Visit to the garden of the “good fairy”

“We probably have the most unsuitable lawn robot garden in the world,” joke Hannes Sigmund (41) and his wife Camilla Steiner (33). And indeed, the slope behind the young family’s house is steep and – typically Mühlviertel – also quite rocky. “It doesn’t bother us, we still love our garden.” You can see that too. There are almost all kinds of vegetables, from pumpkin to garlic and potatoes, fragrant herbs grow in between, and flowers of all colors bloom around the Wegerl and Stegerl.

The two interior designers, who run their own planning office in Allerheiligen, owe the fact that everything is thriving so wonderfully to Camilla’s mother – a gifted gardener, as Hannes Sigmund explains. “She laid out the garden years ago and made sure from the start that something was always in bloom. She is our good garden fairy.” The couple, who have two sons – three-year-old Tobias and Leander, who is only a few weeks old – only moved back from Linz to Camilla Steiner’s parents’ house a year ago. “For our boys, this is a natural climbing garden,” says Camilla Steiner. But it is also “a wonderful enrichment for herself. It’s great when you just have to go out the front door and can harvest fresh chives,” says Camilla Steiner, who, together with her mother, also grows wild herbs such as lady’s mantle, St. John’s wort or comfrey processed into healthy teas, ointments and tinctures.

Nature for humans and animals

The garden should not be a good place for people, but also for insects, says the interior designer. And of course also for the frog, the mouse and the hedgehog, who live in the Steiner’s garden. The couple also keeps chickens “for fresh breakfast eggs” and also has two rabbits and dozens of goldfish in the irrigation pond.

There is another special feature: a hot tub. “It’s heated with wood and reaches bathtub temperature,” explains Hannes Sigmund. “And that’s a dream, especially in winter: lying in the hot water while it’s snowing and enjoying the view of the Mühlviertel landscape.”