Mulgimaa – a community with entrepreneurial spirit!

Mulgimaa is a historic region in southern Estonia. Mulgi farmers were known to be wealthy and the first in Estonia to start buying their own farms from landlords in the late 19th century to cultivate flax. Their growth in wealth was demonstrated by the building of stately houses, as well as being able to send their children to study at the best and most expensive schools. 

Today Mulgimaa fascinates the senses with its unique nature and heritage from the past, as well as with exciting ventures and active people. Three Mulgi cultural icons: the dialect, the well-known men’s long black jacket and the traditional Mulgi porridge have survived to this day. 

The tour:

The bus leaves Viljandi at 10:00 and we return at 18:00.

Risttee farm

It is an old and spacious farm garden. The ornamental garden was started in 2000, when the first ornamental trees and bushes were planted. A more conscious collection of plants and establishment of perennial flower planting areas gained momentum in 2007, when the owner of the garden started studying to become a landscape gardener at Luua Forestry School. As is typical for Mulks, there must be a lot of everything in the household. There are about 2,00 types of decorative plants on the 1.5 hectare area. About 400 of them are different woody plants and about 1,600 of them are perennials.

Kase farm

The Kase farm garden is located in Mulgimaa. The farm buildings and the garden have been used by the family since the beginning of the 20th century. Some ornamental trees have also been preserved from that time. Currently, approximately 300 different species of trees and shrubs grow in the garden, with around twenty rare ones. There are about 50 species of perennial flowers in the garden. The plants mainly come from Estonian and Latvian nurseries and reproductions from friends' collections.

Lunch at Abja Mulgi Tavern or on the workdays at Halliste canteen.

Private gardens

Two different gardens, we will visit one of them according to availability and flowering in the garden:

The Krusberg or Osijärv family

Both gardens are wonderful and created by the families themselves.

The Krusberg family describes their garden like this: it is a simple and lovely home, all the trees and bushes are planted by us. The marshy area around the pond is designed like a park, with a drained pond. The stones were all collected from the fields in 1993 and brought to the garden. We love flowers, stones and simplicity – the community of nature itself! Working in the garden is the best health therapy – if you have fingers in the soil, then you’ll be healthy!

The Osijärv family home enchants with the abundance of flowers and spaciousness, the beds full of stones are like painted works of art. There are many flower beds with a lot of conifers. The home is full of flowers from early spring to late autumn, in spring there are many tulips and daffodils, in autumn hydrangeas and different colored asters. The beds are laid out in such a way that they need as little care as possible, a lot of mulch and stones are used.

Kärstna manor

The flower garden of Kärstna manor is being restored according to the old garden plan: there are many flowers and a lot of beauty. In addition, there are more than a hundred species of trees and shrubs in the park.

18.00 back in Viljandi.

The price of the tour starts from 56 €.

The price includes entrance to the gardens, stories and advice from the gardeners, lunch and bus travel.