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The Flower Island of Mainau in Lake Constance is really one
enormous park, with a beautiful palace church, magnificent rose
gardens, tropical greenhouses and an old, baroque palace. Its 45
hectares are home to an extraordinary diversity of flowers, trees
and shrubs. Among the many treasures are rare and often very old
trees, including a Victoria lime, planted by the grand duke in 1862
to mark the birth of his daughter. There is a bizarrely knotted
pagoda tree, which is also around 150 years old. Many mighty oaks
and proud cedars provide the park with a graceful silhouette.
Another feature of Mainau is its wealth of plants in pots
and tubs and its impressive collection of citrus fruit. The
marvellous baroque palace can be seen from afar, high above the
treeline. Restored under Count Bernadotte, it dates back to the
Teutonic Order of Knights, who owned the island for almost 500
years from the 13th century. Firm favourites with visitors include
the palm house, with its collection of 1,200 orchids, and the
largest butterfly house in Germany, which contains 1,000 examples
of exotic species.
Other attractions on Mainau Island include the palace church of St. Mary, a gem of the south-German baroque period, and the Italian rose garden, laid out in 1871 for Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden. From June to August around 9,000 roses of nearly 400 varieties blossom into flower here.
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