Muscari armeniacum

A week of muscaris

Prêt-à-porter potager?

I visited some days ago the nursery to buy some bulbs to force them and have some color at home (post about color will follow this one), and I saw this ready-to-go potager. At first I was intrigued and thought that is OK to buy ready-made stuff and have it for your terrace if you do not have a garden.

But then inmediately I discarded the idea because the whole point of having your own potager is to do it yourself for the healthy benefits of growing your own and for the fun of actually doing it, of building your own "miniature orchard".  This is definitely not my idea of green and sustainable living.
What is yours opinion?

Hortus Botanicus Leiden, second part: the Gardens

This post is the continuation of Hortus Botanicus Leiden first part: the Winter Garden, here the visit continues exploring mainly the grounds of the complex.  The Hortus is located in the historic cneter of Leiden and as part of the University of Leiden, one of the most important mission is research and the garden houses more than ten thousand specimens organized in different collections.

The different building were designed to accomodate collections and offer a place for scientists to study, develop and preserve the living collections house in the garden.  The scientific community working in the botanical garden and collaborators from other departments at the University of Leiden, dedicate time an efforst to work in cooperation with other institutions in the identification and preservation of endangered species.

This botanical garden was the one to first cultivate tulips in The Netherlands.  Clusius introduced the first bulbs in late XVI century, which led later to the  the Tulip mania, what was to become almost an obsession for the Dutch people, and source of many successful business.

The visit was in early January, whe it is generally possible to enjoy the winter seasonal planting.  But  this winter being particularly mild in Europe, until the third week of January when a polar wave has been beating almost all records of low temperatures in many countries, the botanical looked more like in fall season than in usual Dutch cold winter.  Neverthless, the nakeness of many not perennial plants helped to discover the design of the different sections of the gardens, which can be appreciated in the images illustrating the post. 

The images here are offering general views and details of plants, trees and garden's sections.

General plan of the garden,

Entrance by the canal, wih the WInter Garden in the background,

Mixed of winter plants, among some helleborus at the entrace as a welcome to visitors

Outdoors welcome area with seats and decorated with aromatiques and herbs,

The laburnum anagyroides is to believed being planted in this same spot in 1601, adorned here with helleborus,

A view from the Winter Garden of the Clusius Garden, with medicinal plants and herbs,

The Victoria greenhouse on the left in the image, houses tropical plants,

 The Oragenry has a large collection of sub-tropical plants that are housed inside from October until April, and them relocated outside weather permitting,

 Small greenhouses are set in between sections,

Some parterres for the bulbs collections, some crocus were starting to bloom, 

A view to the Herbs Garden,

 The Fern Garden, with a ornamental pond  and bridges offer seats to enjoy the view, 

 The first snowdrops in early January!

The observatory in the background,

Helleborus and cornus,

The systematic garden is planted in a area that runs parallel to the street outside the garden, here there are beds with plants arranged as C. Linnaeus's botanical taxonomy,

Panels offer descriptions of every planting,

  An cozy area for warmer weather,

These signals were spread over all the agrden showing the route of the visit (also explained in brochures from the reception desk), they were discret in size and did not disturb too much the aesthetic of the gardens,

One of the interesting areas  and very visited, is the Japanese Garden or the Von Siebold Garden, German physician, researcher and collector, who spent many years in Japan.  After retourning to Europe and troubled times, he settled in Leiden with most part of his collections that were teh beginnings of several museums and research departments.  He introduced many plants to Europe, among them the hosta, the hydrangea or the wisteria,

Statue of Von Siebold with hydrangeas,

The Japanese pavillion in the Siebold Garden,

 General view of the Rosarium, or Rose Garden,

Ornamentals by a pond,

Here, I am taking some images trying to capture the bare beauty of the Laburnum at the entrance in frontt of the Clusius Garden,

The entrace/exit from the side of the Academy Building of the University of Leiden,

A thank you to Karin

I like to thank Karin, from Southern Meadows, who has given me  a "Versatile Blogger Award" and I really appreciate it.  But let me jst change a bit the protocol here and just invite you to check on some blogs I follow and enjoy reading, all deserving the award as well and I that may have not being already awarderd.

I find Donna from Garden walk, garden talk, a really versatile blogger as she edits posts about many different subjects, but I really appreciate her enthusiasm in sharing her photography and "tips" with her readers.
Jill from Landscapelover, always offers a particular vision of history of landscape, now from a different continent.
John Grimshaws garden diary is one of these very informative and amusing blogs.
As for travel blogs, I like to read the notes from Alice in Alice's garden travel buzz, or the journeys from one continent to another of Charlotte from The galloping gardener.

Hortus Botanicus Leiden first part: the Winter Garden

This post is the first of two that will portray a visit to the Hortus Botanicus Leiden, a magnificent botanical garden, the oldest in The Netherlands, that was founded in 1590 with permission to be located next to the Academy buildings and with the goal of being of use for the medicine students.

The first prefect was Carolus Clusius, who in 1594 designed a small garden turned into a medicinal garden and who encouraged the collection of specimens brought from many parts of the world, including South-east Asia, Southern Europe, or South Africa.  The small garden below is a reconstruction from the original and has the name of his founder, the Clusius Garden. Clusius was a very prominent botanist and by all accounts, who started planting a collection of tulips in The Netherlands as soon as 1594.

The Hortus botanicus Leiden can be considered a living museum, compounded by different buildings with grounds in between, that were added along the centuries.  One of the latest one is the Winter Garden, in the background in the image below.  It is a glass and steel huge cubical box, with maximum transparency to receive all sun and light possible, that houses a collection of sub-tropical plants, Cycades and carnivorous plants, among others.

The interior of the Winter Garden is spectacular for the number of plants, the importance of the collection and the information for researchers that the collection offer.  Through its glass walls, there is a great view to the botanical garden, the Academy buildings and nearby areas of central Leiden.

But at the same time the impressive transparency and openness of the building, allows the visitor to enjoy the sub-tropical or tropical collections from the outside.

The interior division is based on the collection and the first floor is taken by the Cycades or palm ferns, plants that have millions of years of history, they can survive in the most extreme situations.  But man's actions have threaten them to almost the extinction, and this botanical garden (in collaboration with the New York Botanical Garden and the Thailand Nong Nooch Tropical Garden) has started a program of cultivation and preservation.

The spiral ladder from the ground floor take the visitor the upper floor, almost in the ceiling, which is completely taken by the display of temporary exhibits of part of the collection of carnivorous plants.  these plants need all the light they can get and a daily dose of insects.

Elevated walkways connect the different areas from where the views of the garden is grandiose, with hanging planters that are full with pots of specimens from different families of carnivorous plants in different stages of growing.

There are collections of varieties from the same family, like the Sarracenias, plants natives to Northern America,

sarracenia alata

sarracenia leucophylla

sarracenia leucophylla

sarracenia leucophylla

sarracenia with flower

Other beauties are the small Droseras, that can live in any continent, 

drosera capensis

drosera capensis

Or the family of the airy Roridulas native from South Africa,

rorudula gorgonia

roridula gorgonia

roridula dentata 

roridua dentata

 These are just some of the "jewels" that can be found inside the Winter Garden, and below is the view outside to the "Clusius Garden", which will be point to continue the visit and the start of the next post.

The Clusius Garden