Tag Archives: Italy

Old Man’s Beard

Clematis vitalba (old man’s beard / tysk klematis) is an important wild edible in Italy (young shoots which must be cooked) and also one of the most attractive plants in my garden for hoverflies and other pollinators! Saving seed this week from my 20+ year old seed propagated plant which provides me with a lot of entertainment (hoverfly watching on my balcony)!

Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto

This follows on from my early blog posts from my April visit to Northern Italy. Matthias Brück had invited me to Switzerland to take part in the Perennials for Resilience seminar in Stans and he asked me along on a trip through the Alps to the Piedmont area of NW Italy. Our host, Pius Leutenegger took us on a botanical trip to Lake Maggiore. Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto (the Villa Taranto Botanical Gardens) is the second garden we visited on 3rd April, located on the western shore of the lake. The gardens were established in 1931-1940 by Scotsman Neil Boyd McEacharn and opened to the public in 1952.
Blog post from the first garden visit is here: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=17901

Centro d’Ompio and Pettenasco

On 2nd April 2018, Matthias Brück who had invited me to Switzerland to take part in the Perennials for Resilience seminar in Stans asked me along on a trip through the Alps to the Piedmont area of NW Italy! This is the first of three blog posts about this trip to an area that I think one day Matthias and his good lady Katharina will have a big impact in this area! This is also written as a thank you to Centro d’Ompio’s founder Pius Leutenegger who invited us to stay at the centre, wined, cheesed and dined us and took us on a wonderful tour of gardens and nature in the Lago d’Orta / Lago Maggiore area! I hope to come back one day and repay your kindness in helping developing the Centre’s gardens and maybe holding a course to start the process!

Pius Leutenegger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eqlyG9GyvM

Centro d’Ompio:
https://www.ompio.org/en