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megram - 55JulGTA - Index

Global Gardens
Exploring the grand gardens of the world
By Barbara Ramsay Orr
Julie Moir Messervy, author of The Inward Garden,
describes something she has labeled “spatial memories”
— recollections of the favorite places from our childhood.
Perhaps it is the lilacs that you smelled every spring
outside your childhood home or the pink roses that your
grandmother grew or the orchards that you played in.
Revisiting these memories through travels to the legendary
gardens of the world can provide a thread to past happiness,supply
solace in times of trouble,or just plain feed the
spirit that is hungry for beauty.
Even if you’ve never gardened, there is a therapeutic
pleasure to be found in walking through a beautiful garden.
Roger S. Ulrich, an environmental psychologist at Texas A &
M University, has clinical proof that simply looking at
nature can actually lower your blood pressure, relieve
stress levels and reduce muscle tension.
Here are 11 of the world’s most unique gardens,
remarkable because of their plantings, their designers or
their history. Many will call up treasured memories. All of
them will delight.
The Keukenhof, Lisse, The Netherlands
Its name means “kitchen garden” and is derived from
the fact that the property was originally the estate of the
Countess of Holland, Jacoba van Beieran, who used a portion
of it to grow the fresh ingredients for her kitchen.Today
it is a 70-acre garden park with a sea of spring flowers,more
than seven million bulbs planted in formal gardens around
lakes, curving pathways, and art installations. Open only in
the spring, the blue, red, yellow, pink, violet, and even nearblack
tulips, narcissi, daffodils, and muscari are massed in
beds as far as the eye can see. Don’t miss the heritage garden,
where some of the oldest species of tulips are on display,
including a Lac Van Rijn — a purple-red dwarf with
white edges and a pale yellow heart — first grown in 1620.
31-0-252-465-555
www.keukenhof.nl
July/August 2008 • 57 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
Palace Het Loo, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
Known as the “Dutch Versailles,” this is the perfect
example of an authentic Baroque garden design, which is
more concerned with pattern and shape than the flowers.
Carefully clipped box, hornbeam, and yew hedges, curved
gravel paths, elaborate fountains, and topiaries combine
with orange trees in containers to create a garden mosaic
designed to show best from the upper floors of the palace.
Originally commissioned by William III and his wife Mary
in 1684 as a hunting lodge, the gardens were significantly
enlarged once William was named to the English throne.
For the best view, climb up to the palace roof, accessible
every Wednesday in July and August, for a royal view of the
complete design.
31-0-55-577-24-00
www.paleishetloo.nl
Sissinghurst Castle Gardens, Kent, England
Poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West didn’t just write
about the countryside,she took care of it.This castle in Kent
had fallen into ruin when it was purchased and rescued in
1930 by Sackville-West and her husband,Harold Nicolson.It
contains a series of small gardens of contrasting design,
including The Rose Garden, planted with old-fashioned rose
species, and the often imitated White Garden, where all the
blossoms, including lavender, old roses, clematis, and primroses,
are white and much of the foliage is grey.
44-01-580-710-700
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Gala-Dali Castle House Museum, Pubol, Spain
Surrealist artist Salvador Dali created this garden in the
north of Spain for his wife, Gala, so she would be able to
pursue her amorous activities with discretion, swearing
that he would only visit when he was invited.But his clever
refurbishing of the castle and gardens ensured that he was