Thijsse's Hof (The garden of Thijsse) is a wildlife garden in Bloemendaal, the Netherlands. It was created in 1925 on the occasion of the 60th birthday of Jac. P. Thijsse, naturalist and nature conservationist. It is the oldest wildlife garden in the Netherlands, and one of the oldest of Europe, and in the world.
In Thijsse's Hof about 800 species of native plants can be found in South Kennemerland, the region in which Bloemendaal is situated. Most of the plants are grown in natural vegetations. The garden is also a home for many birds. Its full name is Thijsse's Hof; planten- en vogeltuin in het Bloemendaalsche Bosch (Garden of Thijsse : garden for plants and birds in the Bloemendaal Wood). [1]
In 1925 the garden was offered to Jac. P. Thijsse as a present for his 60th birthday. Friends of Thijsse wanted to honor Thijsse by creating a little garden, close to his house, where the plants and animals of the dune area could be displayed in a natural environment. It was known that this was already a long time wish of Thijsse. The garden was designed by the landscape architect Leonard Springer.
In 1920 the Bloemendaal Wood had become the property of the municipality of Bloemendaal. A small terrain in the wood, behind the pancake house on the Mollaan, was oak coppice, where potatoes were grown. This terrain of about 2 ha. was given to a foundation in the making, that would run the new wildlife garden.
Works were started on 2 January 1925. Thijsse himself was involved in the activities to create the garden. The design, created by Springer, is still largely intact. The garden was designed in a way, that in spring the herbs had plenty of light. Later in the year the shrubs start growing, and still later the bigger trees.
Thijsse became the first president of the foundation “Planten- en vogeltuin in het Bloemendaalsche Bosch”. The foundation was founded on 17 July 1925. At 25 July – his birthday – Thijsse received the special key to the special entrance that was created for him, close to his house. The garden was officially opened on 26 September. On that day it rained a lot.
The planting of the garden was done by Kees Sipkes, who ran a nursery for native plants near Haarlem.
Thijsse himself wanted to name the garden after Frederik van Eeden (sr., the botanist). But his friends thought the name “Garden of E(e)den” not really appropriate, so “Thijsse's Hof” was chosen.
Thijsse wrote a lot about his garden in journals and magazines. He wrote two books on Thijsse's Hof:
The most important vegetation types of the dunes of South Kennemerland are present in Thijsse's Hof.
In the dune woodland the common oak Quercus robur is dominating. This vegetation type has a lot of other trees and shrubs as well, like European beech Fagus sylvatica , bird cherry Prunus padus, hawthorn, hazel and yew. The floor level of the woodland has many flowering plants. Snowdrop and spring snowflake flowering in winter and early spring. Wood anemone, bird-in-a-bush, primrose, bluebell, leopard's-bane and ramsons flowering in April and May.
The woodland is rich in birds like chaffinch, chiffchaff, blackbird, song thrush and tits.
The dune scrub is the vegetation type with shrubs dominating. On the calcareous soils of the dunes the spindle tree, hawthorn, sea buckthorn, buckthorn and barberry are growing. When the shrubs have berries in autumn, they attract various birds.
The coppice is a low woodland, with trees that are regularly coppiced
The pond lies in the centre of Thijsse's Hof, and plays an important role, from the point of view of garden architecture, as well as from the point of view of the ecological value. It attracts many bird species and insects, like dragonflies. In the water several plants are growing, like spiked water milfoil, mare's tail and fringed water lily.
The dune slack lies between the pond and the dry dune grassland. The vegetation is dependent on the vicinity of ground water. Southern marsh orchid, meadowsweet and yellow loosestrife are among the plant species that grow here.
Between the dune slack and the dune slack is a gradual transition. The dry grassland is abundantly flowering in May and June with species like field scabious, common knapweed and salad burnet.
A woodland is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood, a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Some savannas may also be woodlands, such as savanna woodland, where trees and shrubs form a light canopy.
Bloemendaal is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Bloemendaal is, together with Wassenaar, the wealthiest place in the Netherlands.
A wildlife garden is an environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, mammals and so on, and are meant to sustain locally native flora and fauna. Other names this type of gardening goes by can vary, prominent ones being habitat, ecology, and conservation gardening.
A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As reedbeds age, they build up a considerable litter layer that eventually rises above the water level and that ultimately provides opportunities in the form of new areas for larger terrestrial plants such as shrubs and trees to colonise.
Barcombe is an East Sussex village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex. The parish has four settlements: old Barcombe, the oldest settlement in the parish with the parish church; Barcombe Cross, the more populous settlement and main hub with the amenities and services; the hamlet of Spithurst in the northeast and Town Littleworth in the northwest.
Coldfall Wood is an ancient woodland in Muswell Hill, North London. It covers an area of approximately 14 hectares and is surrounded by St Pancras and Islington Cemetery, the East Finchley public allotments, and the residential streets Creighton Avenue and Barrenger Road. It is the site of the discoveries which first led to the recognition that glaciation had once reached southern England. It was declared a local nature reserve in 2013, and is also a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum is a teaching and research facility of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the site of historic research in ecological restoration. In addition to its 1,260 acres (5 km2) in Madison, Wisconsin, the Arboretum also manages 520 acres (210 ha) of remnant forests and prairies throughout Wisconsin. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2021, in recognition for its role as a pioneer in the field of ecological restoration.
Ashford Green Corridor is a green space that runs through the town of Ashford in Kent, England. The Green Corridor is made up of parks, recreation grounds and other green spaces alongside the rivers that flow through Ashford. It is a Local Nature Reserve.
Kennemerland is a coastal region in the northwestern Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park.
Frangula alnus, commonly known as alder buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, or breaking buckthorn, is a tall deciduous shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. Unlike other "buckthorns", alder buckthorn does not have thorns. It is native to Europe, northernmost Africa, and western Asia, from Ireland and Great Britain north to the 68th parallel in Scandinavia, east to central Siberia and Xinjiang in western China, and south to northern Morocco, Turkey, and the Alborz in Iran and the Caucasus Mountains; in the northwest of its range, it is rare and scattered. It is also introduced and naturalised in eastern North America.
Zuid-Kennemerland National Park is a conservation area on the west coast of the province of North Holland. It was established in 1995.
Jacobus Pieter Thijsse was a Dutch conservationist and botanist. He founded the Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands.
Duinen van Texel National Park is a national park located on the North Holland island of Texel in the Netherlands. All dune systems on the western side of the island and the large coastal plains on both the northern and southern points of the island are part of the park. The park covers approximately 43 km2 (17 sq mi) and attained national park status in 2002. The visitor center is located in the natural history museum Ecomare.
Gunnersbury Triangle is a 2.57-hectare (6.4-acre) local nature reserve in Chiswick, in the London boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow, immediately to the east of Gunnersbury. It was created in 1983 when, for the first time in Britain, a public inquiry ruled that a planned development of the land could not go ahead because of its value for nature. It opened as a nature reserve in 1985.
Ziziphus obtusifolia is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family known by several common names, including lotebush, graythorn, gumdrop tree, and Texas buckthorn.
There are several nature reserves in the surroundings of Nailsea, North Somerset, England, which is located at 51°25′55″N2°45′49″W.
Dymock Woods is a 53-hectare (130-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1990. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Shorn Cliff And Caswell Woods is a 69.2-hectare (171-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1986. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
The Hudnalls is a 94.4-hectare (233-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1972. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).