Window Boxes

So much has been going on that has been newsworthy in the past week:  news of a prince's nuptials and a really bad guy's demise dominated the television.  Honestly, I couldn't watch the review of the the towers of the World Trade Center coming down one more time or the destruction of the Pentagon...although the Royal Wedding coverage was fun, it was beginning to wear thin on me.  So I tuned out and turned off the telly and decided to get busy doing something productive....

I planted the guest room window box.  This year I decided to go bold with 2 kinds of deep red geraniums.  I always plant the guest room window box with flowers so that it is cheerful and welcoming for our guests...and maybe will lure some to stay over!  The kitchen window box is planted with herbs and lavender.  The basil in the kitchen planter has already died.  I am finding out that basil is not nearly as hearty as the mint, rosemary, thyme and strawberries that I planted with it.  So, basil gets to stay inside in it's own little pot.  Everyone else, though seems to be doing pretty well.  Let's hope for some continued sun and warmer days ahead.

Flower fields

We loaded Bailey in the car and left city to go to look at a Hunde Hotel for her to stay at while we travel and came upon these flower fields north east of the city limits. We were pretty far out in the boonies...as the puppy hotel ended up taking us an hour to get to from the apt. There is a lot of farming and fields north of the city, with farms being passed down for generations...and with the strict rule that they are only sold to farmers...not land developers, etc. So.....there are these flower fields with a place to put your payment, and if you look closely at the picture of the sign, there are yellow handled blades that they let you borrow to cut the stems. It is all on the Honor System...and as we were there, 3 other cars pulled over and cut bouquets and diligently paid their fees for their flowers (as did I, of course!). That day, there were sunflowers (sonneblume), dahlias (dahlien) and gladiolas (gladiolen)...I didn't see lillies, but think that since we are sort of at the end of the summer growing/blooming season, that we missed them...but I cut some gorgeous dahlias that lasted in the vase for just over a week! I am excited to go back to visit some of these fields in the Spring.

Gartnerplatz

In keeping with the floral theme from last post, here is a picture of Gartnerplatz. It is a beautiful bit of green space nestled in the city and is named for a prominent 19th-century architect: Friedrich von Gartner. This neighborhood was built in the late part of the 19th century and boasts buildings with similar uniformity in their style...in a word, Gartnerplatz is lovely. And, is one of my favorite places here in Munich with great cafes and shops with beautiful shoes, clothes, jewelry, antiques and home furnishings.

Flower power

One of the things that I really love about living here in the city is all of the flowers that you can buy from small shops on the street. I can think of about 5 different places off of the top of my head that are within a block or 2 of the apartment that have great flowers....flower shops, a kiosk, grocery stores... About a month ago, I bought a gardenia plant, with the advice from my mother to put it in a sunny spot. Well-following mom's advice has paid off, as I have 3 blooms on the plant right now and it is making the whole house smell wonderful...(thanks Mom!)

I think that I have bought more flowers in the past 4 months than in my entire life! But how can I refuse when there are so many choices? And, there's such variety-from field flower bunches to roses...and many to which I have not yet been properly introduced...