City garden "Radiant" Also known as Jaap Douma's garden
The garden was laid out by Jaap Douma. What after his retirement in 1992, he was a teacher at the "Beatrixschool", started as an allotment garden, grew into a large flower garden of approximately 1,800 m2.
In addition to beautiful (fruit) trees and shrubs, “Radiant” houses a special collection of perennials including: Allium, Helleborus, Hemerocallis, Alstroemeria, Iris and many varieties of roses and peonies. In the spring the bulbs bloom profusely and the garden attracts many birds and butterflies. Equally special is the larger-than-life, naked, female statue, perched next to the swamp. She represents the "Earth Mother"; Jaap made it from wire mesh, wire, jute and concrete and worked on it for two years and eight months.
Do not expect raked beds and borders by color; the garden is for wandering the paths and discovering the beauty of the plants for yourself. Often overwhelming and sometimes very unobtrusive.
Preservation of this unique garden When Jaap became terminally ill in 2015 and was no longer able to maintain the garden, his great fear was that the garden would fall into disrepair. Jaap regarded the garden as his life's work and was busy in it from early in the morning until the evening.
A group of residents of Buren did not want the garden to be lost and offered Jaap, as volunteers, to "take over" the garden. The initiative for this comes from the BV Buren and is supported by the Municipality of Buren. Jack was very happy with that.
The garden will be restored to its former glory and plants that have been lost over time will be reinstated. An extensive description has been made of the plants present in the garden and in the autumn of 2017 a number of plants have been cultivated on a small scale.
Translated by Google •
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