GENEVA Park Villa la Grange by LIVIA DANESE Parc La Grange is the largest park in the city of Geneva. The 19th century English garden welcomes visitors and citizens who enjoy the park in every season by organizing picnics and walks in the well-kept natural environment. The Favre family donated the park to the city of Geneva in 1917 but overall the area has very ancient origins, as shown by the archaeological remains dating back to the Neolithic period. The territory’s history has spanned the centuries until the second half of the 18th century when the Lullin family commissioned the construction of their summer residence. The neoclassical structure of the villa is still visible today and has preserved beautifully over time. Because of its magnificence and its historical eminence, the place still hosts important events and diplomatic meetings today. The view of Lake Geneva, initially concealed by the main entrance, is soon revealed in all its splendor, enclosed by plants of every shape and color. The garden surrounding the villa is embellished by the presence of monumental trees, including oaks, cedars, beeches, chestnuts and plane trees, which stand out in the picturesque landscape offering a unique autumn display. Their foliage, gradually taking on the characteristic autumn colors, covers the park with a bright and colorful mantle. ​ The park’s main attraction is the rose garden which counts more than 200 species. Starting from the first warm spring days it is particularly popular and appreciated. The scent of roses accompanies visitors and enthusiasts along a beautiful and intimate flowery walk in the octagonal garden, which was recently renovated. The latter, designed to recreate the privacy of a hortus conclusus, was built at the end of World War II to create a colorful, bright and positive environment in the postwar period. Parc La Grange is constituted by tree-lined avenues, ponds, colorful flowerbeds and beautiful historical buildings, offering visitors a charming and beloved natural oasis overlooking Lake Geneva. In addition in Parc La Grange, biodiversity is encouraged by wood-digging insect breeding sites and bee hives, as well as native shrubs and meadows where sheep graze during the summer and is ecologically managed without the use of chemicals. GALLERY Load More Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO LINK S TREE WATCHING Web more gardens and parks Parco del Paterno del Toscano Labirinto della Masone Villa d'Este Giardino di Kenroku-en Giardino dell'impossibile Giardino di Ninfa Villa Pizzo

DATES PALMS IN OMAN The Palm Date tree and the Omani have been connected since ancient times. This bond is rooted in the culture and civilization and linked to his daily life and has contributed in developing the society and supplementing the economy which in turn solidify the Date Palm position as a valuable component of the Omani nature. ​ The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meeting in Bogota in Colombia, unanimously approved on 12 December 2019 the inclusion of the knowledge, skills, traditions and practices associated with the date palm in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the 'Unesco. The recognition goes to 14 Arab countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. "The date palm has been established for centuries by the regional population of the candidate states, serving both as the basis for numerous occupations, professions and social and cultural traditions, associated customs and practices, and as sources of nutrition," reads the website of the 'Unesco. ​ The date palm has been connected to the regional population of the submitting States for centuries, serving both as the source of numerous associated crafts, professions and social and cultural traditions, customs and practices, and as a key form of nutrition. The date palm is an evergreen plant typically associated with dry climates, where the roots of the plant penetrate deeply into the earth in search of humidity. Bearers and practitioners include date palm farm owners, farmers who plant, nurture and irrigate the date palm offshoots, craftspeople who produce traditional products using various parts of the palm tree, date traders, creative individuals and performers of associated folkloric tales and poems. The Date palm, knowledge, skills, traditions and practices have played a pivotal role in strengthening the connection between people and the land in the Arab region, helping them face the challenges of the harsh desert environment. This historic relationship in the region and the element has produced a rich cultural heritage of related practices between people in the region, knowledge and skills maintained to this day. The cultural relevance and proliferation of the element over the centuries prove how committed the local communities are to sustaining it; this is achieved through collective participation in multiple date-palm related activities and numerous festive rituals, traditions and customs. Load More Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO MORE ENVIRONMENT AND BOTANY Grosseto Caño Cristales Palmeti Palmeti Caldara di Manziana Terra Scoscesa Le Palme Luoghi d'Acqua Conoscere gli alberi

