Green space

 Folks, I love having the Museum Card. It's the card that's valid for a year and lets you in to most of the museums and similar in all of Finland. The card I bought in August has already paid for itself, so every entrance I don't have to pay is now just bonus. 

One of the places that lets you in with a Museum Card is the Helsinki University Botanical Gardens. There are actually two places, one in the new(er) campus in Kumpula, but the one I visit is in Kaisaniemi, near the Central Railway Station. 

The Botanical Gardens consist of a nice park with an arboretum - trees, that is, and also an open area with flowers and bushes, and several ponds. And, above all, greenhouses. The park area is free and open most of the year but the greenhouses require an entry fee. Or a Museum Card. 

There are not many hardwood trees that grow in these latitudes, so the Botanical Gardens' poplars and lindens and oaks are enjoyable. I used to love how big the trees grew here. Now that I mostly live in Ithaca I get to see more deciduous trees all the time it has lost some of its exoticism. Still, this big fat oak ('tammi') made me happy.  

When I walked in to the greenhouses, I was greeted by friendly garden workers who were all rather excited about a blooming water lily Victoria Amazonica. Apparently it's the last time this fall they are going to bloom. The flowers (in the picture they are the white ones in the back) were spectacular. But something always blooms in these greenhouses. That is one of the reasons I love them. When it's cold and dark, coming here you smell the warmer climes and you see green everywhere.  

PW is going to Namibia in November and I wanted to see the Namibian miracle, Welwitschia. I wasn't disappointed - a whole wall recess was dedicated to this long-living plant. For more information on the Welwitschia you can read my post in The Namibiad. 

 

The oldest part of the greenhouses at the Kaisaniemi Botanical Gardens is the Palm Room, built in 1889. The same architect added two wings on both sides of it within the next couple of years. The Palm Room is high and lush, with trees that would not thrive in Finland without the glass walls. 

When I was 15, I had a two-week "Introduction to work life", just like IT this year. For the first week I went to the Kaisaniemi Botanical Gardens. I remember the Palm Room and it's little pond - we fished out the goldfish so that the pond could be cleaned during that week - and the water lily room, and I remember how I decided then that gardeners are the happiest people alive. They certainly were kind to me. Gardening is not my calling in life, but I can appreciate the joy that dirt and greenery give to others. 

There's still green leaves outside and the fall foliage is marvelous, but soon it will be gray and all the leaves will be gone. Look for me then in these greenhouses.