Window box 4: brash and bright begonia

After a few decades of being out of the picture for most gardeners, with the exception of the most traditional, the tuberous begonia has made something of a comeback in recent years. I never liked them I have to honest, but they do well in shade and can brighten up the dullest window ledge. Recently some new small-flowered types have been developed that are more subtle and less like the bright pompons of the older types.

Most begonia's grown as pot plants belong to Begonia x tuberhybrida (Tuberous begonia). On the left one of the new types with large anemone-like flowers in candy pink on short upright stems. In a silvery pot it's almost hip! The best-known type is the overhanging or cascading begonia (middle), that always comes in bright colours like yellow, red, orange and pink. The flowers are mostly double and hang down. The begonia x semperflorens-cultorum -or Wax begonia- lacks the tuber and is grown as a bedding plant, although it is also used in window boxes. These types always have white, pink or red flowers.

Siedlung Brandenbusch, an ornate model village

The Siedlung Brandenbusch wasn't created to prevent social unrest or to provide better living conditions for the Krupp Company workers. It was built on the edge of the park of Villa Hügel, the Krupp family residence, as an ornate model village that housed essential villa staff, like chauffeurs, overseer, master carpenter, electrician, gardener, tailor, kitchen staff and cleaners.

The church is located on the street Am Brandenbusch on what used to be the edge of the first building phase of this model village. This evangelical aisleless church was built in 1906 after designs drawn by August Senz. Later a large community hall was added on to the side.

This open green space on the corner of Am Brandenbusch and the Eckbertstrasse is all that remains of the simple white buildings that once stood here as part of the first building phase. The parts of the model village that were destroyed during WW2 were never rebuilt.

On the edge of the second building phase -started in 1902- a small triangular village green open up along Am Brandenbusch. This informal space laid to grass sets off the buildings in an eclectic romantic style (Landhausarchitektur) beyond.

The buildings of the second building phase were larger and more modern than those of the first building phase. The buildings are typivally1,5 to 2 storeys high with a pitched roof. Large dormers and lunette vaulted roofs are used to create living space on the first floor. The facades are either rendered or brick-clad. Especially the gable end receives special treatment with horizontal wood cladding or ornamental wood beams reminiscent of half-timbering. Wooden window shutters add to the village feel of the place. Also note the decorative masonry work known as a dental course (shown right).

This large block stand opposite the small green. It contains several dwellings in a C-shaped volume with the central section rendered white and the ends in an eclectic mix of wood cladding, brick and decorative half-timbered beams. The architect Senz has used symmetry more often in his designs for this romantic model village, especially in semidetached properties.

In contrast the building around the green show great variety in asymmetrical treatment of the volume and the facade. The rendered houses often have contrasting bands of brickwork, often as a decorative band. In other buildings wood cladding is used to break up the facade and provide an appealing visual  contrast.

The houses are situated along the street in a repetition of stylistic types. Most houses are semidetached, like these on the Klausstrasse. Thought has been given to alternate the decorative types to prevent sameness and give some feel irregularity and spontaneity. The effect is similar to the Victorian model homes estates of the Artizans, Labourers and General Dwellings Company built in Greater London. 

The buildings were designed for their aesthetic effect with a limited number of design elements. Most houses have a simple pitched roof, some with a hip end (shown right) to create a more picturesque outline The model village has great unity through the use of few materials that are used repeatedly, sometimes in different ways. The green shutters being a good example.

A more picturesque silhouette is also achieved by using lower annexes and perpendicular roofs. Here the main body of these semidetached houses has been designed as most other houses with rustic eaves and bands of brick masonry dividing the rendered facades to great effect. In contrast the annex has a hipped roof and half-timbered walls on a brick plinth. 

In this block of semidetached houses the entrances are incorporated into a protruding section under a hipped lower roof that seamlessly extend into the pitched roof with hip ends. Two low sloping roof dormers emphasise the entrance. The facade is a variation on the type with a half-timbered protruding section, a ladder fries below the roof and brick courses above the windows.

These semidetached houses are one of two such blocks that have survived WW2 bombing. They are simple volumes rendered white under a pitched roof covered with orange clay tiles. These 19th century buildings are much less decorative than the ones from the second building phase.

