Photos

So, let's see - do you know it? Someone is surely shouting yes! yes! I know it, I have it, and it's beautiful!

But there are still many who have never heard of it, and that's a real shame. This beauty doesn't just belong in collection gardens and for hydrangea lovers. It's a reliable and useful shrub for semi-shaded and moist to wet areas with such attractive leaves that it even puts the fig tree to shame. Don't believe it? Come and see for yourself😁.

Hydrangea quercifolia

This is autumn. Fascinating, isn't it?

This morning, I was woken up by an unexpected sound - my neighbour was mowing the lawn. Seriously. In January. And I don't blame him, because the grass grows even in winter and the lawnmower not only trims the green but also collects fallen leaves. Today's beautiful and sunny weather brought not only gardeners outside. The sidewalks and parks were full of walkers, and it looked like everyone was enjoying the warmer weather after the recent cold spell.

I went out as well, and true to my professional quirks, I was thrilled to have my camera with me at the end of the day. 🤩 Do you like the photo? I love the winter sky; it has the most beautiful and intense colours. I watched it for several minutes until the sun completely disappeared. And I thought I'd show you some more colors. Something from the last season that may either bring back memories or show you some inspiration to look forward to, because I know that as soon as the first rays of the sun tickle you, you'll be planning what and where to plant in the spring 💚🍀🌹 So throw yourselves into the sea of colours and shapes and enjoy! 😇

yarrows

brunnera

peony

tickseed

rhododendron

trumpet vine

silene

daylily

lily-of-the-valley shrub

fern

tamarix

stonecrop

European elder

weigelas

bluebeard

pulmonaria

Czech Television excelled! As opposed to the debacle of the Christmas Eve’s fairy tale as well as the New Year’s Eve “joyful” estrade on Channel One, the lineup of New Year's programmes on Channel Two was a delight one after another. It's probably no surprise, because while commercial production (anywhere) aimed at entertaining at all costs is increasingly heading into dead ends with overdone, exhausted, and shallow topics lie, production aimed at uplifting the mind and spirit has horizons that are perpetually open and inexhaustible, because its themes have depth, content, and relevance in any era.

I want to focus on one program, a fascinating French documentary called Legacy from 2023, directed by the world-renowned creator of Home (2009), the 78-year-old photographer, filmmaker, balloonist and ecologist Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Since 1976, he has lived as a photographer in Kenya, where he observed and documented the life of a lion family and discovered his passion for photography from a hot air balloon. The higher and farther he travelled, the more he learned about the state of our Earth and how people treat it. His work went so far that, after he returned to France, in 1994 he launched a study on the state of the Earth, sponsored by UNESCO, showing how far we have come in its devastation in less than 100 years. In 2005, he founded the GoodPlanet organization, which aims to truthfully and comprehensively inform about the importance of reducing greenhouse gases and the impact of current energy policies on the ecosystem.

Do you find it unbearable how the topics of greenhouse gases, glacier melting, global warming, and all that blah blah blah is constantly repeated? I understand. Nobody likes it when there's blabber about something we don't really understand, especially when it's spoken by those who don't deserve our trust but since they control the media they are louder than those who genuinely care and want to share their ideas and suggestions. I'm an ecologist, and I'm not ashamed of it. And I don't apologize when I get talking on the subject because I consider it vitally important more and more every year. But Yann Arthus-Bertrand does it much better. His perspective isn't just from the height of a balloon capturing beautiful panoramas; more and more frequently now he flies lower to capture the fine detail of everyday honest work of people who treat the Earth with respect.

The documentary made me reflect on what I actually do and appreciate even more the work I have the privilege to do: offering new life. Life in the form of plants that can transform a barren plain into the green lungs of the landscape, creating pasture to insects, birds, and sometimes even ourselves. It's just about how big a piece of the landscape we have to manage. We take care of plants ecologically, 95% of our plant-care products and recommendations are biological, non-chemical, because we know that only a healthy foundation creates a healthy environment for longevity. I love this job and it brings me immense joy. And I can't imagine being ever put in a situation where I couldn't do it due to the climate change. What I, and everyone else, would miss out on. Will you join me when I show you what I would miss? 😊

I would miss oaks. Oaks so large that they look like a shelter under whose canopies one could live.

Their deeply furrowed bark of thick trunks which cannot be embraced by one person only.

Or picturesque bark of plane trees, beautiful all year round.

I would miss memories. I was 39 then 🙈😎

I would miss forests with their large trees and impenetrable thickets providing hideaway for may animals.

I would also miss creatures of humans who, over centuries, have been forming and shaping its face to their liking ...

... combining many trees and shrubs and flowers in such manner that they please his eyes and soul.

I would miss the urge to stop the car whenever I see a valley worth pulling over, absorbing its beauty with all my senses ...

... or hills around so beautiful that one had to make a swimming pool in order to enjoy the atmosphere to its best.

I would miss views so Czech like poppy fields which make me recall my childhood beacause red poppies, cornflowers and daisies were everywhere!

I would miss pines and their unique shapes.

And their ability to thrive on virtually no soil on rocky slopes above thick ice of a lake underneath ...

... and making snow angels in fresh snow 😁❄

I would miss the sun shining through the trees ...

... just like unique sunsets ...

... and of course the rainbow(s) after the rain.

I would miss those little creatures which sometimes show up in my garden and, unafarid, come to say hi ...

... as well as those whom I have to chase at night trying to find out who is the strongest singer ...

... and during day he thinks that he is well hidden from me 😊

I would miss those who just go with the flow ...

... and those who look me in the eye when feasting on a block of butter which they got from me for Christmas.

I would miss the spring of life with all its sprouting ...

... and autumn with its bottomless palette of vivid colours.

I would miss the first hoarfrost ...

... a perennial bed with flowers some of which I can cut for my vase in the living room ...

... and a small tuft of snowdrops symbolizing the spring ...

... to be followed by multicoloured rockeries with plenty of ground-covering perennials.

I would miss the puzzle how come that something so pretty can smell so bad (Archer's stinkhorn) ...

... while this beauty smells gorgeously a few meters around.

I would miss the time when the nature goes to sleep in winter and all is covered with snow ...

... and we have the luxury of observing the frost and harsh weather outside from the comfort of our safe homes. Do we the find time to realize this and be grateful for it?

I wish you all a Happy New Year! May it be full of experiences, surprises, encounters, conversations, and also sometimes silence. And above all, love, which is the foundation of human existence ☺️❤🍀🌳