Brussels in Summer - # 3 - 2013

Brussels in Summer continues with more photographs of flowers growing in front gardens, sidewalk gardens, traffic islands and other public places accessible and easily  viewable by anyone who takes the time to notice and appreciate the efforts of the residents and community gardeners.

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

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My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

Summer in Brussels - # 2 - 2013

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

Brussels in Summer - # 1 - 2013

Since I have been wandering further afield in Brussels than Forest and Uccle I decided that I should just start a new series entitled: Brussels in Summer. Although I have also been to Antwerp and will probably visit a few other cities like Bruges and Leuven I think that I will just do separate series of posts on them for the moment instead of doing a series on Belgium in Summer as a whole.

White Rose

Ixelles lakes




Lavender

Canna Lily

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

Abbey de la Cambre revisted

The Abbey of La Cambre  (French: Abbaye de La Cambre, Dutch: Abdij Ter Kameren) is a former Cistercian abbey in Ixellels, Brussels located in the Maelbeek valley between the the Forest of La Cambre and the Ixelles Ponds. It was founded in 1196 although the current buildings date from the 18^th century.

If seeing this lamp post in a forest-like setting reminds you of a certain book. I guess we have read the same book.

Fern

White European Water Lily, Nymphaea alba

Garden Nasturtium, Tropaeolum majus

 

White Rose

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

French Formal Gardens of the Abbey de La Cambre Part 2

French Formal Gardens of the Abbey de La Cambre Part 2

Entering the Abbey grounds from the main road.

Vista of Abbey grounds decending stairs from main road entrance

I think the pond is actually a fountain but it was not on that day. This is the centre of what I think of as the Upper Terrace.

View of the Church and some Abbey buildings from the upper terrace. There were actually quite a few people enjoying the sun on the Upper and lower terraces but I managed to frame the shots in a way that discretely excluded them. That was in part to preserve their privacy as well as for aesthetic reasons. I mean ... I was there to take pictures of the plants and buildings not of people. I suppose if they had been dressed in clothing of an appropriate period (Medieval, 18^th Century or even Late 19^th Century or early 20^th Century) I would have photographed them after asking them of course.

In this instance I made it obvious that I did NOT want them in the photo by waiting for people walking around to move out of the way. A few people noticed and kind of hurried up or smiled sheepishly to which I responded by thanking them or smiling back.

 

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Additional information:

Here is a list of my blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers and Trees on Avenue Louise Part 1

Flowers and Trees on Avenue Louise  Part 1

Aside from the hidden green spaces, massive forests, tree lined avenues and front garden gems one thing that you see a lot in Brussels and other cities, towns and villages in Belgium are flowers in median strips, along roadsides in baskets hanging from lamp posts and in roundabouts starting from spring until Autumn for as long as the hardiest flowering plants last.

Around spring time in July 2012 I went down to Avenue Louise because I wanted to take some photos of some statues that I have been meaning to photograph for a while, in particular this big composition at the entrance of the Cambre Forest of two men on horsesI think i will call it: Everything and nothing in particular, until I come up with something better or have enough material to split it up.

Then I got distracted by the flowers planted along the median strip of Avenue Louise in Brussels- Close to entrance of the Forest of La Cambre (Dutch: Ter Kamerenboos , French: Bois de la Cambre which is an urban public park on the edge of the Sonian Forest in Brussels.

 

Sorry I have no idea what the names of the flowers are. I have a suspicion as to the purple ones but want to check up on that first.

Ok I know that the Red ones are Begoinas, but that is it.

This is one thing that I really like about Brussels and cities like it: Tree lines avenues with  REAL Trees that provide lots of shade not to mention homes for all sorts of birds. It is not unusual to hear birds singing in the middle of the city in such areas.
In Spring 2012 at night tyou could often hear a nightingale singing on Avenue Des Sept Bonniers

 

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

 

Facts:

The Sonian Forest (Dutch: Zoniënwoud,French: Forêt de Soignes) is a 4,421-hectare (10,920-acre) forest that lies across the south-eastern part ofBrussels, Belgium

Additional details:

As I said I will be posting the photographs of the statues on another blog which will cover  art, sculpture, food, history, culture, literature among other things. Basically this blog will be a catch all for other topics that I cannot logically cover in my existing blogs:

·         Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters)

·         The Blood of  Souls (language, translation and etymology)

·         Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general)

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.