Hinter den Hecken

Katharina Locher heads off to the canton of Solothurn, a forested region of northern Switzerland. In a fairy-tale landscape, she invites us to discover an artist's garden, as magical as it is surprising...

In the village of Oberrieden, on the shores of Lake Zurich, Katharina Locher invites us to discover a veritable little gem. It's not only the size of the garden that makes it so unusual, but also its situation: right in the heart of an agricultural area. A rare setting for an ornamental garden.

Strolling through the streets of old Berne, it's difficult to imagine that nearby grow a plethora of fruit, trees and vegetables. From the Cathedral Square, you can just make out a large city garden below. An area of greenery that is open to anyone who wants to come and garden.

We're off to the canton of Grisons, in a valley known for its innumerable villages perched high on the hillsides. The village of Rothenbrunnen hides an idyllic garden, a little area of mountain nestling between the houses.

Böckten, in the canton of Basel-Landschaft. A small village of eight hundred souls, and a very unusual garden, the fruit of a close collaboration between an artist and an architect.

To the mountains! Below the Strela Pass, in the Grisons, lies a unique alpine garden. At a height of 1,900 metres, this botanical garden is perched just above Davos, the highest town in Europe. Known as the Alpinum Schatzalp, it is home to an impressive number of high altitude plants.

Welcome to Hauterive Abbey. An imposing monument, it was built some nine hundred years ago on the banks of the River Saane, near Fribourg, in a landscape enclosed by a sandstone cliff. This baroque building is today home to eighteen Cistercian monks who care for a superb garden

In Sutz-Lattrigen, on the shores of Lake Biel, lie some truly beautiful gardens. The gateway to one of them is hidden by an imposing bamboo forest. As soon as you enter, you are immediately transported to a tropical jungle.

Here in the canton of Nidwalden, the hills are covered by scattered farms. We meet a couple who both cultivate and garden with all their heart and soul. She is an artist, he is an architect and together they form a very creative duo.

The canton of Thurgau is sometimes described as the orchard of Switzerland. We visit a garden whose owners turned it into a space for living, a veritable outdoor sitting room.

Kurt Aeschbacher and Katharina Locher meet up in Zurich, accompanied by all those who had opened their garden gates, presented their planting and revealed their secrets.