Side view of Reichenau Abbey with monastery garden according to the plans of Abbot Walahfrid Strabo. In the "Hortulus" (Latin for "little garden"), he describes a monastery garden with 24 herbs, vegetables and ornamental plants. The monastery gardens on the island of Reichenau are an important testimony to medieval garden culture and are closely linked to the history of the Benedictine monastery founded in 724. Two of the most important medieval sources on garden culture originate from here: the famous St. Gallen monastery plan and the poem "Hortulus" by the Reichenau monk and later abbot Wala