For the last programme of the season, the gardeners meet up in Alfred von Ah's greenhouse. A warm and welcoming ambience, perfect for looking back at some of the most memorable moments, sharing their passion and offering an opportunity to discover or rediscover some of Switzerland's most remarkable gardens.
Dieter Frank has become known as the \"merciful gardener\", preferring to leave his plants to grow and develop in total freedom, only intervening when he has no other choice. The result has given rise to a magnificent garden in the Swiss village of Courchavon.
Ten years ago, Sonja Bächler took over a collection built up by another dahlia-lover, planting it on her brother's farm in central Switzerland. Today the florist and gardener not only cares for some two hundred varieties but has developed a flower-based range of sweet and savoury culinary products.
On the shores of Lake Gruyère, in Switzerland, Irène and Thomas Benz-Sommer have spent twenty-five years creating their dream garden, maintained using only environmentally-friendly methods. A paradise that is home to one hundred and seventy roses and fifty box bushes carefully trimmed to shape by Thomas.
In the Bernese Oberland, the Schweibenalp alpine garden is the largest permaculture garden in Switzerland. At 1,100 metres above sea-level, the gardeners grow vegetables and herbs, produce their own seeds and teach the principles of permaculture.
In Diesse, a village in the Swiss Jura, lies a unique garden with a vast maze, glasshouse, several ponds and innumerable flowers and vegetables. The property, covering some 10,000m², is the result of the unremitting work of three enthusiasts whose guiding principle is always doing everything themselves!
The Arenenberg gardens are amongst Switzerland's most beautiful. Veritable horticultural gem, they owe their survival to a vast work of research and restoration. An agricultural college, educational gardens, an English-style garden created in the 19th century by Napoleon III and his mother Hortense de Beauharnais, all add to their richness.
In the Swiss region of Emmental, Susanne Schütz has been gardening organically for forty years. Twenty years ago, she discovered and put into practice a technique from Asia, using a very specific microbe to improve soil fertility and plant development.
In the Swiss canton of Appenzell, Annemarie and Hugo Weder have created a fabulous world, a garden on four terraces with an impressive collection of chrysanthemums. Each autumn, forty-seven different varieties fill the flower garden with colour until winter arrives. An incredible spectacle unique in Switzerland.
Nicole and Philippe took a meadow and turned it into an idyllic garden. Pond, kitchen garden, mini-zoo and even a pizza oven: all done by their own hands. They work for Pro Specie Rara, a foundation protecting the genetic diversity of heritage plant varieties and rare animal breeds.
Nine years ago, Karin inherited a house in Schaffhouse. When she moved in, the garden was something of a wilderness. And so she set to work, planting, designing, building and experimenting. The result: a pretty urban garden with a distinctly romantic feel.
