It’s long ago. Very long ago. I think it was an instant idea after I had visited the botanical garden here in Munich. I took a few lovely pictures and thought about starting a blog series that would present all those beautiful, lush and serene botanical gardens that I visit along my way. I announced it HERE and then – nothing happened! Until now! Today I am officially kicking off my new blog series named ‘Lost in Plantation’ and I will take you to various botanical gardens around the globe. To premiere the series I am taking you to the last botanical garden I visited: the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam.
It was late September when I went to Amsterdam to speak at the Meet the Blogger conference about our Urban Jungle Bloggers project together with my ‘plant partner in crime’ Judith de Graaff. After our keynote speech we couldn’t help but use the remaining few hours in Amsterdam to head over to the famous Hortus Botanicus – one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. We spent one hour or so meandering through the vast outdoor gardens and getting steamed up in the greenhouses – it was such a funny moment when we both got all steamy and our cameras fogged up completely. Botanical garden haphazard!
The Hortus Botanicus is located in Amsterdam’s city center and dates back to 1638. You can discover around 6,000 plants of more than 4,000 species in an outdoor area and several greenhouses with different climate zones. I also think that the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam is one of the most instagrammed places for plant lovers – the desert greenhouse with cacti and succulents has a very photogenic dusky pink wall and the spiky stars looks oh so pretty in front of it!
The botanical garden in Amsterdam has some amazing plant highlights for its visitors: the Victoria water lily, is a giant water lily that flowers at night and only for two consecutive nights – the first night it is a white flower, the second night it’s a pink flower and then it closes and disappears under the water surface. The magic of nature! Another highlight is the Quiver tree, a tree-like aloe species from southern Africa as well as the Wood’s cycad, a dinosaur among the plants that is considered as an ancestor of flowering plants.
The Hortus Botanicus offers numerous places for a quiet and peaceful rest – you can even bring your book and just sit, read and enjoy being surrounded by nature. A great café offers refreshments and a shop good plant related literature. Now all you have to do is put it on your to-visit list for your next Amsterdam trip! See you next time from another botanical garden for ‘Lost in Plantation’!
Photography by Igor Josifovic
3 Comments
Hi Igor, I love it when you get lost in plantation :))
Have a fab day my friend,
Axx
Thank you my friend! Have a great day too!
Wonderful pictures Igor, makes me want to visit it soon and visit with a camera and lots of time the one in my home town too.
I recently found a cacti composition picture I took in the botanical garden in Groningen long time ago, when I lived there and remembered it is really a long time I do not visit one. Something must be done about it.
😉
Great idea about your new topic, looking forward to see your pictures of green gardens around the world.
xxx