Walking through the woods this time of year can inspire to create something with those ephemeral treasures – fallen leaves.
This “leaf art” hangs in the Buchheim museum at Lake Starnberg.
And don’t forget to check out Christopher Niemann’s post “Bio-diversity”- absolutely brilliant!
Oh, glorious Autumn! Why can’t every day be colorful and sunny?
Unfortunately, the weather changes rapidly this time of year. The day after I took these photos the wind blew most of the leaves to the ground and the sun is behind gray clouds. To know it is shining on the other side of the Alps brings the temptation to jump in the car and hit the Brenner pass…
I recently returned from Istanbul, Turkey. It probably tops my list of favorite cities to visit considering all it has to offer; warm, sunny weather in October, lots of cultural sights, wonderfully exotic sounds and smells, and the beautiful Bosphorus.
From what I’ve read, Turkish gardens differ from Persian ones in that they usually do not include water (perhaps because water is less scarce here). Unfortunately, very few traditional Ottoman gardens remain in Turkey. The public gardens of Topkapi palace, Blue Mosque and Dolmabache palace we visited in Istanbul were all influenced by Roman (Western) gardens and included lots of water elements as in the examples below;
This Sunday is the last day of the annual three week Oktoberfest celebration in Munich. The entire town smells like beer and is decorated in Bavarian colors. Just about every shop window participates, including this flower shop close to Marienplatz. Dried hops, the most important ingredient of beer, is the focus of its Oktoberfest display as seen in these hops wreaths;
these planters are made of barley (used for malting beer) flowers ;
and driving recently from Munich to Frankfurt we passed many fields where hops is grown
Currents – Gardens – Minimalist Terrariums From Atlas Industries – NYTimes.com.
Beautiful, but an expensive version of a houseplant! How much would you spend for low-maintenance? $9,500 Could buy many new plants or fresh bouquets of flowers. And imagine if the dog knocks it over?
I love this little man and his watering cans! I discovered him in the courtyard of the Münchner Künstlerhaus.
His expression is priceless but so is the sound of trickling water. My search for a European fountain to import to my own NJ courtyard continues…
Visiting the Venice Biennale this summer was an inspirational experience. The setting on the edge of this amazing city is a spectacular cool, green park. Some of the art pavillions are more botanically focussed and therefore suit this blog.
Outside the Scandinavian pavillion remain signs of the origin of the park.
This laquered plaster botanical sculpture by Natalie Djurberg is part of an extensive series which filled a large, dark room.
The wood panels in the Japanese pavillion surrounded an old water basin filled with aquatic plants;
The Venetian pavillion, although reminded of the famous glass work of the Murano factory, is the work of Dale Chihuly, an American artist;
Wow, the month of August ist vorbei and not a single entry from me. Oooops, sorry! But I’m back with renewed energy and a new toe (!) after Halux Rigidus surgery.
I’ve many impressions and summer garden images to share with you these next few weeks but locally it’s raspberry season! My children love to pick these delicious berries while testing in the field. This year we ate them plain or with a little vanilla ice-cream but in previous years I’ve boiled them quickly with a little water and sugar and kept them in the fridge for up to 10 days.
This article, Fine Gardening magazine on raspberry growing gives lots of information about how to grow them in the garden but we are lucky to have the fields around the corner from our house in Munich.
This recent article in the New York Times describes a method (which I have not tested, unfortunately) to prevent berries from growing moldy.
Sempervivums are on the top of my list of favorite plants. Their form and function, especially in containers, invaluable to any garden. I was amazed at this display at our rental house in Tuscany where they are happy plants in afternoon shade. Much like a frosted cake, they spill over the large cement container and require little besides a rare drop of rain.
I’ve heard people complain about not having enough room to create a garden. In this photo taken in a small medieval village in Tuscany, Italy last week, you can see that space nor soil is a requirement for creating a green welcome to visitors.
Taking into account the dryness, heat and lack of natural soil (and depth of less than one meter!), this resident has succesfully created what I’d consider a lush garden suiting to its limestone environment.
