Formal gardens are nice, but never can they equal, much less rival, Nature’s wild gardens. Nothing person-made comes close to being as gracious and triumphant as an alpine meadow in flower.
Public domain artworks from Alpine flowers and gardens, painted and described by G. Flemwell (published London, A. & C. Black, 1910) express these sentiments exactly, while simultaneously helping us identify locations in the Alps to find spring and summer-time altitudinal joy. Let’s hope they are just the same over a century later.
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Hepatica in the Woods at Bex, in the Rhone Valley
Crocus and Soldanella at Les Plans
Primula farinosa, the Oxlip and Marsh Marigold at Les Plans
Gentiana verna and the Glacier de Plan-Neve
Primula viscosa above Vernayaz, in the Rhone Valley
Alpine Garden (the Thomasia) at Pont de Nant
Gentiana Kochiana and Silene acaulis at the Col de la Forelaz
The Sulphur Anemone at the Col de la Forclaz
Trollius europaeus at the Col de la Forelaz
Alpine Garden (the Ramberlia) on the Rochers de Naye
Alpine Garden on the Rochers de Naye
Alpines on the Rocks of the Rochers de Naye
Rhododendron and the Glacier de Trient
Hayfields in July at the Col de la Forclaz
Saxifrage and Alpine Eglantine with the Glacier des Grands
Arnica and Campanula barbata on the Col de la Forclaz
Alpine Garden (the Linnea) at Bourg St. Pierre
The Yellow Gentian and Mont Blanc
Thistles, the Apollo Butterfly, and the Aiguille du Tour