What better way to spend a sunny weekend at the end of the beautiful month of May than by visiting a heritage plant and garden show in a romantic setting. With more than 40 exhibitors and artists offering heritage and modern plants, arts, crafts and their advice, it was hard to decide what to buy ot what to marvel at first.
Besides all the beautiful flowers such as primrose, lupines, stonebreakers, lilies, buttercups, and plantains...
...you could also get quite a bit of information on different kinds of ivy – who knew that are are so many varieties of this amazing, ever-growing plant.
The ivy in the far left corner of the collage comes with quite a bit of history - according to the plant breeder, who was more than happy to share some of his expertise on ivy in general and this one in particular, this variety dates back about about twenty years or so. After the reunification of the two Germanys, the green houses in the former East were left to their own dismise, the ivies grew wild and when the green house were restored to their former glory, this new variety of ivy was found - what a fun bit of plant history.
The stagecoach rides are very popular with visitors, great and small. Especailly when the weather is so beautiful.
Although I am the proud owner of numerous hand-woven baskets in all kinds of shapes, sizes and materials, I always find it rather difficult to resist to add to my collection after having carefully watched the very gifted basket weaver at work. One more basket for the tomatoes, one more for the potatoes and another one to store onions...
These cute garden gnows (and frogs and Dalmatians) that were crafted out of metal and would certainly grace any kind of garden fence. My favorite gnow was the one wearing a yellow frock and holding that fly agaric in one of his hands.
So many herbs to buy. Some with culinary, medicinal or ornamental uses. All smelled amazing. All smelled different.
There were all kinds of different varieties of culinary thymes, such as this "pizza thyme", "lemon thyme", "lime thyme", "orange thyme", "English thyme" (also called the ‘Common’ variety, it has been used by Europeans since ancient times - ah, that play on words), and "French thyme" ( which counts as one of the best culinary thymes).
...or all kinds of different types of oregano, such as the one called "hot and spicy" (the perfect choice for Mexican dishes, or strongly flavored Italian and Greek cuisine) or "Italian oregano" (the most famous variety in the oregano family). There was also "sweet marjoram’ (this relative of oregano is sweeter and milder in flavor, it is great for butter sauces, poultry, and egg dishes), sweet fennel, borage, dill, dock, and many more amazing herbal plants.
This very helpful vendor who dispensed a lot of really great advice throughout the day with respect to the wide array of plants that she was selling, was wearing a t-shirt with the following lovely saying:
"No, basil is not a perennial plant, unless, of course, you happen to live in southern Italy."
Which reminded me of the t-shirts that some of our girls´ teachers are wearing in school - saying "No, I have not corrected your exams yet!" and "Yes, you do have to copy that and write in your notebooks!"
More plants.
More herbs - and an abundance of one of my very favorite herb of all times - purple basil (for my current favorite recipe idea for purple basil, please go here). There was also the lovely and very fragrant thai basil.
There were all kinds of different mustards and chutneys to choose from…
…or you could craft a so-called „insect hotel“ using an old-fashioned saw and a modern-day drill. Our youngest daughter loved that she could assist the handyman. The little "hotel" on the far left is the one that is hanging outside one of our windows now.
Huckelberry Finn seemed to be having a good time fishing. He appeared quite at home amongst the little mice, angels, witches and the real time Holsteins and brown cows in the background.
In my humble opinion there is absolutely nothing more esthetically appealing than when art meets nature. Absolutely nothing.
One more basket weaver – what an amazing craft. We shall be back next year.
Tomorrow´s post will feature a delightfully seasonal cake inspired by the theme of this wonderful show. So, do make sure to visit again tomorrow- you will not regret it, I am sure.
"No, basil is not a perennial plant, unless, of course, you happen to live in southern Italy."
Lovely photos and story Andrea. And the t-shirt saying is great! I wondered why my basil did not return this year. Now I know!
ReplyDeleteMarlise, so nice ot hear from you again - hope that the twins are doing famously! Thank you for th every nice comment - that saying on the t-shirt certainly made me smile - the poor salesperson, she must have been so tired of answering that same question over and over again.
DeleteOOO, I'd love to walk around this wonderful, perfumed place. I adore the Herb Garden! xxx
ReplyDeleteKim, you would have loved visiting the garden show - so many amazing smells and so many things ot discover - I can never get enough of that lovely place.
