48 It is rather small, the botanic garden in Lund. Situated behind a solid brick wall on the outskirts of the old town, it is like a green little universe of its own. The high, old trees shelter the garden from the noises outside, and it is easy to forget you are in the secondContinue reading “Lund (i)”
Author Archives: Katja
Elin
47 I listened to another biography, while tending to the sprouting kale in my allotment garden. Elin Wägner (1882-1949), an early Swedish feminist, journalist and author, environmentalist, educator and outspoken pacifist during the world wars. She wrote about how our industries and our burgeoning consumption were degrading ecosystems, decades before it became a an issueContinue reading “Elin”
Wanås (i)
46 Strictly speaking not a botanic garden, but I can be generous in my definitions. Smack in the middle of the study area for my PhD project, in the municipality of Östra Göinge, lies the castle Wanås. It has a history stretching back into the 15th century and the castle played an important role inContinue reading “Wanås (i)”
belonging on Earth
45 I seem drawn to simplicity this summer. Specifically, children’s books. I’m listening to recordings of Tove Jansson’s Moomin stories and today I read “Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth” by Oliver Jeffers. These beautiful drawings of Earth and people, words about diversity and kindness, me in the suddenly-arrived August heat, sweating,Continue reading “belonging on Earth”
Oaxaca (ii)
44 The ethnobotanical garden in Oaxaca lies in the former monastery gardens, the beds separated by a grid of narrow gravel paths and surrounded by the high monastery stone walls. It was originally part of the 17th century monastery grounds, and it wasn’t opened as an ethnobotanic garden until 1998. The surrounding buildings, the formerContinue reading “Oaxaca (ii)”
marigolds
42 & 43 How we change through life fascinates me. Tastes, for example. Some change happens with active practice, like learning to love smelly cheese or wine. Other change surprises you. Growing up, I never liked marigolds. This orange flower, so common in ornamental flowerbeds, I thought they looked stiff, they smelled disgusting. Were justContinue reading “marigolds”
the wild & the tame
41 The sun is shining again and I walk down to the center square in my neighborhood, I pick up books from the library and buy strawberries. Outside the local bakery, I sit down with a cappuccino and one of their wonderful, rich cardamom buns. I read the old children’s book “Where the wild thingsContinue reading “the wild & the tame”
Meise (i)
40 Half an hour or so with a commuter bus from central Brussels lies the Meise botanic garden. It is BIG. Impressive. Covering 92 hectares of land, it can not be fully seen in a day. When I visited in 2017, I could have spent several days there, wandering around in the groves and thematicContinue reading “Meise (i)”
books & idols
39 My dad just published a book. In an interview, when asked what she will read this summer, Annika Norlin answered: “I will definitely read the Olle Adolphson biography by Jan Malmborg”. My dad’s book. Annika is Hello Saferide and Säkert!, her lyrics are little stories, smart and sad and funny, she has been myContinue reading “books & idols”
Zagreb (i)
38 Right next to the railway tracks lies Zagreb Botanical Garden. It is a small garden and not particularly well organized, but it didn’t have an entrance fee. In the afternoon one of my days in Zagreb in 2013, the air turned clammy by a heavy summer rain, a walk among the water lily poolsContinue reading “Zagreb (i)”
Katja Malmborg 