I hope you’re not sick of my obsession with botanic gardens. I’m guessing, without a touch of nerdy love for plants, you wouldn’t have continued reading my writings anyway. So. Here is my second Scottish garden.
It has ha familial feel to it. As if, first, it’s a place where Glaswegians come to spend time together, on the lawns or on the benches that are placed everywhere. Second, it’s a botanic garden. So when I say I LOVE IT, I mean it for different reasons than for Edinburgh, or Kew, or Phoenix. Glasgow is friendly, just like the city, and there’s an approachability. Even in the types of plants they grew. A section with ordinary garden vegetables. An unkempt corner of different wild roses. An entire wing in one of the gorgeous greenhouses dedicated to out-of-style potted plants, like begonias or geraniums, the kinds of flowers my grandma used to have on her porch.
Like the enormous backyard of a hospitable older lady with very green fingers. I spent many hours there, sitting on a sunny bench reading.
However. Two specifically botanical things worth noting: The arboretum. I wouldn’t say that this in any way is the largest or most species-rich arboretum that I’ve been to, Kew in London for example has one that is immense. But the location in Glasgow, along the River Kelvin. I don’t know, there is something with the slowly moving water that brings out the quiet magnificence of the trees.
And: ORCHIDS. As it happened, the Glasgow Botanical Garden is celebrating its 200th year this year, and on the weekend that I was there the celebration meant hosting an orchid show in one of the greenhouses. Poor Natalia. With my camera, I went a little nuts. Totally. Whatever. Judge for yourself.
Katja Malmborg 