A thriving campus for everyone
Donations for the University Gardens
Donations that take root
The garden at Witten/Herdecke University is more than just a green space.
It is a vibrant space for teaching and learning; a place of relaxation; and a venue for dialogue and interaction between students, staff and the local community. It provides shade and acts as a green lung. It is home to numerous native plant and animal species. It is the publicly accessible heart of our campus and thrives on shared interaction. It is not only plants that grow here – but also scientific ideas and insights.
To preserve this added value for the future, we need your support. The upkeep and further development of the campus garden require additional financial resources. On the one hand, our garden, too, is struggling with changing climatic conditions, which are causing operating costs to rise significantly: regular maintenance, watering, soil protection and pest management are putting a strain on our budget. Furthermore, the university community is constantly coming up with new sustainability projects and ideas, which we would like to help bring to fruition for the benefit of the campus garden.
Every donation – no matter how small – contributes directly to our ability to preserve and further develop the garden as a space for learning and living. With your support, we fund ecologically diverse plantings, a wide variety of high-quality seeds and the necessary infrastructure – from cultivators to irrigation systems, from nesting boxes to insect hotels, from organic plant protection products to propagation stations. In this way, every donation helps ensure that the garden is accessible to everyone all year round – as a place of learning, a space for relaxation and a green gateway to the neighbourhood.
The significance of the garden
Out the door and into the countryside
Our garden as a space for relaxation and socialising
Just imagine: a green, inviting natural space. In the background stand modern campus buildings, surrounded by lawns, flowering shrubs and perennials, and shaded by sweeping tree canopies. A narrow path winds its way through, inviting you to take a stroll. Insects buzz, a gentle breeze rustles the leaves and the scent of countless flowers fills the air. In the midst of it all, students, staff and local residents sit reading or chatting. Some stroll through the garden, deep in conversation. A dream?
A reality in Witten! For the campus garden is a place of relaxation, creativity and exchange – a space for reflection and a real-world laboratory set amidst carefully tended nature. A place of blossoming and growth – for everyone! At any time.
Whether you prefer a stroll through the fruit tree-lined avenue or our very own ‘Unter den Linden’ avenue; whether you’d rather pause by the pond or let your gaze wander through the green ‘window’ into the Pferdebachtal valley; whether you’re enchanted by the splendour of the flowers in the show bed or the abundance of blooms in a perennial border, swarmed by bees; whether you follow the fluttering flight of the brimstone butterfly from cowslip to cowslip or let your gaze rest on the vast green spaces – everyone finds something ‘all their own’ in this shared garden.
From seed to plant
Ecology factored in from the very beginning
From the very beginning, the landscaping at Witten/Herdecke University has been a central and integral part of the architectural planning – and of the teaching.
Ecological considerations were incorporated into the design as early as the construction of the first campus building in 1993: greening of façades and roofs, the planting of native species in outdoor areas, the creation of water features to improve the microclimate, and the complete infiltration of all rainwater were implemented.
With the campus extension in 2021, the principle of ecological architecture was applied to the new timber building, and the surrounding areas were brought together to form a shared green campus garden. This created a deliberate connection to the Pferdebachtal valley and the surrounding neighbourhood.
Here we grow
Practical learning: Gardening as part of the Studium fundamentale
Practical work in the garden – from maintenance and design to growing vegetables – as well as the theoretical and scientific study of gardening, has been an integral part of the Studium fundamentale for over 30 years.
Closeness to nature and hands-on gardening – that is what the courses on offer are all about: a healthy contrast and a complement to the specialist degree programme. Up to 60 students take part each year. They dig, weed, prune and strike up conversations with one another. Although the work is underpinned by theory, course leader Ralf Lilienthal is primarily concerned with the practical, hands-on work, in winter as well as in summer, even in the rain, in the cold or in the summer heat.
Gardening is, in many ways, a school of life. Those who tend a garden connect with processes of growth, experience the beauty and dignity of living things in a very tangible way, and will treat nature with greater care in future. (Ralf Lilienthal)
Physical labour grounds us and is therefore an ideal counterbalance to theoretical learning and the various digital forms of communication, learning and living. For many students, this is a key factor in choosing a gardening course. As a result, the courses also give rise to ideas for the further development of the campus garden, which are then actively put into practice. The best example is the avenue of fruit trees, established in 2010 by a medical student. It is a path lined with over 100 fruit trees – including many heritage varieties. It is freely accessible to the public and invites walkers to pick the fruit for their own use. The trees are still tended to today – in cooperation with the ‘Witten Nature Conservation Group’ – and also by students on the gardening courses within the ‘Studium fundamentale’ programme.
Location of our garden
The campus garden surrounds the buildings of Witten/Herdecke University. Most of the garden is idyllically situated directly behind the buildings, in the immediate vicinity of the neighbouring Pferdebachtal valley. It is accessible to anyone interested via several footpaths from Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße and the neighbouring residential areas. Do feel free to pop in!
Become a supporter – Here’s how it works!
To maintain and further develop our campus garden
Maintaining the garden does not pay for itself. In order to preserve the total area of the campus garden – currently around 25,000 square metres – and to develop it further in the long term, we rely on regular financial support. Investments in the garden’s infrastructure, in new plants and biotopes, and in tailored maintenance are essential steps towards sustaining the garden as a sustainable, ecologically resilient and social project.