Siedlung Brandenbusch, housing for the Villa Hügel staff

On the northern edge of the part of the Stadtwald known as Kruppwald a small settlement was built from 1885 onwards. This is the largest of the nineteenth century workers colonies built by the Krupp Company still in existence. This romantic collection of cottages was commissioned by Friedrich A. Krupp to house the most important members of staff working in the nearby family residence.

The design of this so-called Cottage-Siedlung was drawn by Samuel Max, an architect working for the Bauverwaltung Hügel (construction management). The name Cottage shows an English influence from the Arts and Crafts movement. The designs show semidetached houses set in large gardens on curved streets that follow the slope. Many have sections in Fachwerk (timber-framed) much like the gate houses of the Villa Hügel and the garden pavilions in Hügel Park.

The size of the dwelling and the rooms within reflected staff hierarchy. Most houses comprise of one to two floors with a low roof and often an underground cellar. The appearance from the outside was strictly regulated and no lean-tos, garden sheds or stables were allowed. Also the inhabitants, of this model village at the beginning of the long drive to Villa Hügel from Essen, were obliged to follow strict rules regarding the neatness and attractiveness of their gardens. After 1902 the buildings in the second building phase are designed along the lines of Landhausarchitektur (vernacular architecture) and less symmetrical in floor plan and facades. This second building phase ended before 1914. This staff colony and the nearby Villa Hügel got fresh water from a pumping house near the Ruhr. The nearby wood was available to the inhabitants to relax and enjoy their spare time.

The bombs dropped on Essen during WW2 also devastated parts of the Siedlung Brandenbusch, shown here in red. The northern -earliest- section near the church (c) and community hall (h) was all but wiped out for two buildings and replaced with apartment blocks. Most of the Landhaus-section still stands with the exception of the southern portion along the Waldrautstrasse. On the edge of the Hügel Park stands the gatehouse (g) in a similar romantic Landhaus-style. The post war additions are shown in a lighter shade of grey. The plan makes clear that placement and street layout of this Cottage-Siedung don't follow Unwinesque principles.

In many publications the Siedlung Brandenbush (and for that matter any similar Cottage-Siedlung) is presented as an example of the Garden City Movement. This can off course not be the case as Ebenezer Howard's book To-morrow, a peaceful path to real reform was first published in 1898. Siedlung Brandenbush predates this by almost 15 years! In fact the various examples of housing provisions for workers in Germany, combined with the proposals of social utopists and American examples of land communes are seminal influences for what was to become the Garden City Movement. This may also explain why these ideas were taken up so quickly in Germany.  For a wider distribution of the ideas of the Garden City Movement in  Germany and Austria the 1904 book by Hermann Muthesius Das Englische Haus was of great importance. Incidentally the second phase of Brandenbusch (1902) also predates this book. Siedlung Brandenbusch with its romantic houses is more akin to the ferme ornée (ornamental farm) that was part of rococo garden design and quickly became integrated into the English landscape garden as an ornamental hamlet. As such the Siedlung am Brandenbusch is an exponent of romanticism.

Window box 3: perfect pelargonium

 Anyone who has ever visited the Alps will remember the chalets with balconies overspilling with pink and red trailing geraniums. In fact these "geraniums" should be named pelargoniums after their scientific name Pelargonium meaning stork's bill. Geranium (crane's bill) is a genus of closely related herbaceous plants. In contrast all Pelargonium species are evergreen perennials that grow wild in Southern Africa. Most species are drought and heat tolerant and tolerate little to no frost. Some species and especially complex hybrids in several types are extremely popular garden plants, grown as bedding or for pots and hanging baskets. Almost all types are easily propagated from cuttings.

Classic German combination (on the left) of trailing red and pink single ivy-leaved pelargoniums. The other common type is the zonal pelargonium, here in salmon pink (middle). Against the white wall and the bluish green shutters these pink blooms stand out (on the right).  This window box has been filled with three selections of trailing pelargonium, one with double flowers.

The zonal types (left) are decedents from semi woody shrubs and grow compact and upright with the cluster clear of the neat foliage. The angel pelargoniums, shown in the middle, are also known as French pelargoniums and have larger but fewer flowers that are often strikingly bicoloured. A contemporary twist on the classic ivy-leaved pelargonium (on the right) trained up a support to form a pyramid of pink on the pavement.