After the mould layer of organic debris under the older woods has formed and matured, all sorts of woody plants will appear spontaneously. These may be pioneers, such as alder, rowan, mespil and aronia, or species of mature woods, such as oak, ash, hawthorn, hornbeam, beech, field maple, holly, yew and ivy. Other non-indigenous species, […]
Category: The Dynamic Landscape
Youth to middle age
In this period, trees and shrubs reach maturity, and they attain their full height and width. Herbaceous vegetation has evolved into balanced compositions, combining with the tree and shrub canopy. Management will react to the changing situation, here and there species are inserted because the original ones have disappeared, or because a suitable environment for […]
The first years
The annual maintenance routine consists of intensive weeding, frequent hoeing at certain spots, pruning, seed collecting and sowing, planting and replanting species, mowing as a regulatory measure, thinning and cutting back. It varies from the intensive management of vegetation with managed naturalism to the extensive management of vegetation with a spontaneous self-regulating naturalism. In other […]
From young to old
Before having a look at the different vegetation and planting forms, it is necessary to ponder the meaning of time and continuity in heempark management. As soon as the soil has become available to the plants one wishes to use—i. e. immediately after groundworks have been completed and the plants have been sown or planted—the […]
Spontaneous and managed naturalism
When choosing the type of management, the manager will be led by the final results he envisages. He may thus discern between: – vegetation with a spontaneous, self-regulating naturalism – vegetation with a managed naturalism. For the former, it is only the initial environment (especially the soil type), which decides the composition of the species […]
Prerequisites
The realisation of a heempark, a naturalistic garden (‘heemtuin’) or any other vegetation of wild plants requires preparatory study The first requirement is the knowledge of the plant material to be used, and the ecological conditions and environments suitable to them. In order to obtain such knowledge, one must study vegetation typology. Insight in this […]
Interaction
In order to produce a ‘heempark’ with a rich diversity of plants that offers a high degree of social experiences, human intervention is an obvious prerequisite. It is essential, however, that this intervention should not be strictly programmed and not be limited to an administrative timetable, but rather that it should be made when most […]
Dynamic process
The vegetation of ‘heemparks’ are part of a dynamic process, with patterns changing continuously in space and time. However conscious the choice for a certain vegetation or plant species may have been, the initial design can only be the start of a process that gains its momentum in time. Plant groups, and even individual plants, […]
Static layout
After the construction phase of the first Amstelveen heemparks, a crucial difference was soon found to exist between plantings with horticultural cultivars as used in traditional parks, and the vegetation created in the new heemparks. Plantings of the former actually have a rather static character; appearance does not change very drastically. In essence, its management […]
Creative management
Hein Koningen Things are not all as easily understood and expressed in words as one is often led to believe. Most events cannot be expressed in words at all; they occur in a space that has never been entered by any word. Even more difficult to express in words than everything else are works of […]