A garden is a piece of cultivated land that we design according to our ideas, needs and ideals. We want it to be beautiful, to give us peace and inspiration. At the same time, we want to act responsibly: not using pesticides, reducing our carbon footprint, creating habitats for plants, insects and animals. But how can all this be combined?

Perhaps by listening to the garden itself. After all, the earth often contains countless seeds: plants and herbs that grow on their own – unplanned, unexpected, diverse. Those who allow this to happen discover a hidden wealth of shapes, colours and life. The result is a garden that not only springs from our ideal vision, but also holds biodiverse surprises in store.

The Invisible Garden (Hohenlockstedt) is an artistic project by visual artist Camilla Berner that focuses on the often undiscovered beauty of unplanned garden cultures. It invites us to see our own surroundings with new eyes – as places of diversity and transformation. The project was first realised in Denmark in 2001 by the Havekulturfonden (Foundation for Garden Culture) with gardens in and around Copenhagen. It is now being continued and further developed in and around Hohenlockstedt.

In collaboration with people from Hohenlockstedt, Bokelrehm, Wacken, Itzehoe, Wilstermarsch and other places, wildflower bouquets have been created, collected, arranged and photographed. Each bouquet tells of a moment, a place and the people who made it.

A selection of the photographs will be exhibited in the Arthur Boskamp Foundation's project space M.1. The exhibition will grow as the project progresses. In addition, a regional seed bag with documented wild plants will be created – as an invitation to sow diversity yourself. The bag will be presented in a specially designed box, together with suggestions for biodiversity-friendly gardening practices – and with space for your own little seed bank.

The bouquets are snapshots of diversity. They are a poetic expression against homogeneity and monocultures.

I would like to thank everyone who took part in this experiment: Wiebke Habbe, Thekla Solleske, Marie-Louise Schümann, Birgit Warmuth, Isolde Nagel, Ines Pretzlaff, Gretel Rüping, Christine Sarau, Julia Günther-Borstel, Astrid Senne-Sachau, Dorothea Buck.

Further submissions are very welcome.

Take a photo of your bouquets, preferably a new one every month (and preferably against a white background), and send us the pictures!

How to participate:

Please send your photo to: rk@arthurboskamp-stiftung.de

Please include the following information:

• Your name (optional)
• Date the photo was taken
• Location (city name is sufficient)
• Plant names, if known