Skip to main content

The Witch’s Garden

The medieval castle and herb garden has been part of the Britzer Garden since BUGA 1985, a German Federal Garden Show. The garden, with its dry stone walls up to two metres high and the bedding of Styrian Noricum gneiss, is architecturally reminiscent of a castle ruin.

On two typical medieval lawn benches you can make yourself quite comfortable and admire the medieval ornamental plants such as columbine, Madonna lily, roses, wild strawberries and troll flowers.

In our guided tours and lectures, but also on the information boards, you will learn interesting facts about the medieval use of plants, which was the basis for the conception of the garden. In the Witch’s Garden, which is supervised by Freilandlabor Britz e.V., both noisy poisonous and witch plants grow, as well as Theriac, which is considered a panacea, and herbs which have been attributed the power to ward off witches and demons.

Plants recommended for cultivation by Emperor Charles the Great thrive in the »Capitulare de villis« bed. There is also a selection of medicinal herbs mentioned in the writings of Saint Hildegard of Bingen.

The garden was created in close cooperation with the German Castle Association, the Deutsche Burgenvereinigung e.V. (DBV).