82 One of the big tourist attractions in Portland is the International Rose Test Garden, a meticulously manicured garden with over 500 different rose varieties. It is cared for by the Portland Rose Society, a non-profit founded in 1889. Hanna and I went there on a rainy Monday morning in 2012, but I was soonContinue reading “Portland (i)”
Category Archives: botanic gardens
Phoenix
81 One of the impressive things that Phoenix has to offer is the Desert Botanical Garden. And among the botanic gardens that I’ve collected over the years, this was something really special. I guess it’s part of my fascination for deserts. I just love succulents. During my visit in 2012, we realised it is reallyContinue reading “Phoenix”
Edmonton (i)
78 March 2012, afternoon. I’m sitting in the temperate pyramid greenhouse at the Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton’s botanical garden. It’s slightly cold, but with my Peruvian alpaca sweater I won’t freeze. The smell in here is heavenly, a combination of pine and herbs and the early blooming daffodils. And above me: An elk’s-horn fern growing onContinue reading “Edmonton (i)”
Hamburg (i)
77 It was on my journey back from a conference in Spain that I stopped by Hamburg in October 2018. Seeing autumn unfold outside the train windows, I never knew so much of western Germany was covered by beech forests on rolling hills. Yellow, and grey in that unique way of beeches. Close to theContinue reading “Hamburg (i)”
Helsinki (i)
75 It was a chilly day in May, spring just arriving. I was fascinated, having just been in Glasgow where everything was in full bloom, the sun had been warm and where reading on a bench in the botanic garden, only wearing t-shirt and jeans, was perfectly comfortable. Not here. Mittens and hat were neededContinue reading “Helsinki (i)”
Glasgow (ii)
74 The Glasgow Botanic Garden is friendly, just like the city, and there’s an approachability. It has a familial feel. Even in the types of plants they grow. A section with ordinary garden vegetables. An unkempt corner of different wild roses. An entire wing in one of the gorgeous greenhouses dedicated to old fashioned pottedContinue reading “Glasgow (ii)”
Pagoeta / Iturraran
71 In the municipality of Aia, about 25 km from San Sebastian, lies the Pagoeta Nature Reserve and the Iturraran Botanical Garden. I visited the park as part of an afternoon fieldtrip during a conference I attended in San Sebastian in October 2018. The park has an old farmhouse on the mountain-side and an oldContinue reading “Pagoeta / Iturraran”
Kew (i)
70 Kew Royal Botanic Gardens is, according to their own website, the finest botanic garden in the world, old, huge and in 2003 added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The garden was first created in 1759 and now covers 121 hectares of land. The greenhouses are magnificent to look at. So classy,Continue reading “Kew (i)”
Edinburgh (ii)
69 I bring books to botanic gardens. Sitting on a bench under the hanging branches of this tree, reading “Ancillary Justice” by Ann Leckie, breathing in the fragrant, humid air of the greenhouse – for a moment fooling myself that I could be in an exotic place about to go on an adventure. Escapism, IContinue reading “Edinburgh (ii)”
Belem
68 The botanic tropical garden in Belem is rather large (for being located so centrally), but felt somehow disjointed when I visited in September 2015. It had it’s places, like this small pond with a pavilion being reflected in the water’s calm surface. But the open design didn’t allow for the kind of immersion inContinue reading “Belem”
Katja Malmborg 