The FLORA - the Botanical Garden Cologne Garden Monument Preservation

The FLORA was created by wealthy Cologne citizens in 1862-64 according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné as a "Botanical Ornamental and Pleasure Garden". Lenné's intention was to "bring to life the history of garden art in its various styles". The historicist ensemble with stylistic quotations from the French Baroque, the Italian Renaissance and the English landscape garden is one of the most important gardens of this style in Germany. In 1914, the Botanical Garden of the City of Cologne was established next door, which was united with FLORA in 1920. Today, 10,000 plant species are cultivated in the two parts of the garden.

As part of the monument conservation target planning, Lenné's part was restored in the 1980s and today once again radiates the opulent splendour of the 19th century. In the following 20 years, the restoration of Joseph Maria Olbrich's Red Garden at the Frauen-Rosenhof, the restoration of the pond, the creation of a scented garden and the permanent care of FLORA in terms of garden monument preservation followed.

"The whole seems to me to be a garden in the modern style, for the aim of a reasonable artistic striving can only be to use the peculiar beauties of the various styles and, given sufficient space, to blend them into a beautiful whole."

So wrote the garden art critic Hermann Jäger in 1864 about the design which was created by "Herr General-Gartendirector Lenné in a well-known ingenious manner." With its representation of the different garden styles, the garden is a prime example of the garden art of historicism. The following will focus on the use of plants.

The public limited company
When the old botanical garden at the cathedral falls victim to the construction of the main railway station in 1857, wealthy Cologne citizens found the "Actien-Gesellschaft zur Anlage eines botanischen Zier- und Lustgartens" in 1862. The focal point of the garden is the Glass Palace, which for decades will become the centre of social events for Cologne's haute bourgeoisie.
Peter Joseph Lenné puts the experience he has gained in garden design "during many years of activity in a privileged position at his disposal" and submits his design in 1862. (see Fig. 1)

The Glass Palace
As a pivotal point, the Glass Palace is located in the center of the garden. The structure is a colossal, ultra-modern building by the standards of the time , modelled on the Crystal Palace in London designed by Joseph Paxton. With its historicizing, castle-like façade, the glass palace forms the center of an axial cross, with which Lenné brings about a taut division of the terrain and, as an artifice, a hierarchy of the garden spaces.

The French Parterre
With a fountain as its focal point, the French Parterre extends as the most magnificent part of the garden between the main entrance and the Glass Palace. An avenue running towards the narrow sides of the conservatory is planted alternately with red-flowered chestnuts (Aesculus x carnea) and elms (Ulmus glabra and Ulmus americana). The ground floor is modelled on the baroque style of Louis XIV, but reinterpreted in the spirit of historicism. In contrast to the baroque style with its filigree boxwood ornaments lying on a coloured mineral background, Lenné envisages "bright flowers" embedded in lawn. (see photo 2)

The lines of the individual ornaments are emphasized with colorful and silver-leaved border plants, such as Greiskraut (Senecio bicolor), several species of strawflowers (Helichrysum), parrot leaf (Alternanthera) and the like. The central axis of the lawn begins and ends with a conical raised "cake bed" typical of the 19th century. Its star and flower ornaments are imaginative creations of historicism. They are planted with so-called ice plants (succulents) and with variously coloured foliage and flowering plants in numerous low-growing species and varieties. Echeveria (Echeveria), Saxifraga (Saxifraga), Sedum (Sedum), Alternanthera (Alternanthera), Iresine (Iresine i. A.), Thyme (Thymus i. A.), Cuphea ignea (Cuphea ignea), Calocephalus brownii (Barbed Wire), Gazania (Gazania), Lobelia (Lobelia), etc. are used. Crowning the cake beds are sprawling exotics such as palms, agaves or bananas. (see photo 3)

Framing and connecting element between cake and carpet beds is a ribbon-shaped border, which is called platebande in reference to baroque terminology. Floral cast-iron vases and tall-stemmed lantanas, fuchsias, ivy pelargoniums or roses with festoons (flower garlands) consisting of variegated ivy (Hedera helix i. S.), Black-eyed Susanne (Thunbergia alata), hairweed (Melothria scabra) or small-flowered species of nasturtium (Tropaeolum peregrinum, Tropaeolum tricolor) are formed, border the parterre.