BOTANY POPPIES AND BEES Why don't bees pollinate red flowers except poppies? By CARLA DE AGOSTINI T he history of evolution is a history of relationships between species, as well as between species and the environment. When we smell a flower, for example, we actually hear a message addressed to the insects, a call to warn them that there is nectar waiting for them in exchange for transporting pollen. And the same goes for the choice of colours. Flowers as we know them are relatively recent. Angiosperms, i.e. plants that have flowers and fruit from seed, appeared between 135 and 140 million years ago and were not so colourful to begin with: fossils suggest that they were simple, dull-looking structures without much pigment, pale yellow or green at most. Today, with the exception of ferns, conifers, cycads and mosses, the majority of plant communities belong to the Angiosperms. Slowly, with the appearance of flowers, we also see the emergence of today's bright colours, an increasingly sophisticated mechanism to encourage pollination not only by wind or water but also by attracting insects. Many flowers have thus evolved to adapt to the needs and abilities of bees. Bees are responsible for 80% of pollination, without which there would be no apples, blueberries, cherries, avocados, cucumbers, almonds, onions, grapefruits, oranges, pumpkins and more. And it is to attract bees that the bright colour of the petals has become an important adaptation variable. The poppy has developed some of the most fascinating and unexpected strategies because bees don't perceive the bright red colour visible to the human eye but are attracted to the ultraviolet. Humans perceive colour through the pigment of the object and the part of the light it reflects. In bees, on the other hand, the field of vision is a mosaic of cones that enable them to recognise a different range of colours, help the insect to stay balanced during flight and identify each flower around it precisely, even at high speeds. The red hue is not perceptible to the bee's eye, and research has shown that it only distinguishes four colours: yellow (orange, yellowish green), bluish green, blue and ultraviolet. Therefore, flowers that are bright red to our eyes, such as the red violet or Chinese carnations, are not fertilised by bees, but by daytime butterflies. On the other hand, flowers such as heather, rhododendron, cyclamen or clover have a purple hue that bees perceive as a blue colour, or a white colour perceived as bluish green. The poppy, however, is one of the few red flowers that most attracts bees. This is because the pigmented cells in its petals are arranged in such a way as to create air-filled spaces where the light is dispersed, allowing UV rays to be reflected and the ultraviolet range to be perceived by the bee, which then settles on it and fertilises it. And it is from the Sicilian, and in part Sardinian, shovels that the prickly pear arrives and invades Eritrea, planted both by 19th century Italian missionaries and by migrants of the first Italian colonization. Here, the beles, the name in Eritrean, are not only the fruit but also the nickname jokingly given by peers from the Horn of Africa to second-generation Eritreans living in Italy, because they arrive with the same punctuality as the fruit: in the summer rainy season, and then leave again. Today, Opuntia ficus-indica is used for a wide variety of products, both for its high nutritional value, rich in minerals, especially calcium, phosphorus and vitamin C, and for its mucilage, the substance that allows the plant to have water reserves. Thanks to this, the prickly pear has become a major player in eco-sustainable innovations. For example, a Mexican professor of chemical engineering, Sandra Pascoe Ortiz, has patented a plastic and biodegradable material: by mixing prickly pear juice with glycerin, proteins and natural waxes, she has obtained a liquid which, after being laminated and dried, becomes a completely non-toxic, biodegradable and edible bioplastic. In Italy, too, alternative uses of prickly pears are proliferating. For example, a glue for fresco restoration work has been experimented with using mucilage, and a textile industry has obtained cruelty-free eco-leather from its waste. But that's not all, there are also sunglasses made from their fibers, furniture and sculptural lamps made from the waste from shovels that are entirely biodegradable at the end of their life! GALLERY Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO MORE ENVIRONMENT AND BOTANY Vie cave opuntia fiorita Opuntia Tree Caño Cristales Palmeti Palm trees Caldara di Manziana Steep land Tiber

SICILY Botanical Garden of Palermo BY MARGHERITA LOMBARDI The Botanical Garden of Palermo is located next to Villa Giulia, bordering the Kalsa district. In 1779, to accompany the newly founded Accademia di Regi studi, which had annexed the chair of Botany and Medical Matters, a small botanical garden was created, adjacent to the Porta di Carini, but became insufficient for the needs of the chair, in 1786 it was transferred to its present location. Between 1789 and 1795 the main buildings were built, the Gymnasium and the two lateral bodies of the Tepidarium and the Calidarium, in neoclassical style, designed by the French architect Leon Dufurny. Originally the garden, enriched with pools and fountains and a magnificent Aquarium, was divided into rectangular plots to divide the collections according to Linnaeus' system, but in the early nineteenth century it was modified. The Garden was still enlarged in later periods, and a grove of exotic plants and the Winter Garden, for example, was created in a large greenhouse. In the 1930s it acquired its definitive appearance, with the entrance area divided into regular areas and the southern area furrowed by more articulated paths. The collections. The Botanical Garden of Palermo hosts, in total, 12,000 species, mainly from South Africa, Australia and South America. Among these, there are the giant specimen of Ficus macrophylla, symbol of the Garden, the collection of marsh plants