This week Mirena sent me some cool pictures of her Peperomia ‘Happy Bean’ which is growing like crazy and rocking the windowsill in its colourful pot!! Thanks so much for the photos:)
Gorgeous plants
More botanic beauty
Recently I found out that there is another botanical garden in Amsterdam and it’s less than a 10 minute bike away from my flat! So on one of my free Friday afternoons, in between 2 rain showers, I decided to go and check it out.
It’s free and you can just walk in, while volunteers mill around doing their thing. It’s a lovely place to relax and you don’t feel at all like you are close to the busy Zuidas.
The collection of succulents and cacti both in and around the glasshouses is spectacular, with hundreds of different species in every single available space.
Observing all the different plants, with their details and colours was a real pleasure as usual. There were very few visitors so I was undisturbed as I got in close to photograph the details. I think I’ll be heading back there soon for some more inspiration:)
Check out Botanic Garden Zuidas for the opening times (it’s near the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam Zuid).
Shoot for the stars
JOYFUL GRATITUDE #29
A special shout-out today to the universe for making star-shaped plants! Aren’t they simply beautiful?
Succulent party
JOYFUL GRATITUDE #27
When I saw these tiny succulents it totally made my day! Looks like they are having an awesome party, dancing away and throwing their hands up in the air, like they just don’t care!
Such a perfect day
JOYFUL GRATITUDE #26
A couple of weeks ago, I went to Leiden to spend one of our ‘creative afternoons’ with my friend Eva (a.k.a. eating delicious lunch, talking about all sorts of things over coffee and cake, getting some creative inspiration and then enjoying more food for dinner and chatting further into the evening:)
We decided to go to the Hortus to observe plants and spark our imagination. It was so different from the last time we went in November! With the arrival of spring there were many lovely new plants, and we spent an amazing afternoon strolling through the sunlit gardens and then sweating profusely as we explored the tropical glasshouses.
The collection is so abundant, that there was an infinity of amazing shapes and incredible colour combinations to look at.
Soon we were completely in the flow, pointing out tiny details to each other and admiring the rich textures and striking shapes, orchids in retro-colours and wonderful bright purples and blues.
Short walk around the block
JOYFUL GRATITUDE #24
In the last few years I usually try to flee Amsterdam on King’s Day to avoid the crowds of people dressed in orange who hit the streets to celebrate the King’s birthday.
This year I’m in town but I took the opportunity of this day off to chill at home and do some spring cleaning at home whilst listening to S-Town (I’m hooked!).
Neverthelsess with the sun shining so nicely outside, I decided to get out of the house and go for a spontaneous photo walk around my neighbourhood, where luckily there are no crowds.
Despite May being just around the corner, it was still pretty cold, practically glove weather. The flowers popping up on every corner, bushes growing shiny fresh new leaves of all different colours and trees in full bloom tell another story. Winter is over!
It was a pleasure to be mindful and take in all the colours and textures to be found on a short walk.
Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam
A few years back I took a photo course and the field trip consisted in spending an afternoon taking photos at the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam of plants and butterflies. My favorite section was of course the desert greenhouse with the cacti and succulents.
It was so much fun to look so close up at the plants and see their amazing details and patterns. I loved observing these gorgeous little flowers with such beautiful pastel colours.
The texture of these velvety purple leaves was amazing and a challenge to try and capture on camera.
I remember being so focussed on the details, I was totally in the flow and didn’t feel time pass by. I think I will schedule another excursion there soon.
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
In 2014 during our trip to Glasgow, Eva and I explored the beautiful Botanic Gardens and enjoyed being surrounded by colourful tropical plants while it was grey outside.
We spent several hours discovering the glasshouses, in particular the Kibble Palace, a huge 19th century wrought iron glasshouse which is amazingly beautiful.
As we wandered around, taking our time and snapping lots of pictures of the gorgeous plants, a gardener came up to us. He indicated a plant and told us with his thick Scottish accent to take a closer… He was pointing to a tiny camouflaged stick-insect which we would never have spotted (not featured here;).
Sunshine and fresh air
This weekend was the first really warm spring weekend in Amsterdam. It was perfect weather to go cycling through the Amsterdamse Bos and enjoy watcing nature wake up after the winter.
Though the trees are still very bare, the undergrowth is teeming with wild daffodils and other pretty plants which the bumblebees are eagerly collecting nectar from.
Being surrounded by nature always helps me to unwind and relax my mind after a busy week at work. My senses felt so alive, as I bathed in the warm sunlight, seeing the bringht colours , breathing in deeply the fresh air and getting a whiff of those spring smells (wild garlic!).
Plants all over the place
It all started out quite innocently. I fell in love with this wonderful flat in part for its great windowsills, which I proceeded to decorate with a few plants (and Barberine the photobomber, who I was cat sitting at the time ;).
Little by little the amount of plants increased as I decided to experiment with cultivating the baby plants and cuttings in second hand pots, and selling them online.
My appartment slowly became a greenhouse (or a jungle, as Paolo would say). There were plants covering all available surfaces, including the whole coffee table, placed awkwardly in the corner where they would get the most of the sunlight.
Radical action needed to be taken, as the plants were threatening to take over our small living space;) So with the money I made selling plants, I bought a simple shelf to store the plants vertically and as you can see they are now thriving in that sunny corner:)
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported Cultivating Joy by purchasing a plant for their home!
Cultivating joy 