Category: plants

The palace garden, Venice

Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

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A variation on the same theme. . . in Venice, at Christmas, our hotel also had an unusually large garden.

The Boscolo Venezia was built in the 16th century as a family palace.  It  is located in the Sestiere Cannaregio, between the Fondamenta de la Madonna dell’Orto and the lagoon, facing the island of Murano.

It claims to be the only hotel in Venice with a garden over 2,000 square meters.

Long and fairly narrow with winding paths of light grey pea gravel, the garden is heavily planted in trees and large, dark-leaved shrubs (and variegated Aucuba japonica). Berms down the sides and crossing the middle increase the sense of privacy, restrict a sense of the whole, and make the garden seem larger.

Click on any thumbnail in the gallery below to scroll through larger images.

Entering the garden from the lobby.
The back facade of the hotel.
Overlooked by the tower of Madonna dell’Orto.
The main path is cushioned by a carpet — easier on shoes and rolling suitcases.
Aucuba japonica.
Hydrangea paniculata.
A path to the top of a berm.
A “ruin” at the top.
The little bridge between berms.
An old stone trough from above.
A tunnel through a berm.
The garden wall at the top of a berm.
A Madonna dell’Orto or Madonna of the garden.
The grotto beneath a berm.
There’s an incredible echo down there.
The back of the garden.
Dancing lights.
The garden lights.
There are several more rooms on the lagoon side.
The hotel’s dock.

The mission garden, Basel

Cindy at enclos*ure3 Comments

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

During our Thanksgiving visit to Basel, Switzerland, we stayed at Hotel Bildungzentrum 21 or Hotel Educational Center 21.

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

Although a large garden was mentioned on TripAdvisor when I was booking, I had guessed that this would mean — particularly in late November — neat gravel paths, some dormant shrubs and lawn, and beds of chilly purple pansies on a 8″ planting grid.

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

That the “private park” would actually encompass meadows, large plots for flowers, vegetables, and herbs, rows of berry bushes, and an orchard was a wonderful surprise.

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

The hotel’s rooms are in one part of a building constructed in the 1860s as housing for the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society, now called Mission 21. (Hermann Hesse lived here for six years as a child.) The garden was once a place for teaching outgoing missionaries how to grow their own food.

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

Today, it is cared for by Unigärten Basel — a collective of University student gardeners — in collaboration with Urban Agriculture Basel and ProSpecieRara.

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

Unigärten’s goal for the Mission 21 garden is to show the “greatest possible diversity of plants” within a permaculture system. They believe the garden, open to hotel guests and the surrounding neighborhood, can inspire both experienced and novice gardeners.

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

I loved this practical and romantic garden.  I spent the beginning and end of every day we were there taking dozens and dozens of pictures — which is why it has taken me so long to post this. (There’s also a good photo of the garden in summertime here.)

The back garden, Mission 21, Basel, Switzerland, late November 2015, by enclos*ure

(At the bottom of this post, you can click on ‘Continue reading’ and then on any thumbnail in gallery, and you can scroll through larger versions of all these photos, plus several more.)

 

The back garden

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In the back garden, seven rectangular and square sections are outlined in sheared boxwood.

Wild plants (Wildpflanzen) — particularly those that thrive in dry and waste or disturbed ground (Ruderalflächen) — take their place alongside the urban agriculture. They have been left to spread largely undisturbed along the pathways and under shrubs and fruit trees.  And in the two meadows, there are forty species, “providing joy to many insects,” according to a sign posted outside the restaurant.

The front garden

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The front garden, across from the hotel entrance,  does contain curving gravel paths and lawn, but also a number of large, old trees underplanted in a very rough and natural way with native plants from the region — mostly those with the downy oak forest as their native habitat.

You can also see that this front area has been designed to accommodate the hotel’s and the Mission’s entertaining needs and is surely at its best in the warmer months, full of tables and chairs, lights, and people.

Basel travel tips

Hotel Bildungszentrum 21 is two blocks from the historic city center. The rooms are simple, but comfortable.  Their rates are very reasonable.

Meals are the biggest expense for a tourist in Basel. Main dishes in all the guidebooks’ lists of budget restaurants are $20-$45.  A Whopper meal at the local Burger King is around $15, although sandwiches from bakeries, eaten standing up, can be had for $6 – $10.

I can recommend Zum Isaak and the bistro of the Museum der Kulturen (nice for lunch), both on Münsterplatz; Manger & Boire at Barfüsserplatz; and ONO deli cafe bar at Spalenvorstadt and Kornhausgasse (their generous Zmorge breakfasts are good for lunch too).

All public city transportation is free for anyone staying in a Basel hotel. Just ask for a pass when checking in.
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In a vase on Monday: Narcissus

Cindy at enclos*ure20 Comments

8 January 2016
I got tired of watching the stems — or the whole pot — of my indoor winter bulbs fall over almost as soon as they bloomed, so when I bought these four Narcissus already a few inches tall in a little plastic pot, I lifted them out of the potting mix, shook it off (I also trimmed back some of the root mass), and replanted them in chipped-up seashells at the bottom of a vase.

5 January 2016
They seem happy enough about the switch.

6 January 2016

To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  

A study in steps: Schürhof, Basel

Cindy at enclos*ure4 Comments

12 Museum of Culture, Basel, 2015, enclos*ure

After I took a number of photos of the hanging plant columns of the Basel Museum of Culture (during our visit at Thanksgiving), I turned my attention to the courtyard around them — the Schürhof — the floor of which is largely a set of low, wide steps descending to the museum lobby and gift shop.

The entrance to the courtyard and museum on Munsterplatz.

The street entrance to the courtyard and thus to the museum is through a simple archway on the Münsterplatz.

Before the museum was renovated in 2011 by Herzog & de Meuron, the Schürhof* was not open to the public.  The museum shared a door with the Museum of Natural Sciences around the corner.

Looking at a “before” photo (here, fourth image), the old courtyard appears to have been used at least partly as a parking lot.

27 Museum of Culture, Basel, 2015, enclos*ure
Looking out on the courtyard from the lobby.

The renovation excavated it to open up a new museum entrance in the base of the existing 1917 neoclassical building.

The other buildings that enclose the Schürhof are medieval.

28 Museum of Culture, Basel, 2015, enclos*ure

Above and below are three views from upper windows inside the museum.

29 Museum of Culture, Basel, 2015, enclos*ure
The entrance to the courtyard is in the upper left corner.

30 Museum of Culture, Basel, 2015, enclos*ure
You can see a plan of the courtyard here (fifth image).

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