Kolding Geographical Gardens

Today I went to the Kolding Geographical Gardens. I’ve been meaning/wanting to go here for most of the summer but either it never worked out or I had something else to do.Well today was a beautiful day in Kolding (Sunny for a change and 68 degrees) so I got up pretty early, got ready and headed to the gardens.

I rode my bike thinking that would be a fast way to get there and it would be some good exercise. I made myself a little map and figured out where I needed to go....well mostly figured it out. I knew what street I needed to turn on off of Joe’s street but somehow I miss counted the intersections and ignored the sign that told me the gardens were at one particular turn and kept going, up a big hill...after biking all the way up I decided this couldn’t be right and went back down. Sure enough the sign was at the street I was suppose to go on, I guess that just counts as more exercise, so I finally got back on track went up another hill (a slight incline the whole way up) and made it to the Garden.

I got my ticket and started my exploring. I started at the Birdhouse, Menagerie and Greenhouse. They had some really cool birds and goats and donkeys. The greenhouse was really pretty too and I learned from my map and guide that it was built in 1987.

Then I headed over to the Concept Gardens where I saw the Dahlia Garden, Herb and Medicinal Garden and several others.

Dahlia Garden

Next up was the best part of the whole Gardens, the roses. I absolutely love roses and whole gardens of them make me so excited. :) Even though some of them were past their peak bloom it was still so beautiful and smelled so good! There were a lot of beautiful roses and my favorite were the orange ones called Fellowship. I love the non-traditional rose colors so it was great to see so many different colors. Thy had these pretty purple ones called Rhapsody in blue and these pink and white ones that I don’t remember what they were called but they were also really pretty. I could have spent hours just wandering through the pathways looking at all the roses. :)

Rose Garden

Fellowship Roses

Alas, I did not have hours (the park is only open until 6pm) so I kept walking along the path to see more. Next up was the Japan area which had all kinds of cool plants including a Japanese Maple that was already starting to turn colors.

Japanese Maple

Then I found myself in the Canada and North America section and was greeted with a beautiful huge Hydrangea bush. This bush was apparently replaced after a Hurricane destroyed part of the North American gardens. I love Hydrangeas. They’re such a beautiful summer flower.

Amanda with the Hydrangeas

Then I found the South America section of the garden and saw a Giant Rhubarb. I should have taken the picture of the leaf with my hand next to it to show just how big it was but the leaves were incredible. It was really cool to see!

Giant Rhubarb

They had a second smaller rose garden called the Rosarium which was also very beautiful so I wandered around there for a while then missed out on some more Japan plants because the Magnolia weren’t blooming.

More North American plants including an American Yellow wood, Cucumber Tree and Thimbleberry bush.

The final section was plants from China. I saw The Grottos which were built by Askel Olsen in 1930. Askel was the foundered of the garden and planted a good number of the plants in the garden while he owned it. They also have a memorial stone for him in the gardens. He lived to be 95 years old! I guess gardening is a good hobby and just might keep you healthy! :)

The Grottos

I saw more Hydrangeas called Sargentiana which were absolutely beautiful! They had umbrella bamboo and several cherry trees. The Temple Tree was really cool and apparently the species has been around for 230 million years. It’s considered sacred in China, Japan and Korea.

Sargentiana

Temple Tree

All in all it was a really awesome experience and I think this might have been my favorite thing I did in Kolding. The whole garden was really beautiful and even though some of the plants were past their flowering they had so many that you didn’t feel like you missed out. I’m really glad I finally made it over there! I think I took enough pictures though! (78 total, I love nature pictures, what can I say!) So all in all a great late morning early afternoon activity.

Love from Amanda