that includes lotuses (Nelumbum nucifera), water lilies and papyrus (Cyperus papyrus); the palms of the genus Phoenix spp., Cycads; species belonging to the families Moracee, Mimosacee, Rutacee, Euphorbiacee, Aizoacee, Asclepiadacee, Liliacee, Crassulacee and Cactacee, citrus fruits and a fragrant collection of plumerie, a plant as widespread in Palermo as medlar is on the terraces and gardens of northern cities. Among the botanical curiosities are Sapindus mukorossi, Pimenta acris, Coffea arabica, Ficus sycomorus, Mimosa spegazzinii, Crescentia alata, Saccharum officinarum, Manihot utilissima and Carica papaya. The Botanical Garden of Palermo is responsible for the introduction and diffusion in Mediterranean countries of Citrus deliciosa and Eriobotrya japonica. You can admire substantial collections of dried plants that are preserved in the Herbarium Mediterraneum. Every year a catalogue is published of seeds of both wild plants from Sicily and cultivated in the Garden, available for exchanges with scientific institutions from all continents. The tallest plant in the Garden is an annual Araucaria columnaris . Spectacular the avenue enclosed by large specimens Ceiba speciosa (formerly Chorisia speciosa). Margherita Lombardi ​ GALLERY Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO Info: Italian Botanical Heritage Italian Botanical Trips Palermo Botanical Garden more botanical gardens and nurseries Orto Botanico di Ginevra Orto Botanico di Ginevra Roma Roseto di Roma Chicago Chicago Batanical Garden Giardino Esotico Pallanca Parco Botanico Villa Rocca Water Nursery Giardino Botanico di Hanbury

DUBLIN Begonia in the Curvilinear Glasshouse DUBLIN BOTANICAL GARDEN ​ ​ Irish women discovering botany Photographs of Cristina Archinto Text Alessandra Valentinelli I reland is among the European countries with the scarcest flora. Centuries of grazing and agricultural activities have also depleted, and ultimately thwarted woodland growth. That vibrant green that is so enchanting is nonetheless a reflection of a rather articulated biodiversity. Grasslands area with The Great Palm House in the background The abundance of flora found in a simple meadow is unexpected: flowers, grasses, ferns, liverworts and lichens. At first it may seem less compelling than a jungle or an expedition to the Southern Seas, but perhaps it is precisely this “domestic” facet that allowed Irish women to be forerunners and to conquer an important role in the pantheon of botanical studies. At the end of the 1700s Ellen Hutchins , travelled around Cork County, classifying hundreds of still unidentified mosses . In the mid 1800s, Ann Elizabeth Ball was one of the most esteemed experts in Algae , and in 1833 Katharine Sophia Kane published the pioneering taxonomy of the Irish flora . She would be the first woman admitted to the Edinburgh Botanical Society. Rock Garden and Grasslands on natural limestone in the Wild native Ireland plants area It goes without saying that many women worked in the shadow of the more famous male colleagues. Ellen Hutchins never continued her own herbariums, and Lady Kane wrote under a pseudonym . Yet, when the academic interest shifted from the exotic to the endemic species, their studies turned out to be of utmost importance for the research and the knowledge of indigenous ecology, especially when identifying vulnerabilities and threats. Matilda Knowles, archivist at the Dublin Gardens from 1903 to 1933, would have to wait for over a century for the recognition of her works on lichen diversity based on the tidal patterns and the fundamental contribution it brought to the understanding of coastal environments. Asteraceae in the Annual Plants area In order to knot the threads of a memory so intimately intertwined with the resources of the land, Matthew Jebb, the present director of the Dublin Garden, has recreated entire habitats by transporting the rocks and the soil from their original environments . They show the natural evolution of the Irish ecosystems: the transition from reed marshlands to fens, where the rapidly growing plants flourish on top of the layer of decaying plants, rising above the water level. This explains the slow development of the tree-lined landscape, the century old formation of bogs, the discovery of fossil forests trapped under the layers of moss. Plants teach, through their frailty, that they belong to biological communities, highlighting the importance of hedges, ponds, corridors and expanses of green as a means for the protection of wild species. Plants reinstate the fragile balance and the endangered blooms and foreshadow a possible future. South Africa plants in the Curvilinear Glasshouse An open-air museum in its own right, Dublin has recently endorsed the renovation of its nineteenth century greenhouses: symbols of the union between aesthetics and engineering, achieved by the architectural use of iron and glass, and resulting in the technical progress. The “Curvilinear Range”, designed by Richard Turner , was completed in 1848; where the construction lasted five years despite the company in charge of the works going bankrupt. He also designed the Belfast Gardens, and worked in Kew Gardens. The structure has approximately 8,500 glass panes overlapping and honed around the edges to allow water drainage. The roof radiates out at nine specific angles, and the panes are mounted in twenty different combinations. The renovation was achieved by restoring the old wrought-iron decorations also from Kew Gardens. The “Curvilinear” assembled standard pieces, and glass panes were produced with a technique that was innovative at that time. As a whole it is