The Heem Garden

Earlier this month I went with my friend Aimee to the heemtuin of Rucphen. Before we go any further let me explain what a heemtuin or garden is. A heemtuin is a garden where, mostly for educational purposes, indigenous flora is grown the way you would find it in a certain area in the wild. And of course where there is indigenous flora there's indigenous fauna to be found as well. I love wild flowers and so does my friend Aimee so this heem garden was right up our street.
In the first 2 pics you see something that is very Dutch; pollarded willow trees next to a stream. Any idea what those yellow flowers are? Here's a close up.
Wild daffodils with a few Fritillaria meleagris.
O, to be in the Netherlands in April

There was a whole field full of them; a glorious sight!
Fritillarias are one of my favourite spring flowers, the purple ones in particular. But there was more to see than just daffodils and fritillarias.
Gorgeous wild primroses ( Primula vulgaris), this is my favourite spring flower, and has been for a long time. I've sown some seeds in a pot earlier this year and am waiting with baited breath for them to come up. So far no luck.
Primula vulgaris and fritillarias
Another beautiful wild primrose is the cowslip or Primula veris. Here to be found in a field full of wild daffodils.
Here Primula veris is growing together with wood anemones and Lamium purpureum.
There were lots of lamiums in flower, whole clumps of them. Here you see the pink Lamium maculatum together with the purple Lamium purpureum, such a wonderful sight.
In the wild flower meadow Veronica filiformis ( slender speedwell) was found too, this is another of my favourite plants. I just love those sweet little blue flowers.
The heem garden of Rucphen is still a young garden but it is already very beautiful. In flower is the Amelanchier. The brownish shrubs you see are sweet gale (Myrica gale).
Underneath some trees and shrubs we found big clumps of wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa) and hidden in the meadow among other plants like geraniums we found this
Corydalis solida, this plant has such elegant flowers.
Walking around this heem garden you sometimes forget to look up as there is so much growing down at your feet. But fortunately we did look up from time to time and spotted this:
Hey stop that, no kissing the blogger!
Mistletoe growing in its natural habitat.
Alongside a babbling brook grew many Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris), such wonderful plants that grow
very well at the edge of a pond too.

I leave you with this pic of an old crumbling wall where wall snapdragons and sedums grow in the crevices.
Very pretty, don't you think?

Have a great weekend!

copyright 2008 Y.E.W. Heuzen

Gardening is about change. No two days in the garden are ever the same.
Ken Thompson, An Ear to the Ground, 2003