Every season of Hinter den Hecken ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best seasons of Hinter den Hecken!

Chur, in the Grisons, is renowned as the oldest town in Switzerland, with its historical heart still intact. Between the narrow streets, painted houses and old churches, no-one would expect to come across a large garden laid out in the formal French tradition, as at Versailles.

A French-style garden

In Riehen, near Basel, we discover a garden that is truly tiny. In an area that's home to a large number of terraced houses little space is left between them. A quick look at the little front garden and it is immediately obvious whether the occupant enjoys gardening or not...

A tiny garden

Rossinière is a charming Alpine village in the Vaud, with its attractive chalets so typical of the Pays-d'Enhaut. Nearly six hundred people live here and a large number of them obviously have very green fingers. The garden we have come to discover lies in the alpine meadows above the village...

A mountain garden

We head for Gossau, in the canton of Saint-Gallen. One of the largest municipalities in western Switzerland it is not only home to some sublime painted houses but also a vast biblical garden with more than a hundred different plants.

The biblical garden

We discover a magnificent garden in Neuenhof, in the canton of Aargau, a municipality that grew from a small farming village to an urban agglomeration. Despite the many modern houses and blocks of flats, some farms remain in the old district of the town, where we meet a fuchsia enthusiast...

A garden of fuchsias

In the canton of Berne, we discover a village that has retained its agricultural character despite the major motorway route nearby. A community with plenty of impressive farms, traditional houses, cow-sheds and farmyards... Each has its own large garden, but Katharina is attracted by one of them in particular.

A farmer's garden

Soleure, a town where the baroque style remains ever-present and where the age-old tradition of Swiss gardening still flourishes. The Gorges de Sainte-Vérène shelter part of this heritage along with the Hermitage of the same name. The pathway wending its through has been designed in the informal English garden style...

A forest garden

In the canton of Le Tessin, southern Switzerland, Katharina visits the village of Gudo to discover a garden where nature appears untamed. From small cacti to large shrubs, rhododendrons and the rare magnolia insignis, the garden is home to an incredible number of plants.

A garden in Le Tessin

In Wuppenau, in the canton of Thurgau, Katharina visits a natural garden where indigenous plants and animals have taken control. The pathways allow water to soak through and no artificial fertiliser is used. Campanula grow happily next to wild plants and a riot of roses.

A natural garden

In Münsingen, in the canton of Berne, Katharina visits a community garden, a garden open to all those who love gardening. The aim: to harvest quality vegetables and flavoursome fruit but also to create a community experience. A place where everyone and every age can meet together.

A community garden

Over a period of three months, Katharina Locher travelled Switzerland to discover its most extraordinary gardens, meeting those who created them and who care for them. Today Katharina Locher has brought these passionate enthusiasts together to look back over the programme and discuss the issues raised.

The best of our gardens

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...

Dreams of an artist

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.

Heavenly roses

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.

A city 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.

The hanging garden

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.

A modern garden

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.

An alpine garden

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 a monastery 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.

A collector's garden

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.

An experimental garden

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.

A garden for living

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.

Best of

Collecting, testing, discovering new species, redesigning and adapting, gardening has become an all-consuming passion for Herbert Frei, retired teacher.

The climatic experiment garden

Yvonne and Thomas Schindler are relatively new gardeners. It was when they moved into a watermill, nestling in a garden with all the romance of a fairy tale, that they discovered a real enthusiasm for gardening. In five years, they've created an idyllic garden filled with authenticity and originality.

The mill garden

It was a trip to England that sealed Sämi and Liselotte Buess's love for plants and gardening. On their 2,100-m² plot they have now created a veritable paradise, combining kitchen garden, rose walk, flowering meadows, stone walls and English-style borders.

The English garden

At the age of 39, Claudia Sifrig decided to drop everything and study nursery-growing. In her town-centre garden, she does everything necessary to ensure both wildlife and flowers flourish.

The chalet garden

For Stefan Bernhard it's a dream come true: today he is the gardener at the Château de Wartenfels where he maintains the borders in classic French style, turning the art of gardening into excellence at the highest level.

The château garden

On her 1.5-hectare plot, Katharina Haller has created an impressively varied garden that blends perfectly into the far horizon with neither fence nor wall to separate it from the surrounding countryside.