unique. The “Great Palm House”, jokingly nicknamed the “Jungle House”, was made with prefabricated components. It was inaugurated in 1884 to replace the previous wooden structure, which was destroyed during a storm. The cast iron parts forged in Scotland made it possible to dismantle its parts, and restore the damaged ones by casting molds faithful to the originals. In 2004 these were reassembled, rust and corrosion free and protected by modern treatments. The Pond Matthew Jebb used to say, “Taking a walk is ideal for coming up with new ideas”. The Dublin Garden is open year round, except on Christmas Day. Admittance is free, and it is frequently visited by people of all ages . It is a place to share knowledge, outdoor activities and passions; a place to nourish the never-ending curiosity about the environment that surrounds us all, or guess the plant species, letting oneself be amazed, and maybe even contemplate the unexplored frontiers of biodiversity. Exploring nature’s vitality in its simplest form, or by means of the material principles of days gone by, is a tale narrated through the intricacy of its land. It begs the question of today’s climate change and the landscapes of tomorrow. Above all else, it offers a new way of relating to its changing structures, in harmony with cycles to which all beings are inextricably linked. FEATURED Women Irish Botanists Ellen Hutchins (1785–1815) Over 200 years ago, on the shores of West Cork, a young woman was avidly collecting, studying and identifying plants. Ellen Hutchins was Ireland's first female botanist although somewhat forgotten, but in the field of botany her contribution is widely known and appreciated. Born into a very poor family at the age of two, she was orphaned by her father, but it was thanks to the care and attention of Mr Stokes, an eminent Irish physician, and his wife that Ellen decided to devote herself to botany, dividing her time between researching plants in the open air, which greatly benefited her precarious health, and cataloguing her discoveries, producing several detailed and meticulous watercolour drawings. His ability to find new plants and the quality of his drawings and specimens aroused the admiration of the leading botanists of the time and his work was featured in many publications. Although he never published under his own name, he was an important contributor to the newly developing plant sciences of his time. In his lifetime, he catalogued more than a thousand plants including algae and lichens and discovered some of them under his own name such as Jubula hutchinsiae and Herberta hutchinsiae. Velvet horn fucus tormentosus from collection to publication Anne Elizabeth Ball (1808–1872) Unlike her predecessor Ellen Hutchins, Anne was born into a family already embedded in a world of science and nature, her brother Robert Ball being a naturalist and her father Bob Stawell Ball an astronomer. In her early twenties, Anne began collecting and studying seaweed and, despite not being a member of Dublin's scientific societies as a woman, established herself as a successful algologist. However, as was customary at the time, her work was published by male naturalists such as William Henry Harvey, a friend of her brother, who reciprocated by naming the genus Ballia and the species Cladophora balliana after her. Ball also helped provide William Thompson with illustrated records of hydroids, which were published in the fourth volume of The Natural History of Ireland in 1856. His collections were preserved and later acquired by the Dublin Botanic Gardens until 1961 when they passed to the Natural History Museum in London. ​ A specimen of Ballia callitricha in one herbarium Katharine Sophia Kane (1811-1886) Also orphaned at a young age, she was raised by her uncle Matthias O'Kelly who had a strong attraction to nature, as did his son Joseph who became a geologist. Katherine was only 22 years old at the time of her first publication The Irish Flora and, although it was not a large work, it was one of the first of its kind, praised for its accuracy. In 1836, the then 25-year-old Katherine became the first woman to be elected a member of the Edinburgh Botanical Society and her herbarium is preserved at University College, Cork. During her life she also took an interest in tree cultivation, writing on the subject for the Irish Farmer's and Gardener's Magazine The title page of the 1833 volume The Irish Flora Matilda Knowles (1864- 1933) Matilda was encouraged from an early age by her father William James Knowles, also an amateur scientist, by taking her and her sister to meetings of the Belfast Naturalists. Her studies led to her being regarded as the founder of modern studies of the lichens of Ireland. In1895 she was the author, with Derry Mary Leebody, of The Flora of the North-east of Ireland and between 1897 and 1933 published over thirty scientific articles on a wide range of botanical subjects. It was while studying the lichens of Howth that he discovered how coastal lichens grow in distinct shores and are distinguished by their colour: black, orange and grey From 1923 he shared the curatorship of the National Museum of Ireland Herbarium, a collection of dried and pressed plants now housed in the Dublin Botanic Gardens. His work is said to have 'constituted an important basic contribution to the fungal botany of Ireland and western oceanic Europe'. ​ Lichens collected by Matilde Knowles GALLERY Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO Info: Official website more botanical gardens Jardin des plantes Nantes Orto botanico di Berlino Orto botanico di Madrid Orto botanico di Amsterdam Orto botanico di Napoli Orto Botanico di Zurigo e la Serra Malgascia ARC_7320 Orto botanico di Ginevra L1030823 Orto botanico di Siena

