Good morning from the garden!

I’m finding that my garden needs a bit of work this morning after being neglected for nearly three weeks spent first traveling, and then recovering from covid (we did recover pretty quickly, thanks for all of your well wishes).

Since my own garden is not nearly in ‘blog-worthy’ condition at the moment, I thought I’d share my recent visit to Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam (or as the locals call it, de Hortus) this morning instead.

Like any good gardener, I always try to check out any local botanical gardens when I travel.  While researching for this trip, I was excited to learn that de Hortus was only about a 20 minute walk from our hotel in Amsterdam.

We had set aside some time on our first full day to check it out.  I’m lucky that all of my traveling companions were willing to humor me and visit a botanical garden for a couple of hours.

Rain had been holding off for most of the earlier part of the day, but sure enough, nearly as soon as we got to the entrance the skies opened up.

So it maybe wasn’t the best time to be viewing the gardens.  Then again, sometimes I think gardens are prettiest in the rain.

It also was not exactly the best time of the year if one is hoping to see lots of flowers.  But then, that sort of mirrors my own garden.  I focus much more on plants grown for their foliage, rather than for flowers.

But that being said, there were a few things blooming, like this … hydrangea??

All of the plant signage was in Dutch, so it took some creative translating (sometimes with the help of google) to figure out what the plants were.

I was surprised to read that this plant is in the hydrangea family, since the flowers look nothing like any hydrangea that I grow.  Apparently in the U.S. we typically call this Yellow Wax Bells and it is good for zones 4 to 8, so I could put this in my own garden.  The University of Wisconsin-Madison says that it’s a good addition “to the back of larger shaded beds or borders or in woodland gardens,” and I just so happen to need a plant for those exact conditions in front of my new section of fence in the fern bed.  Hmmmm.  I wonder if I can find it anywhere?

The Hortus isn’t really about flowering plants though.  It was founded in 1638 and is steeped in history.  It was originally developed during the time of the plague to grow plants for medicinal purposes.  These days they have specimen plants from all over the world, many originally brought back by members of the Dutch East India Company.

I had to laugh when I walked into their three-climate greenhouse though.

Surely I didn’t go all the way to Amsterdam to see the plants that grow in my mom’s backyard, lol.

They also have a sub-tropical and a tropical section of that greenhouse, and there is a really cool catwalk that you can go up to and walk around in the tree tops.

Sidebar note; Mr. Q and I watch a BBC show called Van Der Valk, which takes place in Amsterdam.  While recovering from our covid last week, we got caught up on the most recent episodes available from Masterpiece Theatre.  We were having fun trying to spot locations that we recognized, and there were a few!  But I was especially tickled when the victim in one episode was pushed off the catwalk in de Hortus!

Fortunately, no one fell to their death during our visit.

The Hortus Botanicus is a bit on the small side at right around 3 acres, especially when compared to the ginormous Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (1,200 acres) that I’m used to, but it was the perfect size for the limited time we had.  It was a peaceful respite from the otherwise quite crowded city surrounding it.  It’s in the Jewish Quarter of the city centre, only a five minute walk from the Rembrandthuis Museum, and quite near the Holocaust Memorial.

I have to admit, I think my favorite spot in the whole place was the plant area of the gift shop.

It was just so darn charming.

If only I could have brought some plants home with me!

But no, I’ll make do with bringing home some pretty pictures and some wonderful memories instead.

And now I’d better get back out into my own garden and start tackling three weeks worth of weeds!  But before I go, tell me, have you been to de Hortus?  Or any other fabulously foreign botanical gardens?  Leave a comment and let me know.