For lovers of the history of the gardens of St. Petersburg, the name of this gardener is most often associated with the parks of Peterhof. But Leonard Van Harnigfelt’s career in Russia as a gardener began in the Summer Garden. In January 1710, a contract for Russian service was signed with a Dutch garden master. And Garnichfelt was assigned to the Summer Garden, where he was in charge of the greenhouse. In the description of St. Petersburg in 1710 about the Summer Garden it is said: “The gardener of the large garden was a German, and the greenhouses were a Dutchman.” In the greenhouse, Garnichfelt tended oranges, oranges, lemons, laurels and other exotic plants. The Dutch gardener also supervised the planting of various tree species in the bosquets of the Summer Garden.

In 1715, Leonard Van Garnichfelt was transferred to Peterhof to build a garden around the Great Peterhof Palace. There, the Dutch gardener not only creates a garden, but also sets up vegetable gardens and builds greenhouses. Starting from the 20s of the 17th century, Peterhof gardens supplied not only vegetables, herbs and apples to the imperial court, but also pineapples, grapes and other exotic fruits.

In addition to the fact that Leonard Van Garnichfelt supervised all work on the gardens, he was also engaged in teaching the art of gardening to Russian students. The most successful were: Anton Borisov, Nikita Zherebtsov, Mikhail Kandakov. In one period, the Dutch gardener had 45 apprentices in training.

In Peterhof, Leonard Van Garnichfelt worked until his death in 1738. For 28 years of work in Russia, he did a lot to create the Summer Garden and the gardens of the Peterhof Imperial Residence.

As practice has shown, the method of Peter the Great to test the skills of foreign gardeners in the Summer Garden paid off.

Until new stories about the gardeners of the Summer Garden.

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