I’m far away from Pittsburgh this week so this will be an abbreviated post. Brooke and I are in the Netherlands visiting friends (and all our favorite cafes) from when we lived in Amsterdam. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about plants. I’ve been noticing a lot of garden strips along Amsterdam’s canals:
The sign above says “bloemen voor vlinders, bijen en mensen,” which, according to Google translate, means “flowers for butterflies, bees and people.” In such a bustling urban environment, there isn’t a lot of room for green space in the center of the city so this seems like a pretty smart way to make room for some wildlife habitat. Maybe the canal-side garden is something of the hellstrip of Amsterdam? Our friends Thomas and Anna also pointed out a few of these green islands in the middle of larger waterways:
We also timed our trip to coincide with Floriade, an international horticultural exhibition, that only takes place once a decade in the Netherlands. It’s something of a cross between a world’s fair, sustainability festival, sculpture garden and plant show. It was the size of Disneyland and completely overwhelming but I’ll give you a recap next week.
Have you visited any gardens on your summer vacations? I’d love to hear about them.
And one more thing: I enjoyed this NY Times article about why ‘September is the new May’ in gardening. Also, it includes some beautiful photos from Chanticleer, which I visited a few weeks back.
I thoroughly enjoyed this snack sized read! It makes me long for the rose garden in Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany. It’s a beautiful display of over 60 varieties of roses in a splendid courtyard overlooking the town. Can’t wait to read more from you!
Inspirational! Cool to see how small spaces can be beautiful, useful havens. Looking forward to learning what you saw at the exhibition. Safe travels!