SICILY One of the nursery greenhouses Vivai Cuba and the Mother Plant Garden Photographs of Cristina Archinto Text Carla De Agostini T hirty years ago Mariolina's mother used to say to her husband 'but who would buy all these thorns?' Fortunately, the answer was not long in coming and today Vivai Cuba in Fontane Bianche, near Syracuse, stands out as one of the richest succulent nurseries in Europe. Here they grow plants from their own seeds, both in pots and in the field, supply plants to wholesalers, retailers, architects, landscape architects, garden designers, interior designers and event organisers at an international level. All this within a framework of protection and respect for water, increasingly important in these years, and with attention to the circumstances of a rapidly changing planet. ​ The Mother Plant Garden inside the nursery A unique place, not only the greenhouses but also the garden, Vivai Cuba was born in the 1960s out of the passion for roses and bulbs, which then flowed into strelitzias, kenzie, cycads and palms of lawyer Antonio Palermo, Mariolina's father. The story of this place begins with Antonio getting in touch with a Dutch bulb company, with whom the collaboration became more and more intense, until the families became friends. After a while, the father gave up flowers in the 1970s and was among the first to buy and sow Euphorbia, Agave, Aloe, Dasilirion and Yucca plants, gradually expanding the varieties of succulents cultivated. Agave area In the meantime, love blossoms between the two partners' children, Mariolina and Pieter, and together they begin seed procurement trips around the world. The young people begin to specialise more and more in cactus cultivation and are won over by the larger specimens, over time creating a unique collection of succulents that are ideal for low-water garden projects. These include non-traditional trees such as Moringa, Chorisia, Bombax, Brachychiton and Dracaena Draco. On the left a flowering specimen of Dasylirion , on the right Kigelia africana In the nursery, all these specimens can be seen in the Mother Plant Garden, an 'exhibition space' where it is possible to study allochthonous plants that grow outdoors and adapt to become almost native species. Seeds and cuttings of the plants considered most interesting for nursery production are also collected here. The Mother Plant Garden with the Sapindus mukorossi tree on the right The Mother Plant Garden is also a diverse reservoir of already existing species and new varieties derived from spontaneous crosses. A very interesting plant is Sapindus mukorossi, the soap nut tree, native to India. With a high saponin content, says Mariolina, the peel is an excellent organic detergent, which can be used instead of commercial products, both for laundry hygiene and for personal care! The tree is also beautiful from an ornamental point of view and is cultivated in Italy in only a few places. Walking around you can also come across a beautiful specimen of Euphorbia tirucalli, which resembles a coral, also known as 'sticks on fire' or 'red pencil tree'. It is a very decorative plant: it consists of long, soft, cylindrical stems, completely smooth with colouring that starts in light green and ends in a very striking orange-red at the tips. Euphorbia flowers among the thorns of the Stenocereus thurberi cactus The scenery one encounters while strolling through this garden alternates the physical bearing of large specimens with the softness of thinner plants, the colours flowing indifferently from the largest to the smallest and most insidious thorns. One only has to look around to be amazed by the violent lines of the cacti that suddenly become flowers, evoking not prickly emotions but rather delicate sensations. Euphorbia tirucalli The family recounts that these mother plants are the foundations for the very life of Cuba Nurseries: they have individual stories that intersect with personal adventures, with time forged by the weather of the place and people, through generations. They are part of a past that at the same time tells of the present and future of a garden that represents an increasingly arid and globalised planet. Here, research and collaboration combined with great care give rise to a rich diversity of succulent plants and an incomparable landscape, creating an unprecedented ecosystem that encompasses all the continents in just a few hectares. Young specimens of Echinocactus including the first flowering specimen After a tour of the garden, Mariolina allows visitors to browse through the greenhouses with the most diverse varieties of cacti, lined up like diligent toy soldiers, almost as if looking at an abstract work of art. A marvel. Here one can also observe the phenomenon of 'synchronous flowering': when one cactus flowers, all the others around it do so at the same time. This strategic choice constitutes a common 'fitness' advantage: when more plants flower at the same time, more mates arrive and consequently more mating opportunities are available for the individual plants. This also occurs due to adverse climatic conditions, the stressed seedling flourishes in such a way as to increase its species' chance of survival. The stress suffered by one is also communicated, via chemical components, to the others, which follow suit and flower at the same time. Nature's magic. Synchronous flowering phenomenon In conclusion, with the intention of spreading a culture of xerophilous plants, i.e. those adapted to live in environments characterised