Three Climate Greenhouse

On the final instalment of our feature on Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam we'll be sharing photos of our walk through their most interesting greenhouse attraction - the Three Climate Greenhouse.

When I first started preparing to blog about this greenhouse my initial idea was to divide it into three individual posts. But then again it might be over stretching a topic a bit too much hence now only one post. As the name suggests the greenhouse is divided into three climactic zones: temperate, tropical, and arid.

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Palm Greenhouse at Hortus Botanicus

We continue our feature on Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam with the second of their three greenhouse attractions - the Palm Greenhouse.

The building itself looks new so we were surprised to find out that it was built in 1912, making it just over a hundred years old. But it was renovated, and perhaps also restored in 2011 which probably explains why it is looking in very good condition.

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Butterflies and Baja California

We continue our tour of Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam by featuring the first of their three greenhouse attractions - The Butterfly Greenhouse. The other two being the The Palm Greenhouse and Three Climate Greenhouse.

Keeping in mind how small this botanic garden is, their greenhouses are relatively small too but all has sufficient interests in them to merit a visit. And of the three, The Butterfly Greenhouse is the smallest. 

And speaking of threes, the butterflies are just in one of three adjoining greenhouses. The middle one is used for propagation and not open to the public. The outer ones though are open to visitors.

Baja California to the left and Butterflies to the right

Before we proceed to see the butterflies let's check out the Baja California one first...

Even though we haven't been I'm pretty sure that this greenhouse doesn't do this part of Mexico any justice at all but the plants inside are interesting enough to check out. Gotta love a greenhouse laden with spikies!

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Tiny, But Packs a Punch!

The Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam is one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world and is located within the centre of the city which makes it very convenient to visit. And it is perhaps one of the smallest too, tiny even but it is relative to the size of the city rather than dominating it.

Tiny it may bet it certainly still packs a punch!

I'll let Wikipedia and it's own website do most of the talking when it comes to more information about it. For now let me share to you first some of the few photos we've taken outside before we give a tour of its three greenhouses on separate posts:

The entrance to the Three Climate Greenhouse

Winter still has its grip of the city and there's not much going on outside apart from the resilience of the evergreens. Phyllostachys to the left and Cortaderia to the right.

I thought it was a Schefflera at first but it was Daphniphyllum macropodum

Nice looking building but not open to the public, although parts of it can be hired for private parties. At other times I can imagine this is where most of their administration work is done.

Before we continue let's have a very quick look at their plant sales area first...

Hostas in leaf like it's late May already...

And Hydrangeas in bloom! This is Holland afterall...

Now on to other parts outside:

The Palm House, one of its three greenhouse attractions. The structure looks a lot newer than it's age of almost a hundred years old.

Winding paths with herbaceous beds in between

Carnivorous plants beds just outside the Three Climate Greenhouse. Hardy but scruffy!

Nice enough place to pause and sit. I wonder if next month the pansies will be replaced by tulips in bloom...

A small Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) still in a cage??? We can't believe this gimmick is still being done!

Perhaps an instruction is written on the tag when they bought it saying - must be placed in a cage if to be planted in a botanic garden. Ah well, a little plant drama never did harm.

We only took a few photos outside especially as it seems winter still has its grip on the place but I can imagine change is about to happen pretty rapidly in the next few days. The biggest highlights of our visit were a look a look into their three greenhouse attractions which we'll feature on upcoming posts!

Mark :-)

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Droog Garden

Droog is a design company based in Amsterdam and their studio curates various modern objects for the home and other spaces. Since we're in the city we paid their studio a visit, to check out their items and perhaps take in some inspiration as well (we're into modern decorative objects and home furnishings too as some of you may have figured out already).

The studio had some very nice and cutting edge objects for the home but the biggest surprise was their courtyard, a surreal looking garden full of modern....art? Conceptual perhaps.

Some of you may shudder at the idea of art in the garden whilst some embrace it wholeheartedly. So depends on which camp you are you will either like or loathe this space. If you like it perhaps you like modern items too.

We liked it, it looked fun and quirky but we like it for what it is, a courtyard in a shop/studio used to demonstrate concepts and and modern pieces of garden/outdoor products. It was a fun surprise for sure!

No garden products went home with us though, but a few indoor light fittings did!

Mark :-)

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Happy Face

After all the cutting back and scrubbing of last weekend it was time to let go of grumpiness and don a happy face. The best antidote sometimes is to get away from it all.

It's been tricky for the both of us recently to get some time off from work and I'm just glad that we managed to this time. With not much time to plan we headed off somewhere not too far away, in fact only a forty five minute plane ride - Amsterdam. 

I've been to this city several times before but it's been twelve years since my last visit and six years of so since Gaz last visited. Despite both being here before, Gaz and I have never visited together and I've almost forgotten how pretty this city is.

It's even prettier than how I remember it to be and it's almost a new experience all over again. This is something I can rarely say about other places.

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