor.

“Gardens Illustrated” is undoubtedly one of the most respected magazines for garden lovers and experts worldwide. Each issue of “Gardens Illustrated” features the world’s most beautiful gardens and insights from top designers and plant experts. The magazine publishes 13 issues a year.

Our apprentices have done great this year, securing second and third place in the best graduations in NRW.

What makes this achievement even more remarkable is the fact that our trainees supported each other in their learning. They formed a great team and motivated each other to do their best.

We are proud to have such dedicated and talented apprentices in our company. They are a role model for others and show that hard work and team spirit can lead to great success.

Congratulations to our apprentices on their outstanding achievements!

We are excited about their future successes and will continue to support them so they can reach their full potential.

Garden Design Day takes place in Oslo and is an annual event for anyone interested in garden design.

This year, Peter Berg has been invited as a speaker. He specialises in transforming seemingly impossible plots and slopes into exciting spaces by using stone and an exciting choice of plants. He introduced and inspired the participants to the art of stone setting and garden planning in his talk.

The enthusiasm of the participants was very high and they would like to visit some of the presented gardens in September.

 

Inspiring garden design by Peter Berg can also be found here:

To the projects

Gartendesigner unter sich! Peter Berg im Interview mit Carolyn Mullet!

Last summer – with pouring rain – we had a visit from the enchanting garden designer Carolyn Mullet and her “Carex Tours” travel group. Carex Tours organizes tours to gardens all over the world. Their stopover with us in the Ahr valley was a real experience and we met wonderful people. Garden connects! And of course we took the opportunity for a little interview, which you can now listen to on YouTube or here on this page.

By the way: On November 10th, Carolyn’s new book “Adventures in Eden” will be released – we are very happy that our slope garden will also be presented in it. Feel free to have a look at her Instagram channel, you’ll find all the details there. https://www.instagram.com/ccamullet/

We are now also on YouTube. Subscribe to our channel and look forward to videos about slope gardening, garden design & Co.

Subscribe to our channel

Together with the expert for plant concepts, Petra Pelz, this wonderful exceptional project in Lower Saxony was created. “Pure and sustainable garden.”

The garden is located in the Lower Saxony region of Hanover and is fascinating to us because the property has been 100% planted – including all roofs.

We developed the concept for the corresponding stone structure, height staggering and the terrain modelling. The woody plants were selected together with our client for the respective situation. Petra Pelz used this template to enliven the area in her very special style. The planting was done by our team according to her specifications. A harmonious, natural overall concept of architecture and garden.

Take a look at the beautiful garden now! To the project

The best planting time

It is still cold in our climes. Outside we wrap ourselves in warm jackets, scarves and caps. But to plant large woody plants, the conditions are just right. At the beginning of the year, trees and other woody species are still in their dormant phase. Without foliage they do not perform photosynthesis and have reduced their metabolism to a minimum. If it does not freeze, the best time to move is when the plant is not under too much stress. “The fact that it is well trained, i.e. that it is transplanted at regular intervals, plays another important role in this,” explains garden designer Peter Berg. “To ensure that the roots quickly find a foothold and food again, we loosen and prepare the soil accordingly, then nothing stands in the way of good development”.

 

Ecologically sensible garden design

Nowadays it is more important than ever to plan the design of a garden well. In times of a constantly warming climate, large deciduous trees take on a special significance. They offer us much from which we and other living beings can benefit. In summer, they form a light shade that provides protection for humans, animals and smaller plants from the increasingly intense sunlight. They improve our microclimate by cooling the environment and evaporating water, but also by binding it in the soil. The leaves of large plants filter fine dust from the air. They absorb CO2 and give us oxygen to breathe. “Large trees are indispensable for ecologically sound garden design,” explains Peter Berg. “They only become really beautiful when they get older and are particularly sustainable thanks to their long life span.”

 

Who’s the boss of the garden?

In a garden, there are often woody plants of different species and sizes. In the Japanese approach to garden design, there is a “boss” here. It is the dominant tree of the plantation due to its habitus, its overall appearance and its location. “For me, the strongly structuring effect of trees is always decisive in plant design,” says the garden designer. “As well as their often impressive autumnal colouring, which turns them into scene-defining elements in the garden with great aesthetic appeal. Furthermore, it makes a big difference in the dimensions, whether you only work with perennial or hedge height or also go to house height. The use of large trees creates another dimension. Thus a greater harmony of the overall design is achieved and at the same time the building is integrated in an ideal way.

A possibility to buy time

Whereas in the past, when a child was born, a tree was planted and allowed to develop slowly, today the aim is to have a garden that is as finished as possible. In England, the term “instant gardening” was developed for this purpose. In our fast-moving times, we do not want to wait decades until the trees in our garden have reached their ideal size.

We need a privacy screen or shade as soon as possible. The use of large woody plants already at the time of planting is therefore a wonderful way to buy time. Fortunately, in good tree nurseries you can find dreamlike specimens in all sizes for every taste. “Of course the price increases with the age and size of the tree” Peter Berg throws in, “but where else is this great opportunity to save many years of time”.

 

You can find a nice article on planting trees and shrubs here in the ARD media library. To the video

Let us inspire you and take a look at our gardens. Projects