Wilding The Garden: summer update

Sophie Vrijdag monitors the piece of wilderness on campus. She shares her findings on developments over the past three months.

Read more about the project 'Wilding the Garden'

Wilding the Garden: Summer update

Weather conditions have a profound effect on nature. The sun shines and people lighten up, too. The rain is coming down in buckets and people feel down as well. The same is true of our wilding garden. Summer rolled around, the sun came out and made our garden grow.

Progress in the garden

The leaves unfolded and draped the tree in fine, deep green foliage. The short grass and the plants that in winter had kept close to the ground started to shoot out. But summer also had a downside. The grass that had been lush and green started to yellow. The blazing sun took its toll and the plants slowly withered. Still, despite climate change, nature retained some sort of balance. When the rain came pouring down, the garden became lush and green again in no time.

It is October now and the garden has proved what beauty can emerge if we let nature well alone. The peaceful view of plants swaying in the wind and glowing in the sunlight evokes a feeling of inner peace on the campus. However busy your day may be, one look at the garden and for a moment there is calmness. Mother Nature can teach us so much and she has proved it again in the garden this summer.