Hortus Botanicus, Part I

The Amsterdam Botanical Garden, Hortus Botanicus, is one of the oldest in the world, established originally as a garden of medicinal plants for doctors and apothecaries in 1638.  It was started in the terrible years of the plague, when doctors were searching desperately for anything that could provide a cure.  I write this blog as a record of our travels in part, and I find I have enough pictures I want to include that this is going to take two days to cover.  We really enjoyed our visit.

It's no secret that we love gardens, and we've visited many on our travels.  This is the Gunnera, looking like giant 8 foot tall Rhubarb leaves.  I could stand underneath them and look up!

The giant Victoria lily pads were also a familiar friend, found in a number of botanical gardens, but the other lily pads here were what caught my eye, as it had been raining.

The surface of all these lily pads were decorated with drops, or even small lakes of water.  These leaves tend to have a depression in the centre, so that`s where the bigger `lakes`collect.

The core of this botanical garden is a systematic collection of plants by genus and family.  Many of the original plants were collected by the traders of the Dutch East Indies Company, sailing the world in search of commerce, so they accumulated a lot of unknown plants in the early years.

Those unusual plants included trees, and the garden now has quite a collection of large mature trees, even though it`s on a small crowded location in downtown Amsterdam.  This is the largest Gingko tree we`ve ever seen.

I`m always intrigued by finding plants that are common here in North America growing in European gardens.  This is the common Royal Fern which I see here at home.

And this is Flowering Dogwood, one of the most beautiful small trees over eastern North America.  It doesn`t grow as far north as we live, but it sparkles in the understory of the Great Smoky Mountains in April.

For the first time we visited a small butterfly house.  though the butterflies were unfamiliar, it was a remarkable experience having them flying around your head.

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Meanwhile, we`re facing one of those nasty warm spells over the coming week.  I can`t imagine why people think a warm week at this time of year here in the snowbelt is a good thing!  It just means that the temperature starts melting the snow during the day, but every night it turns back to ice.  Our driveway becomes a skating rink, and the roads become unsafe for walking.  I finally bought myself a new pair of yaktrax so I can keep walking regardless.  But I`d far rather have snow.