30 Narrow streets and cheese are definitely some of the most enjoyable things with Montpellier – but, not surprisingly, what I liked the most about this university town when I visited in 2016 was the botanic garden. Jardin des Plantes was established in 1593, making it the oldest botanic garden in France. It is aContinue reading “Montpellier (i)”
Category Archives: botanic gardens
Glasgow (i)
18 Glasgow Botanic Gardens have ha familial feel to them. 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,Continue reading “Glasgow (i)”
Bergius (iii)
17 The separation of the “wild” and the “unnatural” has a long history, but became all the rage among the nineteenth century naturalists and conservationists. This is also a time when many botanic gardens where established, which is why I think it is so rare to find sections with cultivated, non-ornamental plants in botanic gardens.Continue reading “Bergius (iii)”
Bergius (ii)
16 Maybe what I like the most in the Bergius Botanic Garden is the herb, fruit and vegetable garden. That is not a very common feature in botanic garden contexts, the cultivated and non-ornamental. Showing the plants that we rely on for sustenance and that might be the clearest examples of what can come outContinue reading “Bergius (ii)”
Copenhagen (i)
14 The University of Copenhagen Botanic Garden is a wonderfully calm place, with greenhouses, a pond and on a day in August 2013, people sitting on the grass, reading in the sunshine. If I lived in Copenhagen, this would definitely be one of my favorite spots in the city. To come here on a sunnyContinue reading “Copenhagen (i)”
Lyon (i)
12 For many years now, I’ve been riding trains across Europe, instead of flying. I like the slower pace of travel, and the opportunity it gives to explore places on the way to my destination. During the last couple of years, I’ve planned my train transits based on where there is an interesting-looking botanic garden.Continue reading “Lyon (i)”
Lisbon (i)
9 Lisbon: It was clear that the Lisbon university botanical garden had seen better days when I visited in 2015. But also that it had seen many. Some of the trees were enormous, it was compact and quiet. It felt like a very old, wise, forgotten corner of the city, a place to go breatheContinue reading “Lisbon (i)”
Oaxaca (i)
7 Oaxaca (i): I was so excited about the ethnobotanical garden when visiting Oaxaca for a conference in 2017. Ethnobotany has become one of my academic side interests, so I was enthusiastically looking forward to visiting this place. And then I arrived, and realised the only way to enter is to take a guided tour.Continue reading “Oaxaca (i)”
Edinburgh (i)
5 In a way, one could say this is where it all started. My collection of botanic gardens. Sure, I had visited others before. But this is where I become so obsessively systematic about it. The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh in 2013. Together with dad, we marveled at the lush June flower beds, andContinue reading “Edinburgh (i)”
Bergius (i)
4 What more suitable botanic garden to start with, than the first one I ever visited as a child, the one run by the university that employs me, the one I stroll through during my lunchtime walks (or at least used to, when going to the office was still a thing one did). Bergius botanicContinue reading “Bergius (i)”
Katja Malmborg 