Furthermore, we aim to implement the design ideas developed by students through their engagement with the garden. These include, amongst other things, the incorporation of elements that are difficult to achieve during the normal course of gardening work: in particular, the creation and expansion of new small biotopes and new plantings, but also artistic initiatives (e.g. sculptures).
Immediate and lasting impact
Your support has a direct and lasting impact on the campus garden. Every donation enables us to sustainably maintain the garden as a green retreat and a vibrant learning space, to design it in harmony with nature, and to continue developing it as a place of education and social interaction.
As well as its environmental impact, your contribution also has a social dimension. The campus garden fosters a sense of community and strengthens dialogue between different groups. It encourages people to take responsibility for nature and provides space for new ideas and projects that can have an impact far beyond the ‘green campus’. Your donation therefore not only helps to care for the plants, but also promotes sustainable coexistence.
In short: with your help, we are creating a place that is not only beautiful to look at, but also actively contributes to the education and well-being of everyone. The value of your support is immediately felt, seen and experienced the moment you set foot on the campus grounds.
Every donation counts
What applies to nature also applies to your donation to our campus garden: every plant and every contribution counts, no matter how big or small!
Specifically, your donation helps in the following areas
- Maintenance and conservation: regular watering, soil care, compost management and pruning to ensure the garden remains healthy.
- Biodiversity and ecology: seed propagation, insect- and bee-friendly planting, and specific measures to encourage the establishment and protection of all native wildlife.
- Nature exploration and sustainable infrastructure: nature observation points, green study areas, meeting and relaxation zones, aesthetic and artistic features, and long-lasting flowerbeds.
Whether with a 5-euro donation for plant seeds, 15 euros for insect-friendly small perennials, whether with a contribution of 45 euros or more for fragrant and magnificently flowering large perennials and shrubs, or with a donation of 125 euros for solitary woody plants such as the velvet hydrangea or an elegant shrubby maple – your contributions enable the gradual development of a greater sense of ‘vitality’ for people and the natural garden environment.
If you’d like, do come and see ‘your’ plants and visit us in our campus garden. Furthermore, we’ll list all donors by name online, provided you wish us to do so and regardless of the amount you’ve donated.
Thank you very much for your willingness to invest, to share and to work with us to create a greener, more sustainable campus environment.
Join us in planting!
To maintain and further develop our campus garden
Maintaining the garden does not pay for itself. In order to preserve the total area of the campus garden – currently around 25,000 square metres – and to develop it further in the long term, we rely on regular financial support. Investments in the garden’s infrastructure, in new plants and biotopes, and in tailored maintenance are essential steps towards sustaining the garden as a sustainable, ecologically resilient and social project.
Furthermore, we aim to implement the design ideas developed by students through their engagement with the garden. These include, amongst other things, the incorporation of elements that are difficult to achieve during the normal course of gardening work: in particular, the creation and expansion of new small biotopes and new plantings, but also artistic initiatives (e.g. sculptures).
Immediate and lasting impact
Your support has a direct and lasting impact on the campus garden. Every donation enables us to sustainably maintain the garden as a green retreat and a vibrant learning space, to design it in harmony with nature, and to continue developing it as a place of education and social interaction.
As well as its environmental impact, your contribution also has a social dimension. The campus garden fosters a sense of community and strengthens dialogue between different groups. It encourages people to take responsibility for nature and provides space for new ideas and projects that can have an impact far beyond the ‘green campus’. Your donation therefore not only helps to care for the plants, but also promotes sustainable coexistence.
In short: with your help, we are creating a place that is not only beautiful to look at, but also actively contributes to the education and well-being of everyone. The value of your support is immediately felt, seen and experienced the moment you set foot on the campus grounds.
Every donation counts
What applies to nature also applies to your donation to our campus garden: every plant and every contribution counts, no matter how big or small!
Specifically, your donation helps in the following areas
- Maintenance and conservation: regular watering, soil care, compost management and pruning to ensure the garden remains healthy.
- Biodiversity and ecology: seed propagation, insect- and bee-friendly planting, and specific measures to encourage the establishment and protection of all native wildlife.
- Nature exploration and sustainable infrastructure: nature observation points, green study areas, meeting and relaxation zones, aesthetic and artistic features, and long-lasting flowerbeds.
Whether with a 5-euro donation for plant seeds, 15 euros for insect-friendly small perennials, whether with a contribution of 45 euros or more for fragrant and magnificently flowering large perennials and shrubs, or with a donation of 125 euros for solitary woody plants such as the velvet hydrangea or an elegant shrubby maple – your contributions enable the gradual development of a greater sense of ‘vitality’ for people and the natural garden environment.
If you’d like, do come and see ‘your’ plants and visit us in our campus garden. Furthermore, we’ll list all donors by name online, provided you wish us to do so and regardless of the amount you’ve donated.
Thank you very much for your willingness to invest, to share and to work with us to create a greener, more sustainable campus environment.
Join us in planting!
Contact
M.A.
Katharina Bruder
Project management
Administration | Universitätsförderung
Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 44
58448 Witten