Flora

The ruins are populated by plants that have adapted to special conditions of climate and soil composition.

There are three examples here of the Montpellier maple, which is native not to our region but to the Mediterranean, with isolated specimens native to southern Germany. We do not know how this species ended up here, but in German the Montpellier maple is also occasionally referred to as the Felsen-Ahorn (cliff maple) or Burgen-Ahorn (castle maple).

During the renovation from 1997 to 1999, grasses and ruderal shrubs were planted on the wall copings to protect from frost and heat (the Latin word rudus means “rubble”).

These are plants that need almost nothing to survive because, like succulents, they can store high amounts of water. Anybody who climbs the walls is risking not only this medieval monument, not to mention life and limb; they are also trampling the brave little inhabitants of the rubble.