In Ostrava, the first brownfield garden in the Czech Republic is blooming

Last September, the Ostrava city gallery PLATO opened the space of a reconstructed building of the former slaughterhouse to visitors. This spring, a 9,000 square meter area surrounding it was also brought to life. The garden, featuring permaculture elements, has introduced entirely new public green space to Ostrava. Since it is located on the site of a former brownfield, the Garden of the Present, as PLATO has named it, must deal with the burden of chemically contaminated soil. Its concept also works with sustainability and climate change adaptation. In June, it bloomed for the first time, and the meadow section was mowed for the first time, revealing the outlines of its future form.
The new public garden surrounds the main headquarters of the PLATO gallery on both sides and can be divided into five parts. Here, you will find meadows with wild perennial flowers suitable for drier habitats, perennial beds modeled after our grandmothers' herb gardens, a pond 4 meters wide and about 1.5 meters deep, which will gradually be overgrown with irises, bulrushes, buttercups, forget-me-nots, or sedges, trees including old varieties of apple trees, shrubs, and also a short-mown lawn for gallery activities and visitors to the café and exhibitions. All its parts enhance the biodiversity of the urban environment, providing insects with a source of nectar and pollen, as well as conditions and nutrients for small animals. Hedgehogs and rabbits have already settled in the garden, and dragonflies, damsels, and pond skaters thrive in the water biotope.
“We dedicate the same care and attach the same importance to the surroundings of the new PLATO gallery as we do to exhibitions and our educational activities. The permaculture principles on which the garden is based are, moreover, almost a manifesto of our approach to building the entire institution. The investor of the garden is the city of Ostrava. It was not easy, but together with them and the author of the conversion of the city slaughterhouse, we ultimately worked our way to a concept for the surroundings of the gallery that will be empathetic not only to people but also to animals. The specific form was shaped by our invited expert on permaculture design, Denisa Tomášková.” says the director of the PLATO gallery, Marek Pokorný.
The garden has undergone its first mowing and this summer it will be watered for the first time from retention tanks that collect rainwater underground. At the end of spring, we can also evaluate how the plants respond to the new location. It is also possible to see what kinds of annual flower seeds were in the imported soil that partly replaced the chemically contaminated original soil. “The great news is that the seedlings, trees, and meadows have taken root and are thriving as intended. Some plants naturally have not yet grown; they will need time and suitable soil conditions that we will create without using chemicals,” evaluates the first spring at the eight-month-old garden, the author of the planting concept, landscape architect Denisa Tomášková. The entire concept utilizes practical principles of permaculture; thus the garden is ecological, ethical, and meaningfully arranged for both people and animals.
Thanks to this approach, Ostrava has apparently gained the first garden based on a brownfield in the Czech Republic, and it is also public and located right in the city center. The term “brownfield site” has become a keyword for this year's edition of one of the most famous gardening exhibitions in the world, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London. The theme of brownfields connected several gardens created by local designers. “This year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show was marked by adaptation to climate change and support for biodiversity in cities. For example, designer Cleve West, who won a gold medal, designed his garden as a ruin of a house that was demolished and where nature slowly took hold. Last year in Britain, they had a very dry summer, which they addressed not by irrigation but by adapting to the new conditions,” adds Tomášková.
The permaculture approach works with the knowledge of natural principles and mimics the workings of nature. The more successful it is, the less energy will be needed for maintaining the garden in the long term. The goal is to benefit the ecosystem and people without using chemicals. For this reason, soil contamination and its impact on the quality of edible fruits that will grow on the bushes in the garden will be continuously monitored at the Garden of the Present around PLATO.
What distinguishes it greatly from traditional park landscaping is the aesthetic aspect. “In the early stages, the garden looks a bit like a wilderness, but over time it can evolve into a garden that appears very well-kept. Around PLATO, we have planted many flowering plants and at the same time we have tried to follow a path where the amount of energy input is minimized from the outset. Of course, there always needs to be care, and moreover, due to the contamination of the soil, the situation here is very specific,” adds the garden planting author, Tomášková. According to her, the garden should mature into its form in about five to seven years.
In the coming years, the garden will develop not only in terms of planting but also in terms of equipment. Gradually, elements such as a composter, furnishings like benches and trash bins, play elements, or pergolas will be added. Individual parts will be created in collaboration with artists and visitors to PLATO.
PLATO is not the first exhibition institution surrounded by public green space. This trend is known, for example, from the Museum of Contemporary Art Belvedere21 in Vienna, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, or London’s Barbican Center. Contemporary art is also intensively addressing ecology, climate change adaptation, and striving for a connection with plants and animals. Ostrava goes even further, and themes connected to the garden will also be reflected in the exhibition dramaturgy, educational programs, and public events in the coming years.
“Today, essentially no one discusses whether climate change is occurring. Greenery in cities is changing because there are longer dry periods. All short-mown lawns and plantings suffer. All plants that are not adapted to the emerging islands of drought and heat die. The classic practice is to create an instant type of bed, plant it with plants, cover it with some kind of mulch, and fertilize it with slow-release synthetic fertilizers. But what we actually need to do is to bring greenery to cities that provides greater biodiversity and allows for better conditions for the life of insects and small animals. And at the same time create a situation that allows us to invest less energy into maintaining green space,” adds Tomášková.