Huis Te Vraag Amsterdam

This has been a Nico's discovery in his roaming around Amsterdam at the very beginning of 2009.

He could not believe a Cemetery could be so fascinating. 

Indeed such a calm spot of the city, surrounded by a canal and suburb streets. For what we could understand it's an old man keeping it, maybe some volunteers to help (voluntary service works very well in Holland). He also makes honey out the flowers of the gardens, and he sells it, beautiful!

Would you ever buy a box of honey made in a cemetery?

But here it's so normal and nice you'd do! We did!

Try to count how many parrots are in this picture! Someone has lost his own and they have fund the perfect place to build a block.

Garden is everywhere.
So nice at the entrance there is a big writing:
MEMENTO VITAE   and   MEMENTO MORI
And you really don't understand what is best

Piet Oudolf and Anja Oudolf Nursery

To see combination between a beautiful garden and a well kept nursery is such a pleasure.

I have been wondering for months what kwerkery meant, wasn't Oudolf a great landscaper?Working all around the world designing beautiful grass-scape? It wasn't THAT clear for me at the time how related and in strict connection those reality where.

Piet Oudolf garden is a beautiful one,  beautiful shaped form in contrast with healthy and bright grasses, his wife nursery is a natural one, not forced plants (as we are used so much in Italy), very well set in the constest, so every guest can choose his own combination.

Everything make me wonder about having my own nursery, where to grow uncommon plants to plants in our gardens.

 Here the pergola shapes the edges, ready to be broken from sensuous grasses

 Piet Oudolf is now so famous for the New York High Line, saved from demolition in 2002 and now a mayor garden in the City.
He is now, and earlier, a master in Landscape
His garden impress me as Impressionist painting, surprise me as early spring and give such a strong feeling of natural, even if it's everything but spontaneous.
This visit was made in August 2010, just the day before the closed to come to Italy to the Biennale in Venezia.

From this we took inspiration for our garden in euroflora

I cigli stradali

Che rabbia in questo periodo veder passare i camioncini che diserbano i cigli stradali. 

Per una mera pulizia delle strade ci perdiamo un'esplosione di colori e profumi degni dei migliori giardini.

Ad esempio nel breve tratto che da Torino va a Niella Tanaro, passando per stradine abbiamo incontrato così tante piante fiorite che alcune non le conoscevamo neanche!

Tutta questa riflessione è nata dalla ricerca qualche mese fa di piante erbacee alte almeno mezzo metro da utilizzare per il giardino di Euroflora; abbiamo girato diversi vivai specializzati in piante erbacee e la risposta era sempre negativa: troppo presto in questo periodo le erbacee sono ancora troppo indietro. Certo se le dobbiamo comprare per forza..

Voglio segnare tutte le piante fiorite sul ciglio stradale  OGGI:

erbacee:

Erba di S. Barbara Barbarea vulgaris

Geranium robertianum

Brassica napus

Papavero Papaver rhoeas

Piantagine Plantaggo major

Plantaggo lanceolata

Pratolina Bellis perennis

Tarassaco Taraxacum officinale

Salvia pratensis

Trifoglio Trifolium pratense 

Potentilla

tra gli arbusti:

Sambucus nigra

Rosa canina

Cornus mas

Per non parlare di tutte le graminacee e le erbe che donano questo effetto di pieno, di fresco che determina la primavera!

Non ci stiamo inventando nulla, da sempre il maggengo è il fieno migliore proprio per la sua ricchezza di erbe e fioriture..