by long periods of drought or arid climates, Vivai Cuba has succeeded in creating a wonderful and varied succulent garden, unique and unrepeatable, where anyone can look and learn from the greatest teachers of the earth the values of adaptability, resilience and sustainability. Adenium multiflorum also known as Impala lily GALLERY Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO LINKS Official site FEATURED FUGA IN SICILY Inside the Cuba Nurseries is Helena Medrano's atelier, a textile herbarium inspired by the essential forms of the natural elements that surround it. In the enormous Syracuse garden of succulent and exotic plants, Helena arrived eleven years ago, driven by continuous artistic research. Here, the cultural and botanical wealth that surrounds her led her two years ago to the conception of design objects created with plants, then to the realisation of the Fuga in Sicily project. In her workshop, she creates tapestries and tablecloths using the monotype technique: on natural fabrics, mainly hemp, linen or cotton, she chooses the plant or leaf, covers it with ink, then with the press transfers the plant design to the fabric or piece of paper she wishes to produce. In her atelier, objects and materials are exclusively vegetable: the weave of the fabric and the direct printing technique of the plant give a feeling of elegance and simplicity as only natural things can do, and the design pieces are unique and original. Among his creations are cushions made of an antique hemp from 1930, printed directly using Kentia leaves in their characteristic green colour. In this journey out of the ordinary, Helena continues to experiment with plants: art and botany are intertwined, in something always new, such as tiaras or succulent bouquets, tailored to the wishes of future brides. Link Victoria Greenhouse More botanic gardens and nurseries Orto Botanico di Berlino Orto botanico di Madrid Orto botanico di Amsterdam Orto botanico di Napoli Giardino Botanico Nuova Gussonea Orto Botanico di Catania Orto Botanico di Ginevra Centro Botanico Moutan

SHORT STORIES SET A reconciling walk Text e photographs by Cristina Archinto She went out and the door slammed, more due to the draught from the stairs than to any specific will of her own, but that act certainly reflected her state of mind. Suddenly she found herself outside the house with no clear plan or purpose; she was furious. She looked around, upset and undecided as to what to do; she was certainly not in the mood for a museum and lacked the ability to concentrate on learning something. She cross ed the street almost without realizing it, avoiding being run over by mopeds, scooters and bicycles, unbearable in that city. She had already entered through that gate a few days earlier only to stop almost immediately and lighten up in front of works such as Bernini's Rape of Proserpine or Caravaggio's Cut of Lights at the Villa Borghese Museum, but this time she went straight ahead and entered the park. She walked along a boundary wall where low boxwood hedges and autumn flowers could be seen between steps. As she reached the end, she was attracted to the left by strong autumnal tones of majestic trees. As she approached, she immediately realised that she had arrived in the Platani Valley, a wonderful valley of ancient trees. Once rural, it was tamed into a garden in 1603 by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the favourite nephew of Pope Paul V. At that time it was a forest of more than forty oriental plane trees with a central basin and two small islands intended for the resting place of ducks and fine birds, including swans that the Cardinal had specially brought in from Brussels. Now there were only nine beautiful specimens left, which had survived for more than four hundred years and seemed to look sternly and wisely at you through their twisted branches and trunks. He continued along the valley with his gaze upwards, admiring these wonders but also keeping an eye out for the dogs that were running wild in this part of the garden. She approached a particularly curved specimen with a large slit in its trunk and looking at its gnarled branches reminded her of that 'Sensei' who a few years earlier had given a special Aikido lesson at his dojo. Two hours immersed in silence with only the rustle of the hakama, his words light, breathing wisdom. Of course now she was a little sorry that Jan was not there that day, they would have reminisced together. The anger was already fading as always, but this time she was more determined to hold on, she would not give in so easily that day. She continued along the valley looking up admiring those wonders but also keeping an eye out for the dogs that were running wild in this part of the garden. She approached a particularly curved specimen with a large slit in its trunk and looking at its gnarled branches reminded her of that 'Sensei' who a few years earlier had given a special Aikido lesson at his dojo. Two hours immersed in silence with only the rustle of the hakama, his words light, breathing wisdom. Of course now she was a little sorry that Jan was not there that day, they would have reminisced together. The anger was already fading as always, but this time she was more determined to hold on, she would not give in so easily that day. She continued along the valley, where she also passed some black walnut trees and horse chestnuts with a certain lift, only to be astonished again by a majestic specimen of hackberry tree with its fluttering leaves that were gradually leaving the branches and its broad, almost perfectly round crown. He, too, reminded her of someone. The