OÖN garden choice: The small garden "at the end of the world"

2023-08-11 10:07:00

Delightful – that’s the word that comes to mind when you step into “Anni’s little country house garden”, as she calls it. It is 800 meters above sea level, surrounded by green hills and just before the end of the valley, “a bit like at the end of the world,” says Annemarie Fösl (48), known as Anni, who shares this idyll in the beautiful landscape of the Kalkalpen National Park puts a lot of heart into it and cares for it.

Lovingly decorated corners can be found everywhere, here a Bundt cake tin, there a self-painted pot lid. “Finds from the flea market,” as the nurse who works in the old people’s home in Windischgarsten explains. Behind the house, just a few meters from the stream, there is a rock garden, in the middle of a large pile of wood a small niche with seating was created and in front of the house an old workbench with all kinds of plants decorates the entrance. No wonder hikers and cyclists keep stopping and looking around admiringly. “Yes, that often happens,” says Annemarie Fösl.

Green thumb from mom

With all the ideas, the mother of two adult sons is supported by her husband Markus, a master carpenter. “He’s also responsible for mowing the lawn.” She got her green fingers and the garden itself from her mother Maria. The 83-year-old lives next door and still “likes to tug around in the beds,” as Annemarie Fösl explains.

She herself prefers the cottage garden with the rustic wooden fence around it. “He is the heart, everything can grow here,” says the hobby gardener, who likes it “mixed colors”: vegetables next to herbs and flowers next to shrubs. “It works – and it looks beautiful.” And so strawberries are thriving next to the pumpkin, the phlox is blooming next to the tomatoes and the elder bush has sprouted all by itself. “I’m particularly happy about that, because it actually belongs in every area.”

And the 42-year-old is also grateful for the fruit: “I use it to make elderberry liqueur, which is supposed to be very healthy. In any case, it’s super good!”

More pictures

Picture gallery: country house garden in Rosenau am Hengstpass

Annemarie Fösl (Photo: OÖN) Bild 1/33

view gallery

Elderberry Liqueur Recipe

Ingredients: 1 liter of elderberries, 1 liter of water, 1 packet of vanilla sugar, 500 g of sugar, 1/2 organic lemon (juice and zest), around 1/8 liter of grain (80 percent) and around 1/8 liter of white rum

Preparation: Boil the elderberries and water well, then strain. Add sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice, as well as vanilla to the resulting juice and then cook for another ten minutes. After cooling, mix with the alcohol – according to taste.

Apply now when choosing a garden

taking photos your favorite plants and spots in your garden and upload the most beautiful pictures to www.nachrichten.at. As every year, OÖN readers can vote for their favorite garden – every day anew.
Evaluate: The readers’ vote and a jury decision around OÖN organic gardener Karl Ploberger determine the winner.
The winners will be announced at a closing event on October 17, 2023 at Promenaden Galerien in Linz. The prizes are vouchers from Biohort and Seca. Karl Ploberger, the “organic gardener of the nation”, also visits the winning garden.