Visit to the "EDWARD ANDERSON CONSERVATORY"

Today we visited the botanical garden with ma'am Uma and ma'am Sonia . When ,in 1936, the will of the deceased Edward Anderson was opened ,it was found that he had left his firm to the Bergius Foundation of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the creating and maintaining of "a winter garden (orangery),where only trees , shrubs , and herbs of the Mediterranean area ,and of those areas having comparable climates ,are to e cultivated". This charming wish has been fulfilled with the construction and planting of this conservatory ,which was opened for visitors in June 1995. The main hall of the conservatory is dedicated to the Mediterranean area proper, It is carefully worked out with limestone rocks and terraces spreading from a small ,rectangular arden ,flagged with Italian marble.Here are brought together attractive garden flowers and the fruit trees cultivated in southern Europe as well as the interesting indigenous flora of the regions. The four corner rooms present other areas with a Mediterranean climate. One example is the Cape Province of South Africa. The terraces representing the fynbos vegetation of the tablemountains have been planted with the exquisite ericas of that area ,flowering bulbs and members of the remarkable Proteaceae family. Then we saw the miniature desert which shows the flora of the Karoo deserts situated to the north -east of teh mountains .The plants here are marvellously adapted to stand long periods of drought. The last corner room is cool all year round .This is the high altitudes of tropical mountains of tropical mountains .Here the ferns dominate.A few brilliant orchids add to the shades of green. When planning the different areas ,rocks and stone have been chosen with care to make the separate landscapes look as authentic as possible. From the terrace and balcony above there is a view over the landscapes. At the entrance you find tables and coffee drinking facilities. On the whole we liked it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!