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Abstract

As a general rule numerous historical and recent documents are available on the structure, diversity and development of woody plant flora in historic gardens and cultural landscapes. In contrast, no such information is available on the spatial and temporal variability of soils and their soil water regime. A comparison of the current mapping results for the Schlosspark Branitz and the Dessau-Wörlitzer Gartenreich provides important information on the major heterogeneity of the substrate properties and the soil hydrology conditions. They reveal that the soils produced by natural processes of landscape and soil genesis are, in some cases, very much shaped by prior use on the one hand and design intervention on the other. In-depth information of this kind is not available for the Schlosspark Babelsberg. These results illustrate that targeted and resource-efficient management and vegetation planning is only possible if heterogeneity and other aspects are recorded in an in-depth manner and are depicted and analysed in a next step using modern geodata processing methods (GIS). With a view to preventive climate change adaptation measures and the warding off of damage in acute climate extreme situations, the comprehensive recording of pedological and hydrological site conditions is an essential precondition for future-oriented garden care planning.