On an island where the treasure is garden variety

CONSTANCE, Germany: Before visitors arrive on the island of Mainau, Reinhold Gaudermann and his team of gardeners have been busy at work tending to this small paradise.

In spring, millions of flowers bloom, while small orange trees are placed in front of the Baroque castle belonging to the Bernadotte family.

Visitors to this 45-hectare large island can often be found sitting underneath a palm tree or sequoia.

"There always has to be something here in flower," says Gaudermann. After all, the one million people who visit the botanic gardens on Mainau every year come here to see what is known as the Flower Island.

Mainau's appearance is constantly changing; every year hundreds of new flower beds are planted in different patterns.

Gaudermann says he often spends time working in rose gardens with up to 500 species of plants. Many of them bear the names of famous personalities, and one rose has been named Countess Bettina after Bettina Bernadotte.

As manager of the island, the 33-year-old Countess, finds it difficult to make the business flourish.

Despite innovations such as the addition of a tropical butterfly house and a glass house for palm trees and orchids that bloom in the spring, the number of visitors to Mainau has halved since the beginning of the 1990s.

But the Bernadotte family has managed to resist the trend towards introducing entertainments such as roller coasters.

A quarter of the island was declared an historic monument in 2003. The gardens in their present form were founded by Count Lennart Bernadotte, who died in 2004, and are still run according to his philosophy of gardening for the benefit of humankind.

He took over Mainau in 1932. Before that, the island spent 500 years in the possession of the Order of the Teutonic Knights until 1853, when it fell into the hands of the Grand Duke of Baden who used it as his summer residence.

Count Lennart opened Mainau to the public, turning it into one of the best-known tourist attractions on Lake Constance. Since then, the name Bernadotte has been irrevocably linked to Mainau.

Gaudermann is well aware that the main reason people come here is for practical gardening tips.

"Many visitors want to speak to one of the gardeners," he says. So, it's no wonder that Gaudermann spends mornings working and afternoons advising visitors how best to tend their own gardens.

DPA

(China Daily 08/30/2007 page19)