The sight of lush greenery and colourful blossoms, the scent of healing herbs, the experience of an oasis in the middle of the city – that is the educational and herb garden in the Baierhansenwiesen in Dreieich-Sprendlingen.
Where a few years ago only rubbish and weeds were growing, thousands of visitors from near and far now experience an exemplary educational and herb garden.
When the plan matured in 2015 to restore the neglected Baierhansen meadows as a local recreation area, Dreieich citizens proposed the creation of a herb and vegetable garden. Thanks to the active support of numerous associations and companies from Dreieich, the initiative managed to clear the site of 150 cubic metres of rubbish within a short time. With the help of specialist companies from Dreieich, beds with eighty medicinal and wild herbs, a vegetable garden with a herb spiral for kitchen herbs, a beehive and a small orchard were created in just a few weeks on the approximately 1,000 square metre site.
Since its opening on 29 May 2016, the garden has become increasingly popular. In 2022 alone, over 12,000 visitors came to enjoy the green oasis. 1,700 interested people took part in guided tours and workshops to learn a lot about gardening, wild and medicinal herbs and nature in the surrounding landscape conservation area “Baierhansenwiesen”. In the meantime, the educational and herb garden has also become a popular destination for school classes, kindergartens, senior citizens’ groups and clubs.
This year, visitors can once again look forward to a rich programme on the theme of gardens, herbs and nature.
Biodiversity is not only severely endangered here in Dreieich, but also worldwide. Human activities are increasingly restricting the habitats of many plants, insects and wild animals. The Dreieich Teaching and Herb Garden is a project that aims to help preserve the biological diversity of our homeland. In addition, the topic of sustainable protection of our environment is to be brought to the attention of citizens of all age groups – from kindergarten to senior citizens’ homes. With this in mind, we see ourselves as a part of the national and international biodiversity activities that were launched in 2011 on the occasion of the proclamation of the Decade for Biological Diversity by the United Nations. These efforts were recognised by the award of the title “Distinguished Project of the UN Decade of Biological Diversity” by District Administrator Oliver Quilling on 15.9.2019.
Last year, the project was awarded the #beebetter-Award 2022 in the category School & Education by the BURDA Foundation for its efforts over the past years, especially for the cooperation with schools and kindergartens.