art teacher at her high school, round and always smiling, who had taken her under his wing and had not only taught her how to draw but also some philosophies of life that she still used in difficult times. Beautiful person, who knows what had happened to her. She climbed the small hill to reach the small lake of Villa Borghese. A small pool of water embraced by a variety of remarkable trees. It was in 1766 when Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese, a descendant of Scipione, decided to expand the family park by creating the Giardino del Lago with a temple dedicated to the god of medicine Aesculapius. Like all the Borghesi, he too devoted himself, thanks to his huge family fortune and, it must be said in this case, especially that of his wife Princess Anna Maria Salviati, to the pleasures of the Roman aristocratic life, patronising new artists and works, thus enriching the family collection previously squandered by his father. It was he who had a poster put up in the park that read 'Whoever you are, O stranger, provided you are a free man, fear not here the fetters of laws. Walk where you will, seize what you desire, retire when it pleases you. Everything here is arranged for the enjoyment of the foreigner before the owner'. Indeed, the park, although private, had always been the scene of festivities and balls and was often open to citizens from all walks of life. He began the work of embellishing the park of the villa and his son Camillo, known perhaps more for his marriage to Pauline Bonaparte, finished the work. Of course, who knows what the pond must have been like in those days; gossiping ladies strolling under clear parasols, poets extolling their prose, lovers in the throes of love gushing their hot tears into the lake, or artists in the shade of oak trees portraying the beautiful panorama of the 'Villa delle Delizie'. In the meantime, she was enjoying that beautiful autumn landscape of tall pines, some bald cypresses already in warm tones, and that majestic cedar of Lebanon, all making themselves beautiful by reflecting in the lake. Even the little temple had that something. On one side there was also a centuries-old Quecia ilex that stood out for its height and broad foliage. She had never liked holm oaks, she found them sad and gloomy, like Christoffer, her lifelong melancholic and gloomy classmate, who had unnerved her with his grey aura for years. But certainly this was a spectacular specimen that perhaps made her reconsider. She also noticed an elderly lady giving bread to the ducks. She could never get over the unquestioning fascination of feeding animals, nor could she understand how Jan had not been able to remind his boss this morning that he was on holiday. It had taken them months to organise this Roman period, she was going to take a sabbatical, he was going to take his back leave and they were going to go to Rome for the autumn to discover the Eternal City, a dream in both their drawers, but in the end, he had left her alone again today, pass the other days, but not today! She wandered around the lake area again until he reached Piazza di Siena, a huge oval lawn surrounded by cypress trees as straight as spindles. The area was once occupied by a large 17th-century ragnaia, a grove of tall trees where nets were spread to catch small birds. Beautiful cypresses, he thought, they are linear! He smiled to himself at the stupid joke. The anger was definitely waning, surely the credit also went to this somewhat magical place, intrinsic in history made of stones and trees. He continued with his game, Björn no, Erik neither, Astrid? Yes of course, she is a cypress! Obviously tall but with that strange look, silent, because cypresses are certainly silent trees, but happy even if they don't show it. When I get back I'll tell her, who knows how her new project is progressing. Maybe I'll write to her later. After resting a little on the steps at the side of the square, she headed south and found herself in an amazing pine forest. Very tall trees, up to 20 metres tall, with bushy, umbrella-shaped crowns. The high sun intruded between the pine needles, making them almost transparent and silky, and the shadows of the straight trunks created abstract paintings on the green lawn. What a vision! Here, domestic pines were certainly trees that he valued highly, as did the ancient Romans, who spread them throughout the empire! Even today, the pine is considered a symbol of Italy, not least because the English call it Italian stone pine and the French call it Pin d'Italie , and it has even won the prestigious Royal Horicultural Society award. She wandered among the trees enraptured by such beauty. Who did the pines remind him of? Beautiful, tall, majestic but not arrogant, with beautiful bearing, also nice and generous with their pine nuts, and certainly honest, determined and robust. Who knows. She thought for a few minutes. Several names floated through her mind until Jan. Wow, that's really him. Moved and without even realising it, with a big smile on her face, she headed home, having already forgiven the love of her life; her beloved Pinus pinea GALLERY Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO Other SET STORIES AND PARKS TO VISIT Priorato d'Orsan Parco Villa la Grange Parco di Sicurtà Jardin des Plantes Nantes Parco del Flauto Magico Parco di Bercy Parco del valentino

