Visit to the Palmengarten

Water Lily, watercolour, 5.8" x 8. 3"

Blog 11

After I told you about my travel odyssey last time, it is time to turn to the pleasant sides of my Germany trip. Whenever I visit Germany, I enjoy being a tourist in my country. You probably know from experience that you have so many plans to see the sights in your area but often only do it when you have guests from afar. In the upcoming blogs, I will give you a glimpse of some of the attractions in the Rhine-Main area.

When I left Ottawa at the end of May to go to Germany, I was excited that I had seen the tulips and lilacs in bloom. I had feared that I would miss these signs of spring. Both had long finished blooming in Germany. Early spring flowers, like crocuses, start to bloom in mid-February in the milder regions of Germany. At the end of May, my parents' garden was a paradise of blooms, reflecting my mother’s love for flowers. When she was younger, she wanted to become a gardener or florist, but her father thought people could not earn money working with their hands. He would probably not believe what some craftsmen make these days.

She is, however, not the only one with a green thumb. My father is also taking excellent care of their shrubs and plants. Unfortunately, I did not inherit this gift. Our yard looks rather wild because I have a hard time caring for our flower beds despite my best intentions every year. However, my artist's eye appreciates the beauty and variety of forms and colours. I am interested more in observing and capturing nature's gifts on paper or canvas. Summer and fall are my favourite seasons because of the richness of brilliant colours. Some of my favourite flowers, roses, hibiscuses and peonies, were the most stunning plants that bloomed while I was in Germany.

 

 

Above, you see some of the drawings and paintings I created. For most of them I used watercolours and watercolour pencils. The varies flowers in the top right image are from my sketchbook. I used coloured pencils.

Due to my limited mobility, I tried to arrange sightseeing trips with my friends that offered easy access and opportunities to rest and walk at a leisurely pace. When I saw that the Palmengarten hosted the Rose Week in mid-June, I was determined to go. Even though I had worked only about one kilometre from the botanical gardens for many years, I never went there before. I even had several balls at one of the buildings after dance courses without any idea about the beauty of nature accessible to the public.

June was sweltering. Temperatures reached over 30 degrees centigrade. However, a friend and I picked the perfect day, the only slightly crisper day to visit the gardens. Many of the roses had started blooming early in the hot weather, and the gardeners had a lot of work to trim the dead blooms of the bushes. We had a fantastic time studying the large varieties of roses and checking their sweet smell. Did you know that only a few had a strong fragrance and that the intensity decreased with the ripeness of the flower?

While the roses were stunning, other parts of the park were also breathtaking. We followed the path around one pond where you could rent boats to another pond with turtles sunbathing or swimming with ducks and enormous carp. One fish was jumping out of the water twice to avoid a collision with another one. I wish I had my camera ready at that moment. It would have been a phenomenal shot.

We saw cute chicks following their mom on their first adventures. They did not care about the pedestrians walking around them. There were proud geese with amazingly coloured feathers walking proudly on the path as if they were royalty.

The rock garden and the heather garden contained some outstanding plants - some looked like glass objects created by Chihuly. It was fascinating to see that nature produces specimens that look like futuristic artworks. While we enjoyed refreshments at the cafe in the Villa Leonhardi, I drew one of the gigantic specimens. The plant bloom was about 75 cm long, and the leaves were probably more than a meter in diameter.

 

We took our time to explore the grounds but managed to see only about one-third of the area. We did not even go into any buildings to see the tropical plants. However, we loved the stunning water lilies in the pool at the entrance. I found so much inspiration there that I wished I could take my painting buddies for a trip to the garden. I would visit the Palmengarten monthly if I still lived in the Frankfurt/Main area. There is plenty to see, and the view changes with the seasons.

After this unforgettable excursion, I returned to Frankfurt twice for other cultural events. I will tell you more about them in two weeks.

If you spent time in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, I would love to hear about your experiences and recommendations.