Pepa's Karst Garden
Pepa's Karst Garden and Pepa's Story are two gardens representing elements of the Classical Karst as a unique example of a man-made environment.
The Karst-style gardens are unique displays that include specific vegetation and Karst architecture. They are placed at the Bunčetovi homestead in the village of Dutovlje in Slovenia.
Description[edit]
Pepa's Karst Garden and Pepa's Story are names of two gardens which were first presented at horticultural exhibitions in London. Both gardens were designed and realised by Mr Borut Benedejčič, horticulturist, garden designer and garden creator. [1] Identical presentations of the gardens were recreated and are on display at Bunčetovi homestead in the village od Dutovlje (location: 45°45′22″N 13°49′55″E / 45.756042°N 13.831956°E
).
Pepa's Karst Garden depicts the life of Karst people in the past with a specific architectural structure using traditional materials[2]. It represents typical elements of Karst houses, and includes typical Karst plants having beneficial effects that people grew in their gardens[3]. It showcases the importance of stone in the Karst region and how people adapted to a quite harsh environment. Pepa's Karst Garden was awarded at the horticultural exhibition Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2009 a Gold Medal in the category of Best Small Gardens.[4]
Pepa's Story describes the life of Karst shepherds, and shows shepherds’ huts and the plant diversity of the Karst landscape.[5] The shepherd's hut is a dry stone constuction made by Mr Boris Čok and Mr Vojko Ražem. The art of dry stone walling was inscribed on 28 November 2018 on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity[6]. Pepa's Story was awarded at the horticultural exhibition RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2012 the Silver-gilt Award in the category of Artisan Gardens.[7]
What is Pepa?[edit]
Pepa is the typical name of a traditional Karst woman, and it is the name given to the gardens.[8]
The garden Pepa's story represents the Karst common, and tells the story of her childhood and of the life on Karst.
Pepa remembers:[9]
"Morning is fresh and misty but the children are awake before the first ray of sunlight... Mother puts a piece of bread and a few pieces of dry fruit into the basket, we drink a small cup of milk and off we go to take the cattle out. Barefoot we run on stony paths, our toes searching for the softness of the first spring grass. The cattle are intellignet and find themselves the right pasture. Here in the dry meadows is our little world! We create hidden places, we compete and play. Shepherds' games are simple and short. Older kids set the rules and the younger ones follow. We play with rocks, skimming flat stones, the girls making garlands of flowers, singing songs as loud as we can and telling stories... Boys are clever and creative; they make whistles and horns out of young branches and stems, competing to see who can carve the nicest stick whilst in the bushes there are young birds in a nest full of hungry beaks. We are already ravenous as well, the girls sharing the food among the children. Everything is vivid, happy and joyful... nature is kind and friendly, providing us with shelter and room for creativity; we can express our fantasy out here! In the village tower we can hear a bell tolling, a sing for us that it's time to go home. After lunch we have to go to school. We can see the teacher already, waiting for us in the school garden. We can hardly wait to tell her all our news of the morning's events!"
Karst vegetation[edit]
Typical Karst plants included in the gardens are common houseleek, garden sage, anise, lemon verbena, Butcher's broom, winter savory, Saint John's wort, narrowleaf plantain, rustyback, lemon balm, rasp-leaf pelargonium, Iris illyrica, rosemary and chamomile. Some typical Karst bushes are bay tree, smoke bush, hawthorn, juniper, and there is also a grapevine, which was always planted on a Karst homestead, also to provide shadow.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ ""Zmaga je že biti v Londonu"". Primorske novice. 22 May 2012.
- ↑ Bajec Fakin, Jasna (2007). "Architectural Heritage: an Important Element of Identity in the Karst Region of Slovenia". Lithuanian Ethnology: Studies in Social Anthropology & Ethnology. 7: 157–171.
- ↑ Lumpert, Mateja; Kreft, Samo (13 February 2017). "Folk use of medicinal plants in Karst and Gorjanci, Slovenia". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. doi:10.1186/s13002-017-0144-0.
- ↑ Adams, Stephen (7 July 2009). "Allotment wins Best Show Garden at Hampton Court".
- ↑ "Pepin kraški vrt in Pepina zgodba" [Pepa's Karst garden and Pepa's story] (Press release) (in Slovenian). Zavod ŠTIP. 2018.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ "Art of dry stone walling, knowledge and techniques". Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage.
- ↑ "SUCCESS OF SLOVENIAN DESIGNERS AT THE CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW 2012".
- ↑ Brennan, Gilly (6 July 2009). "BBC RHS Summer Flower Shows Blog".
- ↑ "Pepina zgodba" [Pepa's story] (Press release) (in Slovenian). Hortikultura Sežana d.o.o. April 2012.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
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