The Cascade
Another historicist element is an area reminiscent of Tuscan villa gardens of the Renaissance in the southern transverse axis (see photo 4).
The starting point of the elongated rising axis is marked by a figurative terrace fountain. From the terrace forecourt the cascade rises in five steps. Surprisingly, pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) is attested as a punctual planting. The water falls quietly in thin veils down the steps. The adjoining paths at the sides allow one to either enjoy the play of light and water in full sun or to stroll through hornbeam arbours in restful shade. Point-de-vue at the end point of the cascade is the white Temple of Flora, home to the goddess Flora who gives her name to the whole garden.

The English Lots
The axial cross with formal garden styles is nestled in English Landscape Garden style lots with wide lawns, picturesque groves of trees and elegantly curved paths as 'silent guides'. In the western part lies the Flora Pond, described in Lenné's design as a 'goldfish pond for water plants' (see photo 5).

In keeping with the mission to also serve botany, the 'park is arranged in English landscape style ... quite a number of beautiful, rare woody plants and ... conifers', with particular emphasis on woody plants with interesting leaf colouring and shape, with beautiful fruiting, and richly flowering trees and shrubs. Plane trees, copper beeches, hornbeams, oaks, lime trees and elms form the framework of the stand. The horse chestnut (Aesculus) is recorded in the several species. The part of the park near the pond is dominated by trees and shrubs that have their natural habitat near the water: Maples, Ash trees, and of course Weeping Willows. This basic stock is supplemented by exotics, such as antler trees (Gymnocladus dioicus), Caucasian wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia), yellowwood (Cladrastis lutea), trumpet tree (Catalpa bignonioides and others), bluebell tree (Paulownia tomentosa), the symbolic Ginkgo biloba and one of the first sequoias brought to Europe (Sequoiadendron giganteum). A rich selection of conifers is used mainly in the border areas to accentuate flowering shrubs such as the rich magnolia assortment, lilacs, ornamental cherries and apples, etc. against a dark background. The same design intention also underlies the back-planting of the Flora Temple with firs and spruces, or the birch grove, whose "light trunks stand out against the dark background".

The Botanical Garden
Decades of economic prosperity are followed from about 1890 by the decline of the joint stock company. After its insolvency, the city of Cologne takes over the Flora with its greenhouses in 1921. It is united with the municipal botanical garden opened in 1914 on its north side to the scientifically oriented botanical garden of the new Cologne University.

The Flora today
During World War 2, the garden, glass palace and greenhouses are destroyed. The latter are rebuilt in the early 1950-ies in a contemporary form. In the 1970s, after many years of neglect, the Flora is in danger of losing its beauty and historical authenticity altogether and being sold off in parcels as building land. However, there was a timely rethink: on the occasion of the 125th anniversary in 1988, the garden's monumental planning was implemented with the restoration of the French Parterre, the terrace wall, the cascade and the entire network of paths. It succeeds in making the handwriting of Peter Joseph Lenné and the splendor and beauty of the garden again readable.

August 14, 2014 marks the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the Cologne Flora. The crowning glory of the anniversary is that the former glass palace, which was destroyed during the war, will have its barrel roof returned and will be reopened as a festival house (see photo 6).The restoration of the original scale between the building and the garden is also a great gain for the visual perception of the park. Finally, in June 2015, the Cologne City Council approves the new construction of the show greenhouses to replace the demolished post-war buildings. By 2019, a modern group of show greenhouses will be built to the latest technical standards. Today, almost 12,000 plant species from all vegetation zones are cultivated in the open field and in the show greenhouses. The opulent flora is, then as now, a "palace park substitute" which, with around 1.2 million visitors per year, is far ahead of other green spaces in Cologne in terms of appreciation and popularity.