Every garden has its history, but rarely is it as fascinating as the story of the Garden of Hera. This Mediterranean Arcadia overlooking the Gulf of Salerno has, as its bare bones, a landscape of Greek origins – it is located a few miles from the ancient Greek colony of Paestum, with views of the Amalfi Coast and the Island of Capri in the distance.
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What was probably an ancient trade route between Paestum and Velia splits the property in half, invisibly and silently, as the now dead-end road is very narrow and hidden between dry-stone walls, terraces and ancient olive trees.
Spring is undoubtedly the most beautiful time of year here. The terraces, left un-mown, are a tapestry of wildflowers
An Italian garden in brief:
- What An irrigation-free, sloping, Mediterranean garden in Italy with terraces of olives, myrtles, orange trees and wildflowers.
- Where Southern Italy.
- Size Two-and-a-half acres of cultivated garden on a terrain of seven-and-a-half acres of olive grove and wildflower meadows.
- Soil Calcareous, rocky, fertile, well-draining.
- Climate Mediterranean. Mild winters, hot, dry summers with temperatures up to 40°C. Annual rainfall approx 1,000mm.
- Hardiness zone USDA Zone 10a.
New plants, especially non-natives or anything that looks cultivated, are added with extreme restraint
Since 2008, it has been the passion project and botanical offspring of two adventurous German plantspeople: Peter Amann, a tour guide, ecologist and travel journalist, and his partner Gundula Anders, a singer and teacher of early music. Peter and Gundula divide their time between Munich and their garden here, but it is safe to say that their hearts remain in Italy, on seven-and-half acres of sunny, south-facing slopes, nestled in the UNESCO-protected Cilento National Park.
They spent almost two decades searching for Hera. “We wanted first and foremost a place, not a property: a garden, not just a house in Italy,” just says Peter.
For a few years, as restoration of the antique stone cottage took place, they worked tirelessly outdoors all day, and slept in a little hut in the garden with a simple outdoor toilet and shower, but a breathtaking view over the fertile coastal plain, famous for its buffaloes, and then out to the Tyrrhenian Sea.
“It has always been the garden first,” says Peter. Professional stonemasons rebuilt several of the old dry-stone walls and then, with the help of local farmers, Peter and Gundula pruned the abandoned olive grove.
Spring is undoubtedly the most beautiful time of year here. The terraces, left un-mown, are a tapestry of wildflowers. Tordylium apulum (Italy’s equivalent of cow parsley) carpets the whole garden, providing a light, lacy background to flowering rock roses, sage, thyme, Jerusalem sage, savory, lavenders, red and white valerian, roses and irises – irises everywhere, in many forms.
8 key plants from Hera
