Because I haven’t really been gardening here in Stuttgart, I decided that for this year’s Bloom Days, I would make a record of the flowers of the display garden of the 18th century Spielhaus at the Exotic Garden of the University of Hohenheim, which is close to our neighborhood.
Unfortunately, when I visited this afternoon it was snowing hard, and I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked. I may have to try again later this week.
Please click on any thumbnail in the gallery below to scroll through larger images. And to see what’s blooming today for other garden bloggers, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
First seeing the Spielhaus through Japanese cornelian cherry trees in bloom.
Cornus officinalis.
The Spielhaus or playhouse,
which is part of the “English Garden” (now called the Exotic Garden) constructed by Duke Carl Eugen and his mistress (and later wife) Franziska von Hohenheim in the late 1700s. It’s now incorporated into modern Hohenheim University.
Abeliophyllum distichum. . .
. . . or white forsythia.
At this point, I was really hoping that my camera was water resistant.
Flowering Arabis ferdinandi-coburgi ‘Variegata’ or Alpine wall cress.
I believe the patch of blue on the right is a planting of Scillas.
Of course, there were snowdrops.
Abeliophyllum distichum ‘Roseum’ with hellebores in the background.
Aubrita-Hybride ‘Lavander’.
Pansies on the terrace.
Wisteria on the arbors.
Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’. . .
. . . or sweet-smelling winter honeysuckle.
A huge Platanus x hispanics or London plane tree.
You must stand still; and then. . . you will hear the infinite march of buds faintly roaring.
— Karel Capek [on the coming of spring], from The Gardener’s Year
enclos*ure 