Springtime
It’s springtime, the days are getting longer and warmer and it’s time to get out and about. Whether you’re sitting in a cafe, taking a walk in the countryside or you are up to outdoor sports, it is a pleasure to enjoy spring with all your senses. Nature is waking up from winter and invites us to participate.
Humans discover their environment with their senses, with sight and hearing, with smell and touch, with the feeling of the environment. Only recently researchers found out that the human biorhythm is adjusted to the latitude. The inner clock is sensing the light, the length of day and night, and rising temperatures. The biorhythm calls for spring activity. People living in north Scandinavia for example are much more reacting to the seasonal changes than those living around the equator.
We are living right in between the north and the south on about 48 degrees north. Spring is for us a real relieve after dark and cold winter days. We are especially lucky that we have nature just around us despite we live in the downtown area. Right across from our apartment is a beautiful chestnut alley with lawns, blooming bushes, and flowers.
A café at a corner of the alley invites for a rest, a snack and good cup of coffee while watching people walking by.
The alley goes around an old Middle Age town wall. Some of it is still there and a pond alongside gives a nice atmosphere. A couple of black swans, ducks and fish call the pond their home.
Not far away, only a 10 minute walk is the river Rott with it’s plains. Trails go all along the river for hiking and biking or a leisurely stroll through nature. A couple of white swans have every spring their nest there and people are stopping and asking each other if the cygnets have already arrived. It is nature in the city with trees and bushes, flowers and blossoms, ducks and geese, many birds, and a clan of rabbits.
Getting out into nature is especially inspiring in spring and relaxing in the buzz of a city. The idea of public nature parks in the city came up at the end of the 18. Century all over Europe. The duke of Bavaria appointed Sir Benjamin Thompson to create a garden in the new English style of a nature park. Thompson was originally from Massachusetts and participated in the American Revolutionary War. Later when he came to Europe he was appointed as War Minister of Bavaria. As the public got increasingly angry about the court gardens only the leading class had access the Duke had the idea of a garden the public. The English Garden was created and became the first public park in Europe. It is still one of the largest city parks in the world.
A different approach is to create little places in the cities for the people to relax so called “pocket gardens”. These are tiny gardens in public places for people to relax. They are also viewed as a positive component for better air quality. Creating little green corners in the cities might be a fun project for garden architects.
