Travel Report from Amsterdam - Hortus Botanicus Garden

One of the horticultural highlights of my three-week trip to Europe was visiting the Hortus Botanicus botanical garden in Amsterdam.

Though the garden is quite petite by U.S. botanical garden standards (only 3 acres), but it does manage to pack an impressive 4,000 species into that space. It also definitely has an edge over North American botanical gardens in terms of longevity since it was founded back in 1638, more than a century before the United States declared its independence from Great Britain.

Here are some of my favorite sights from the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam:

As soon as we stepped into the garden, my wife noticed this frog hopping across a gravel path. Always a good sign when the local garden ecosystem can support frogs!

New England Aster (Symphotricum novae-angliae), it's a pretty plant if you focus on the tippy-top and ignore the 5-6 feet of dead and dying foliage underneath. Also note that the garden had to corral the plants with a cord to keep them from flopping all over the place. In short, a vivid illustration of why there might be better ex-Asters for your garden. 

Honeybee hive hidden in a corner of the garden

This is Decaisnea fargesii, an Asian tree known colloquially (for obvious reasons) as Blue Bean, Blue Sausage Fruit or the unforgettable Dead Man's Fingers. Having only read about this in books, it was fun to see it in person for the first time! Not only does it make a eye-catching ornamental, but the fat long blue seedpods can be split open to reveal an edible and potentially sweet pulp (along with reportedly inedible seeds). I did not sample the fruit in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, Blue Sausage tree apparently cannot tolerate drought or hot summer climates, which I suppose explains why it's growing in cool Amsterdam and why I've never seen it in Tennessee.

Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam has a marvelous Butterfly Greenhouse. Here you can see butterflies emerging from their chrysalises. 

The butterflies are raised on site in a separate greenhouse that's normally off-limits to the public (although I was able to sneak a peak). These are some Very Hungry Caterpillars!

I had a chance to pet this fuzzy caterpillar and see the chrysalis that this species builds. The caterpillar felt soft as a teddy bear. (But don't assume that any fuzzy-looking caterpillar is safe to touch -- some of them can pack a hidden punch!)

I believe this is the same species of butterfly as in the photo directly above. Notice how the colors fade with age. 

Here are some amazing Glasswinged butterflies with transparent wings that appear to have just emerged recently from their chrysalises.

One of my favorites - the Owl Butterfly!

Another Owl Butterfly

Zebra Longwing butterfly, I believe

This was a rather interesting tree. First, as you can see, it's been grafted and the graft is quite obvious since the very bottom of the trunk looks dramatically different from the rest of the tree. I don't remember the identity of the rootstock, but the scion (the top part of the plant) is apparently a species called Manna Ash or Plume Ash (Fraxinus ornus). I'd never seen this kind of tree before and outside of its handsome ornamental characteristics, I was interested to read that the tree apparently produces a sugary sap (known as Manna) that can be used as a gentle laxative!

This is a robust clump of Kalimeris pinnatifida, also known as Double Japanese Aster. Highly recommended by Allan Armitage at University of Georgia. I hope to try this in my garden at some point. Clearly it seems to have a flopping problem, at least when grown in a somewhat shady spot. (Maybe it's more upright with more sunshine?) Regardless, the foliage certainly looks much better than that of the New England Aster.

 

This is Osmanthus heterophyllus, also known as False Holly for obvious reasons. I'd like to try some of this in my garden, but it's very hard (impossible?) to find locally except for the highly variegated "Goshiki" variety. Goshiki is nice and I may end up buying that by default, but I wish that some of the local nurseries started carrying one of the green cultivars.

Finally, I bring you a Plant Behind Bars!
Yep, it's a caged Wollemi Pine.
Don't worry - the plant is not dangerous to people!
Rather, it's people that might be dangerous to the plant, and since this is a very rare and endangered species -- once thought to be extinct -- the Hortus Botanicus is determined to protect it.
It was quite a neat experience to see this so-called living fossil, a link to a faraway era.

Travel Report Amsterdam -- Passion on the Streets, Formal Gardens in the Rear

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers in the States!

Now to continue with sharing horticultural tidbits from my European sojourn...

So I was wandering around Amsterdam on a canalside street one day, when what should I see, but a passionvine!

Passion(vine) running rampant on an Amsterdam street!

Closeup on the marvelous passionflower. This is not the Tennessee wildflower Passiflora incarnata (which has a purple flower). Based on my research at Tradewinds, I think it's actually a white form of the Blue Passionflower (Passiflora caerulea). Confusing? You betcha.

Now the townhouses in Amsterdam are packed cheek by jowl and present mostly sober faces to the streets, but some of the townhouses are open to the public as museums, and in their backyards, you'll find charming gardens. True, the gardens are a bit formal for my taste, but they're still a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the city streets. Here's what you might see in the backyard of an Amsterdam canal house:

You might see a curvaceous design on a grand scale using gravel and boxwoods and topiary to make an artistic statement.

Here's an elevated view of that same garden showing you the carefully espaliered trees along the walls and the hard straight lights of the modern buildings outside the garden juxtaposed against the curves and swirls of the garden itself.

You might see a tree loaded with apples.

You might see a healthy thick hedge of Aucuba japonica.

You might see these red.... rose hips? (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)
 

You might see a charming zinnia, which reminded me of home.

Another long narrow garden between two rows of townhouses. This one keeps the theme (which they seem to love in both Germany and the Netherlands) of low clipped hedges. It's got more greenery, less color than the other formal garden. I think the thing I like best about this garden is actually the long pond in the middle of the garden with a small fountain at one end and a globe statue at the other.