BOTANY VILLA PISANI THE IMPRESSIONIST MEADOW Photos Cristina Archinto Text Carla DeAgostini I n the huge lawn of Villa Pisani the owner Mariella Bolognesi Scalabrin decided ten years ago to create an “impressionist painting” with more than one hundred thousand tulips and wild spring flowers in honour of the history and emotions shared and experienced by the previous owner Countess Evelina van Millingen Pisani. So in orther to maintain this marvellous work, every year Mariella Scalabrin plants forty thousand new bulbs, which she lays and covers with soil with her own hands, all in studied positions, combining the superb refinement of the tulip with the humble beauty of the spring wild flower. This work is meticulously thought out each year, the choice of bulbs is in relation to the height and different blooming of the wild flowers, such as dandelion, buttercup or iris, he chooses the colour of the tulip, and alternates early, medium or late bloomers, so that the meadow remains colourful and homogeneous until the last dandelions bloom. Tulips and wild flowers relate to timing and size and Mariella Scalabrin follows everything personally: "it is by choosing from the catalogue that you create the piece of art," she told us. And she succeeds in doing so perfectly: two hectares of lawn with a path in between to admire the never trivial colours, and the always carefully studied gradations. No tulip calyx has only one colour, but plays on the streaks, the qualities of yellows, the nuances of whites, the red or orange mottling, or even the pink or purple hues. The colourful vision of tulips in more than 90 colours gives unexpected emotions and tells of the magic of a meadow cultivated by hand with hard work and the love of an owner, without the rigidity of a machine imposing its own design on the soil. Mariella Scalabrin is very attached to the Villa and to the fascinating story of Evelina Pisani, and every time she welcomes a visitor to her garden, she never misses an opportunity to talk about it and to spread the love and respect for flowers that this place holds and enhances with every blooming. GALLERY Photo ©CRISTINA ARCHINTO Info:  Official site MORE ENVIRONMENT AND BOTANY Papaveri e api Vie cave opuntia fiorita Opuntia Alberi Caño Cristales Palmeti Palmeti Caldara di Manziana Terra scoscesa

Terrimago to photograph PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP GARDENS & PLANTS edited by Cristina Archinto Observe, process, shoot Strolling through a beautiful garden, immersing yourself in nature and enjoying a beautiful flower often has no equal and now, since we need to keep track of all our emotions with photographs, taking photos has become our daily mantra. Certainly technology helps us nowadays and it has certainly become fundamental but often it is not enough, on the contrary, unlike what we think, it often leads to disappointments and to a greater quantity of pixels to look at, manage and archive. The equation more shots equals more likely to have a good picture is rarely right. To improve your shots you need to face the issue upstream and learn to observe and explore with concentration and transport, you need training and the right perspective. In the context of nature, observing and describing it is less easy than you think. A garden is the sum of several parts and therefore it is not enough to photograph a beautiful flower or a beautiful tree to tell its soul. Each photograph is a story, a story that is different every time, which can be short or long, descriptive or minimalist, but it is only by having what we want to tell in focus that we will be satisfied with our shots. Having found the subject, at that point you need to use the technique and tricks to express your story in a photograph that speaks for itself and that comes as close as possible to subjective reality. Cristina Archinto's workshops take place exclusively in gardens, parks or botanical gardens, throughout Italy, to learn to truly observe "live". Here, thanks to his advice, you will enrich your photographic knowledge, and you will be able to make your shots into "stories" that leave their mark. Conducting the workshops IntroductionWe learn to look Practical work theoretical workTechniques and advice on photography in the field of plants and gardens Field work At the end of the day, Cristina will do, with whoever wishes, a work of reading and analyzing some selected shots taken during the day. This workshop is suitable for everyone, (accompanied children over 12 are also admitted) You can participate with both SLR cameras and a smartphone (it would be advisable if it had the manual shutter option) Maximum 10 participants A day spent talking about photography but also about images and stories. ​ We are currently finalizing the 2023 calendar with place throughout Italy and various dates. Terrimage is also available to evaluate the possibility of organizing the workshops in your gardens. Write to us here or via Live Chat to get more information. 2023 calendar

Terrimago On taking pictures ​ Terrimago On taking pictures i s a section of Terrimago that develops in a purely photographic field, with the help of Cristina Archinto garden and landscape photographer for many years. Here you can find the photos tips to improve your shots in a specific field such as gardens and plants. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​Subscribe to the newsletter to keep you up to date and not lose any information. MORE " Cristina Archinto with her photographs project us beyond the purely aesthetic dimension, they accompany us in a profound experience with the environment, with a garden, with nature. Photographic stories that narrate amazement and that lead you to reflect on these beauties , a leap for the spirit, a cultural journey. Clever photographic games to reconstruct the magic of a garden, a vegetable garden or a plant; the magic of nature." My fair newsletter