Travel Moments in Summer Gardens

Traveling is a major part of my summer this year, and exploring gardens is a big part of these adventures.  It isn’t possible to write a story about each one, so I thought I would highlight some notable moments.

Driving to Damme, Belgium I discovered a daisy welcoming me to the city. 

I was distracted on the Damme sculpture park walk as I found storks nesting in all the chimneys surrounding the park.

The Chichester Cathedral in southern England dates back to the 12th century, and it dominates the skyline.  I found it was best viewed from the Anglican Bishop’s Palace Garden.

A ferry ride delivered us to the Isle of Wight off the coast of southern England. Here a more temperate climate lets plants thrive.  

Farringford is the garden surrounding the home of Alfred Lord Tennyson, so what’s more perfect than placing lines of his poetry among the flowers?

Tennyson was poet laureate for Queen Victoria.  Sweet peas in summer are a particularly pleasant part of English Gardens.

Mottistone Gardens is a National Trust Property with a history dating back to the 11th century. 

I climbed the steps to the green-walled gardens of deep double-flowering borders to walk among summer blooms at their peak.

Montisfont began as an Augustinian priory in 1201, built around a clear natural spring that provided endless water for the monks. 

Later, it became a home with a Tudor-style mansion and is today surrounded by grand gardens.

Vienna, Austria made the best of a bad situation.  In 1809, Napoleon’s troops left the city after blowing up the fortification that once protected the city.  The city transformed the space into one of its most loved parks.  I visited Volksgarten (rose garden) in June, and the roses were spectacular.  When you can sit in the shade of a pink rose bush to play your accordion and guitar, you know it’s a big rose bush.  It was the most beautiful rose garden I have had the pleasure of walking through.  The music made it that much better!  

A Theseus Temple for a background

Yellow roses at the feet of Franz Grillparzer (1791 – 1872), to honor the Austrian poet and writer.

A tower of petunias in the plaza of Kritiansand, Norway. 

Kritiansand is memorable for its Kunstsilo Art Museum. 

The building, originally a silo built in 1935, served as emergency storage for 15,000 tons of grain standing on the docks of the city.  After it closed in 2008, it was transformed into an art and cultural space opening in 2024.

Although not a garden, even with plants on the glassed-in deck on top,

this remarkable reuse of architecture inspires everyone to rethink how we can honor the past and move into a beautiful future.