DeleteWhat an amazing place to be able to visit, Andrea! Looking forward to tomorrow's post.
ReplyDeleteCathleen, thank you so much - I am sure that you will like tomorrrow´s cake recipe. After all the wonderful vegetable dishes of lately, I felt it was time to bake a cake and put together a "sweet post". The taste testers loved it.
DeleteAh, beinahe habe ich den Kraeuterduft in der Nase. Und... ich habe hier einen "purple basil" gefunden. Manche Blätter zeigen grüne Tupfen, was auch toll aussieht. Lustig: ich habe den 'rostigen Angler' auf Schloss Reydt fotografiert :-) Konnte ihn leider nicht in den Koffer packen, genauso wie ich so gerne einige dieser Körbe mitgenommen hätte (wieder eine Gemeinsamkeit????) Körbe kann man nicht genug haben, oder? Immerhin habe ich mir einige Shaker Baskets zulegen können.... Bin auf das morgige Rezept gespannt :-) Danke!!!
ReplyDeleteLiebe Wally, du weisst ja wie es heisst "great minds think alike..." den Huckelberry Finn habe ich auch schon mal 2012 auf der Landpartie auf Schloss Adendorf entdeckt und fotografiert - ist aber auch zu schön die Figur:
Deletehttp://kitchenlioness.blogspot.de/2012/05/french-fridays-with-dorie-double.html
Die Körbe sind immer mein Schwachpunkt, ich glaube wenn ich noch einen kaufe müssen wir anbauen...aber einen Shaker Korb habe ich noch nicht, hätte ich aber gerne...ja, ja, irgendwann einmal...
Lieben Dank für deinen herzlichen Kommentar - übrigens gibt es diesen Monat auch noch einen Post über die Landpartie auf Schloss Adendorf - es war ein Traum.
Liebe Grüsse,
Andrea
I would go absolutely crazy if you let me loose here! I'd be buying everything in sight! I love the baskets and the herbs and the plants...oh my goodness, what a fun time! So how much did you end up buying??
ReplyDeleteNazneen, well, let´s see...many herbs, my favorite ones this year being so-called fruit sages (orange sage, melon sage, etc.) but also different thymes and basils and old-fashioned flowers that my grand-mother used to grow in her garden (like the "weeping hearts") - it is hard to find these plants elsewhere - you normally have to order them from a reliable source but then you cannot smell them before you buy them - this is so much more fun. And baskets...do not even ask...
DeleteHope you are feeling better these days and that the birthday party was a smashing success!
What a fabulous way to spend a day. I would go crazy buying herbs for the garden. I would also find it hard to go past the basket weavers without adding another basket to the collection :) I hope you and the family are all well - have a great weekend Andrea!
ReplyDeleteKaren, we are all well and the kids always have a wonderful time when we visit that plant show - they too love to get lost between all those beautiful and fragrant plants!
Deletebeautiful flowers...made our day...and such a wonderful show...we would have spent hours and hours looking at each of those lovely flowers and of course baskets,they are our weakness,thanks :-)
ReplyDeleteKumar, thank you very much - it ss always such a pleasure being able to visit these fairs and shows at this time of year.
DeleteHi Andrea, I enjoyed scrolling through your wonderful photos, such a lovely market! Just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteJeannie, glad that you enjoyed your little virtual stroll! It was a wonderful garden and plant show to visit on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon.
DeleteThis looks like it was a fantastic day - it would have been really hard for me to be there and not buy at least 3 baskets! I remember in 1980, when I loved the summer in Heidelberg, going to the farmers market and buying Bohnenkraut, and being told it was a special seasoning for green beans. As my mother grew her own beans, I got her some thinking it was a special mixture. It wasn't until just recently that I discovered that it was merely the herb savory! So naïve was I to think that savory would be the same in all languages. I tell that story because of the Pizzathymian - I think I would have tried to make that some special plant, pronouncing it funny as as not to see that it was simply Pizza + Thyme!
ReplyDeleteDear David, this is a lovely story - and I have so much of the Berg-Bohnenekraut growing in my garden that I seem to drown in it these days (lots of sun and warm temperatures) - I would love to send you some if I could. You leave the best comments and you certainly made my day when I read this one! Thank you!
DeleteAndrea