Yesterday’s posting featured Baltic container gardens. Today’s posting includes 12 miscellaneous photographs of scenes that this Master Gardener found thought-provoking. I took the photos last month on Ellen’s and my tour of ancient Baltic port cities aboard the Oceania Cruises “Marina.”
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| Do Baltic peoples prefer brilliant flowers as an antidote to their long, dark winters? Flower shop in Tallinn, Estonia |
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| Streets can be permeable, right, to absorb rain water and protect waterways? Tallinn, Estonia |
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| Aha! Finnish gardeners "enjoy" dandelions too! Porvoo, Finland |
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| Can you imagine the garden that must grow behind this garden gate and wall? Porvoo, Finland |
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| Latvian legend says if you find a fern in bloom in the forest, you'll have good luck forever. Does this qualify? Park in Riga, Latvia |
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| Many cultures still celebrate natural events such the summer solstice, as these decorations in Riga, Latvia, attest |
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| What flowers do gardeners in northern countries buy for their gardens at the plant market? Helsinki, Finland |
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| And what herbs do Finnish gardeners plant? Cilantro, chives, basil, parsley.... Helsinki, Finland, plant market |
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| "Grow local, eat local" is apparently also a popular trend in Helsinki |
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| The Finns apparently have figured out the key to sustainable deer management. Fast-food stand at Helsinki outdoor market |
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| Was I the only tourist to pause at a window to take a photo of this stunning rooftop garden at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia? |
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| I don't pity the German aristocrats who in centuries past admired the garden from a window of the castle at Schwerin |
Thank you for the virtual tour, Bob. Beautiful flowers and gardens indeed! I look forward to the day when I have time to both travel and plant beautiful flower gardens! Did you plant tomatoes this year? Lyndelle
ReplyDeleteI cut way back on planting tomatoes this year, Lyndelle--just 15 plants. I'm picking 20 sungolds (cherry) every other day, a few Juliets (small paste), and a few huge Brandywines, which I pick at blush stage and bring inside to ripen on our kitchen counter to avoid six-legged and four-legged pests. You'd better starting mentally planning your retirement gardens. What fun, what exercise, what exhaustion!
ReplyDeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteCouple of things. True ferns don't bloom, they reproduce by spores. Thus, you'll never have good luck for life, since ferns don't bloom. (Wikipedia)
Second, when you are as far north as Finland, you can grow a lot of great stuff because the longer daylight hours make plants feel like they are on steroids. When Mary and I went fishing in Alaska several years ago, I was amazed that sundown was at 11 PM and sun rise was at 4 am. With 19 hours of sunlight, plants grow like weeds.