Maze - Field maze shows Wickie with Viking ship
Madmen in Green: In Utting am Ammersee, the annual field labyrinth Ex Ornamentis is set to reopen soon. The plant field displays a typical Viking ship with Wickie and his father Halvar for its 50th anniversary of Wickie. Corinne and Uli Ernst have been offering a plant labyrinth with various themes every year since 1999.
In 2022, they planted a world map with a dove of peace in the landscape a few months after the beginning of the Ukraine war, while the theme in the previous year was Disney's 100th anniversary. In 2017, it was Martin Luther's portrait for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
The green walls, which should be two meters high, are supposed to consist of sunflowers, hemp, corn, wild mallow, decorative gourds, and beans when the labyrinth opens for visitors on July 17, as Corinne Ernst stated. Hundreds of visitors are expected until the end of September.
The labyrinth also includes a scavenger hunt. Hemp plants are also part of the growth - but not those that fall under the new Cannabis Law, as Corinne Ernst explains. They plant high-growing varieties.
"One always comes out safely"
One can get lost - that's part of it, she says. But: "One always comes out safely." Ultimately, one encounters the "picture frame" - the way around the picture, which leads to the exit.
The oversized picture has a surface area of around 18,000 square meters and consists of approximately 365,000 plants. The seed mixture was sown in May. The paths that were mown into the plant mixture are covered with straw. Some colored areas in blue and white were scattered with dyed wooden log chips. All paths together are about 3.4 kilometers long this year.
In collaboration with students from the Faculty of Geoinformation at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, the Ernsts have developed the labyrinth. The future surveying engineers helped with the marking of the image. "A trick is that we mark the image before the plant growth begins. We then have to find and extract the drawing again."
- The labyrinth in Bavaria, near Germany's Ammersee, is renowned for its annual themes, once showcasing a Viking ship with Wickie and his father Halvar to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Wickie.
- During a challenging year for international relations, the labyrinth in 2022 featured a world map with a dove of peace, created by planting seeds amidst the beautiful landscape, symbolizing Ukraine's hope for peace.
- As the labyrinth prepares to celebrate its 21st anniversary, visitors can expect to explore Disney's imaginative world when it reopens in July, thanks to the creative efforts of Corinne and Uli Ernst.
- In previous years, the labyrinth has paid homage to significant milestones in history, including Martin Luther's 500th anniversary of the Reformation, which was celebrated in 2017 with a life-sized portrait crafted from various plants.