The endless garden

In this garden managed by Pastor Gabrielle Hochuli, refugees look after the kitchen garden beds, getting to know new fruit and vegetables. Beyond the plants themselves, it's a place to meet people and create bonds in what is still a foreign land, a fertile place to put down roots.

The integration garden

The garden of 83-year-old Mark Kamber is a veritable firework display exploding with a thousand and one colours. The house, buried beneath ivy and wisteria, is almost indistinguishable from the garden.

The colour garden

Can a landscape gardener be happy with a plot measuring just 200 square metres? Simon Rüegg says yes. For his family he has organised each corner of his garden such that everyone enjoys it, making the most of it and feeling at home. And all that with style and elegance.

The modern family garden

Katharina Shepherd spent ten years living in Japan, which was where she developed her passion for peonies. In her magnificent garden with a view of Lake Thun, she grows a range of rare species.

The peony garden

For this final programme, Katharina Locher catches up with the gardeners in an exceptional spot: the MFO Park in Zurich. Between walls and columns of greenery, they look back at the best moments of the season.

Season's highlights

Nine years ago, Karin inherited a house in Schaffhouse. When she moved in, the garden was something of a wilderness. And so she set to work, planting, designing, building and experimenting. The result: a pretty urban garden with a distinctly romantic feel.

A romantic urban garden

Nicole and Philippe took a meadow and turned it into an idyllic garden. Pond, kitchen garden, mini-zoo and even a pizza oven: all done by their own hands. They work for Pro Specie Rara, a foundation protecting the genetic diversity of heritage plant varieties and rare animal breeds.

A DIY garden

In the Swiss canton of Appenzell, Annemarie and Hugo Weder have created a fabulous world, a garden on four terraces with an impressive collection of chrysanthemums. Each autumn, forty-seven different varieties fill the flower garden with colour until winter arrives. An incredible spectacle unique in Switzerland.

The chrysanthemum garden

In the Swiss region of Emmental, Susanne Schütz has been gardening organically for forty years. Twenty years ago, she discovered and put into practice a technique from Asia, using a very specific microbe to improve soil fertility and plant development.

An organic garden

The Arenenberg gardens are amongst Switzerland's most beautiful. Veritable horticultural gem, they owe their survival to a vast work of research and restoration. An agricultural college, educational gardens, an English-style garden created in the 19th century by Napoleon III and his mother Hortense de Beauharnais, all add to their richness.

Napoleon Park

In Diesse, a village in the Swiss Jura, lies a unique garden with a vast maze, glasshouse, several ponds and innumerable flowers and vegetables. The property, covering some 10,000m², is the result of the unremitting work of three enthusiasts whose guiding principle is always doing everything themselves!

A garden maze

In the Bernese Oberland, the Schweibenalp alpine garden is the largest permaculture garden in Switzerland. At 1,100 metres above sea-level, the gardeners grow vegetables and herbs, produce their own seeds and teach the principles of permaculture.

A permaculture garden

On the shores of Lake Gruyère, in Switzerland, Irène and Thomas Benz-Sommer have spent twenty-five years creating their dream garden, maintained using only environmentally-friendly methods. A paradise that is home to one hundred and seventy roses and fifty box bushes carefully trimmed to shape by Thomas.

A lakeside rose garden

Ten years ago, Sonja Bächler took over a collection built up by another dahlia-lover, planting it on her brother's farm in central Switzerland. Today the florist and gardener not only cares for some two hundred varieties but has developed a flower-based range of sweet and savoury culinary products.

The dahlia garden

Dieter Frank has become known as the \"merciful gardener\", preferring to leave his plants to grow and develop in total freedom, only intervening when he has no other choice. The result has given rise to a magnificent garden in the Swiss village of Courchavon.

A garden in the Jura

For the last programme of the season, the gardeners meet up in Alfred von Ah's greenhouse. A warm and welcoming ambience, perfect for looking back at some of the most memorable moments, sharing their passion and offering an opportunity to discover or rediscover some of Switzerland's most remarkable gardens.

The best of the season

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

Discover the most extraordinary gardens in Switzerland, each a veritable little corner of paradise hidden behind its hedges and fences. Who are the enthusiasts working to create them? What are the secrets of their success?

The Best Seasons of Hinter den Hecken

The Best Seasons of Hinter den Hecken

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7