Visit to Bruges, Belgium

Here are some photos of flowers from a visit I made to Bruges in late 2013.

I'm not sure what these are called but will add the information as find it.

 

I forgot the name of the place but it is an old religious retreat of some sort and parts of the establishment was open to the public. In the center there was an interior courtyard garden. I will dig up the information and add it later.

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 Belgium - PART 7

I have said this before and will say it again. A weed is simply a plant that is growing where someone does not want it to grow. Lots of plants that are considered weeds are also plants that people do not consider useful, commercially exploitable or "beautiful" enough to grow simply for the aesthetic value.

 

And yet all plants have their own beauty if you only take the time too look at them since many seemingly uninteresting or "boring" plants are actually quite beautiful in their own right. They just happen to be too small or only bloom and reveal their uniqueness if allowed to flourish and flower.

 No this is not a some deep metaphysical metaphor for anything about people although I guess it could be taken that way.

 But look at this "weed garden" full of some sort of dandelions. These are quite different than the dandelions I think most of us are familiar with not only in terms of the size of the plants but the size and structure of the seed heads. They look like balls of cotton fluff.

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/

Gardens of the van Buuren Musem - PART 5

Right next to the Rose Garden but separated from it by another retaining wall is the Garden of Hearts which is hidden by tall well clipped topiary which forces you to make your way between tall block-like pillars of greenery in order to enter the cobble stone garden with its heart shaped topiary.

The white gravel pathway between the Rose garden's lower retaining wall (right) and the Garden of Hearts (left)

 The last time I visited the centres of the hearts were field with blood red ....

 

View of the Garden of Hearts from between two Green Pillars that surround it.

 This year however, the Gardens have hosted an exhibition by artist ... and one of the "pieces" was a series of bright orange artificial "flowers" whose petals were made out of garden trowels.

View of the Garden of Hearts. In the foreground is one of the artificial flowers which was part of an exhibition being held in the Gardens.

View of the House/Museum from one of the lawns. The steps leading to the Rose Garden can be seen between two of the Green Pillars. To the left are box garden beds leading to the Garden of Hearts. The Greenery you can see below the house is from the vine covered terraces that flank the rose garden.

 

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/

Flowers and a bit of history

This is probably a post that should be included in the long planned blog which will cover topics ranging from architecture, history, art and culture but I just had to do it and as it includes some stunning floral offerings I am sure that it falls into the scope of Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters.

Lily, Lilium of undetermined species

In a place like Brussels like most of Europe it is hard to go anywhere without being aware of the immense sense of history especially if you have a background in history and can make the connection between the various marks it has left behind from historical buildings, statues of historically significant personages and various places named after people, places or events to commemorate them or simply a place with no need to have anything to remind people of what happened there.

Lily, Lilium of undetermined species

These historical reminders are not limited to ancient history as is evidenced by numerous place names related to the two World Wars from Generals and Statesmen like Montgomery and FDR to simple but heroic people like Edith Cavel.

Monument to Winston Churchill at Place Churchill, Uccle

On Avenue Churchill you will find a round about with a statue of Winston Churchill. It is a bit of a lonely place that only really gets people passing through catching or switching trams. Although while I was there to take photos of some of the lilies and other flowers in the garden beds around Place Churchill there was one elderly gentleman who was standing contemplatively in front of the statue.

Lily, Lilium of undetermined species

Statue of Winston Churchill at the Place Churchill in Uccle, Belgium

Lily, Lilium of undetermined species

Lily, Lilium of undetermined species

Lily, Lilium of undetermined species

A Tribute by Duff Cooper

A Tribute

When ears were deaf and tongues were mute

 You told of doom to come

When others fingered on the flute

You thundered on the drum

 

When armies marched and cities burned

And all you said came true

Those who had mocked your warnings turned

Almost too late to you

 

Then doubt gave way to grim belief

And through five cruel years

You gave us glory in our grief

And laughter through our tears

 

When final honours are bestowed

And last accounts are done

Then shall we know how much was owed

By all the world to one

                                 Duff Cooper

 

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)

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

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

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/