i had no idea when i came to stockholm nearly 3 weeks ago (!) that i would be so completely undone by the gardens & parks. so captivated by their lushness. as someone who lives in a year-round growing climate i would never have imagined how enormous the flowers & plants could get in a place that only has a couple of months of warm weather a year. maybe it’s the long scandinavian summer days…
the lavish gardens of stockholm have been a welcome sight for this los angeleno. especially in summer, the constant sunshine and eternal dry cloudless skies of southern california can have a maddening effect on the psyche. you find yourself craving a good thunderstorm, a forest of flapping trees, moist petals & leaves, a carpet of soft grass in which to roll.
so it will come as no surprise, that i visited yet another garden the other day. situated on the island of djurgården, west of rosendal palace – the magnificent rosendal trädgård.
the rose gardens contain over 100 different species of antique roses. i was fascinated with the enormous rosehips that looked like tiny pumpkins on one type of bush. even the leaves of the roses are unusual. very different than roses you would find in southern california.
there were so many beautiful seed pods.
i could have stayed all day and night examining each stem.
i had my tiny sketchbook with me
and sank deeply into the act of capturing what i could with my pen.
making little notes so i’d know what color to paint things later.
There are apple trees, vegetable gardens, wildflowers, herbs and everything else under the sun you might imagine growing in a garden of earthly delights. They even make wine, bake bread, and grow & sell organic vegetables, potted fig, olive, and citrus trees.
a stand-out features of the garden is an orchard with about a hundred apple trees, and a wine garden with vineyards. 
if you take tram line 7 from kungsträdgården exit at the bellmansro stop. choose a path. start walking. you might get lost, but you’ll enjoy it. in 10 minutes or so you’ll think you’ve arrived at a farm. you sort of have…
there is a cafe serving delicious organic food grown on the premises,
if you’ve worked up an appetite from your walk or ride.
and if you haven’t.
eat anyway.
i had a sandwich piled high with sauerkraut, lettuce, pickles, and some kind of roast beef or ham, on a nutty slab of bread.
i told you these swedes had the bread thing down, right?
check out this video featuring one of the rosendal trädgård bakers!
get your food and then plunk yourself under an apple tree, or at a wooden table behind a hedge, or in a greenhouse, or nestled on a bench next to a sea of flowers you can admire, or draw.
while we’re on the subject of food…here are some other things i’ve been enjoying on other days.
a few more garden pics.
i might have picked up a thing or 2 from the gift shop.
on my way back to the tram i got a little lost.
but the views were pretty so i didn’t mind.
and on a dark and winding road i met a nice little cat.
love from stockholm
xo
Awesome pix!!! And the bread video had me drooling and whimpering!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Your photos are so wonderful!! They’re making me feel like I’m taking my own tour of Sweden!! Just beautiful!!!!!! xo
~ Wendy
http://Crickleberrycottage.blogspot.com/
A big tx to u for sharing this awesome place! Somewhere I never thought about, but now I am taken over by this enchanting land and dream of visiting there myself! Aloha, angi in hana
Man, you shoot the best looking food! And the flowers and even the seed pods are spectacular! I’m having so much fun enjoying your trips.
Mmmmm, flowers, eats and getting lost. Good grief, is there no end to the fun you’re having? Loved the conservatory. As always, a visual feast. Love your tiny sketchbook, MA.
Oh I want to be there. Love your sketches. I spent last Saturday making a bridal bouquet of wildflowers mixed with ferns and salal for a friends wedding in the forest on Sunday. Your sketches remind me of some of the things I used. Now I must go eat as all the food you showed us has made me very hungry!
Being a fellow gardener, I loved this post. As another commenter noted, the big rose hips are found on plants in the rugosa family, an ancient strain with wild roots, as you might say. There are beaches in New England where they grow wild in masses that take your breath away. I managed to bring some to NJ (bought, not poached) and have had them for years. The flowers have one of the best scents in the world. How lovely to be with you on your journey another week!
Your posts have become a Zen-like meditation for me……..so lovely……quiet…….followed by hunger ;))))))
Missy from the bayou
Oooh Ms. Mary I am in love. The big bush with the red (seedpods?) looks like a smack of jellyfish! Your sketches are wonderful. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful travel experience!
Magnificent and delightful! After you finished your pastry trio did you slip that cute blue basket weave dish in your purse for me? Thanks! By the way, the Swedes make soup out of those pumpkin size rose hips – Nypon Soppa. Very high in vitamin C.
love from gilroy
Adding Stockholm to the mental bucket list here – what a glorious revelation!
What a lovely day this must have been. When I googled the location I saw that my dh and I had been on that tram! we didn’t go to that garden, plus it was autumn. We just planned to see what was on this island by taking the tram to and fro. We saw the closed amusement park and then at the end of the line, turned around and got off midway. We walked along the road on the southern shore and would have liked to have visited the Vasa Museum but it was closing. Fortunately, they allowed us to use the toilets. 🙂
I travel the way you do…and it drives my current husband nuts. Wandering and going where the mood takes me. Not always a specific destination but open to what may appear. It is certainly not a waste of time!
What a lovely jaunt we had today! The sammy looks so good. The gardens are certainly a joy to see. All those gorgeous flowers.
I brought home a new succulent yesterday from Whole Foods. It had no tag so I didn’t have a clue what this thing’s name is. Lo & Behold, Mr. Google can find out anything. He sent me looking on Pintrest at all the nice succulents, charts, descriptions, etc., so I found this little gem: CRASSULA TETRAGONA, commonly known as Miniature Pine Tree. I’m smiling now.
Thank you for another lovely tour! The rose with the fat rose hips and “wrinkled” (rugose) leaves is a type of Rugosa rose, which thrives in cold climates. I grow many of them here in Montana. That dahlia is gorgeous, too. Can’t believe you’ve beenthere nearly three weeks!
Love back at ya Mary Ann. You are packin these posts with such a gorgeous array of colors, textures and beauty. You and your trusty camera make a good team. I’m taking in all the views and pretending I am there from my little corner on the world. I’m kind of having a little plant party over here, you see I took a peek at a cactus I recently picked up and transplanted into a bigger pot, (doing anything with plants usually ends badly for me and even worse for the little plants I’ve tried to nurture over the years) but today while checking on the cactus, I spotted two very tiny new babies growing off one of the arms of the little guy and I am tickled pink. It’s been almost 3 weeks and it appears to have survived very clumsy handling and rearranging. Seeing the art that is a well tended and loved garden makes me very happy indeed. 🙂
Thank you again for this trip!Bravo!
You had me at “bread”! So the video was exquisite.
Salivating here in so Cal, Miss Moss.
Did you really get your mouth around that sandwich??! Your adventures and photos are delightful!
– Tina
What gorgeous photos, MAM! I fell in love immediately with the coral orange flower (dahlia?). Stunning! You are so brave wandering around and not even caring if you get lost. To me, it seems, it is all just a big adventure, no matter what happens. You are little miss spontaneous. Your drawings are wonderful! Cannot wait to see them once you have painted them. And the food? I started drooling on my Ipad at the sandwich and shrimp salad! Shlurp!
Beautiful flowers, beautiful food, and a nice little cat. Heaven. Thanks for sharing, as always. 🙂