This year the Lower Austrian environmental movement “Nature in the Garden” is celebrating its 25th anniversary. “Nature in the Garden started a quarter of a century ago with the vision of establishing Lower Austria as a role model for ecological gardening. The great response to our campaigns in the anniversary year and the numerous congratulations confirm once again that ‘Nature in the Garden’ is now much more than an initiative – it is a community that sustainably promotes environmental, climate and species protection and provides impetus for ecological gardening Europe-wide,” says state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
“Today we can proudly say: Lower Austria is the number 1 ecological gardening country in Europe,” says Mikl-Leitner, who would like to thank all supporters, partners, communities, hobby gardeners and gardening enthusiasts for their enthusiasm and commitment thanks. “Together we will continue to design our gardens and green spaces in harmony with nature and make a contribution to environmental, climate and species protection in Lower Austria and far beyond.”
The 25th anniversary was duly celebrated with numerous activities and together with the population: the big market tour “Nature in the Garden” led through all 20 districts of Lower Austria in the anniversary year. At weekly and farmers’ markets, gardening enthusiasts were able to talk to experts and organic gardener Karl Ploberger and find out more about gardening close to nature. The “Nature in the Garden” traveling exhibition also toured Lower Austria on the occasion of the anniversary year and gave an insight into the history and successes of “Nature in the Garden”. In the communities where the exhibition was hosted, it attracted numerous visitors and, thanks to interactive elements, was not only informative, but also an experience for the whole family.
Above all, the hedgehog, the heraldic animal of “Nature in the Garden”, played a special role in the anniversary year. Numerous campaigns and projects were dedicated to the protection and promotion of these useful animals – with information campaigns, a hedgehog Sunday, a school campaign and much more, “Nature in the Garden” drew attention to how important natural gardens are as a habitat for hedgehogs.
The idea of “Nature in the Garden” lives from the people who stand behind the movement – which is why the Lower Austrian environmental movement called for photos and videos with birthday greetings to be sent in its anniversary year. The numerous congratulations that then came from all over Lower Austria and beyond were a very special highlight in the anniversary year – can be seen at www.naturimgarten.at/25-jahre.
The movement was launched in 1999 with the basic idea of “gardening with nature”. 25 years later, the numbers speak for themselves: 86 percent of all Lower Austrian communities now work with “Nature in the Garden” – specifically, 495 of 573 communities are in the “Nature in the Garden” network. 90 percent of all Lower Austrians live in a community that works with “Nature in the Garden”.
More than 20,000 “Nature in the Garden” plaques in Lower Austria alone testify to climate and environmental protection on our own doorstep. There are also awards for ecologically maintained school and kindergarten gardens, company gardens, balconies and roof gardens, clinics and nursing homes as well as residential complexes.
The “Nature in the Garden” telephone as a central contact point for all kinds of gardening questions records around 40,000 contacts every year. Since it was founded in 1999, the garden telephone has received over 800,000 inquiries.
The free lectures, seminars and workshops, webinars, specialist conferences and more that “Nature in the Garden” has been offering for many years have been used by around 150,000 people in recent years. A network of over 170 partner companies from the areas of garden design, production and sales offers hobby gardeners everything their hearts desire. In almost 100 “Nature in the Garden” show gardens throughout Lower Austria, the core criteria of “Nature in the Garden” are also conscientiously implemented and insights into Lower Austrian garden paradises are provided.
“Nature in the Garden” also works with 24 partner organizations in seven countries – Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and South Tyrol – and is therefore a driving force for ecological gardening across Europe.
Impressions of all activities in the anniversary year: www.naturimgarten.at/fotogalerie
Further information is available from Natur im Garten, press spokeswoman Carina Pürer, MA, telephone 0676 848 790 737, email carina.puerer@naturimgarten.at