Doing yoga, enjoying a garden picnic by the river Danube, making our own herbal sprays & oils using local plants … the variety of garden activities back in my home country, the Danube area in Lower Austria, is really really impressive – and perhaps worthy of an international award. For the first time in 2017, Tulln has hosted the so-called “gartenFESTWOCHENtulln” (Garden Festival Days), only a stone’s throw away from my original homeland in the Lower Austrian Kamptal valley. And yet, I haven’t seen, nor have I known about, most of the activities we did, or (private) gardens we visited. 100 garden events, 10 garden festival days, and 70 participating partners: June is one of the best seasons to travel in order to experience the “gardenous” wealth of Lower Austria, and Tulln in particular.
Starting off our travel experience …
… with a local garden yoga workshop …
… where besides Yoga, Hilde Geiger our instructor, spoils us to her homemade, wholesome, organic cuisine …
… thank you so much, dear Hilde, for teaching us about being in the flow of the (Yoga) moment, in your garden …
… and here is where you can see all of our #gfwt17 Social Media posts, encouraging all travellers and guests to share their garden moments of Tulln with the world!
Next up, we are in for a creative workshop with herbs at the local garden park of the Starkl nursery.
You will love meeting Martina, trust me. She is heads over heels with her herbs, plants, and flowers, and has come to appreciate them and their healing properties for more than ten years now. As part of her instructions, she each hands us a self-printed book with lots of tips and insights into the plants around us. It’s tricky to slice up Aloe Vera after becoming so grounded, and mindful about nature, in our previous yoga workshop, but making your own after-sun-spray from the healing properties of the plants is quite something, too. Check this out.
Feeling the tender little sprouts at the botanical nursery Starkl in Tulln …
… we meet Martina Teiretzbacher …
… who instructs us which plants to harvest …
… in order to make …
… our first green smoothie, a base for natural aspirin…
… lots and lots of time for questions and answers about herbs …
… before we continue to process our own Aloe Vera …
… Wolfgang has almost finished making after sun sprays for all of us!
Last but not least, we are harvesting Saint John’s wort …
… for making another natural ointment, and carrying our precious plant souvenirs home with us!
Love the creative vibes of our happy garden group! The Diamond City Hotel in Tulln furthermore offers to organise a picnic basket for us, which we enjoy sitting in an area specifically designed for picnics by the Danube river. Lovely.
Check out www.gartenfestwochentulln.at in order to find out about what’s going on beyond the immediate festival days in Tulln, including videos and photos about the garden events and all the participating garden partners.
After our picnic, we’ve been to yet another creative garden of a kind: “Rainbows End” at the outskirts of Tulln, where the local couple Ursula & Herbert Weber proudly welcome us to paradise (at the “end of the rainbow”). Despite only owning a garden the size of 30 x 80 metres, they have been able (in the course of almost 20 years ..!) to create a sheer paradise on Earth, so beautiful it’s almost impossible. Come take a walk with us …
… right inside Ursula & Herbert Weber’s garden …
… lovely to visit and get to know the local family as part of the Garden Festival Days …
… the perfect time to mix and mingle with other nature (and garden) lovers around …
… and wouldn’t you, too, like to sit and sway here for a while? Herbert has made this lounge chair all by himself, and even allows us to sit in it.. Claudia apparently loves it!
Last but not least, check out a place called Kirchberg am Wagram, about twenty minutes’ drive from Tulln …
… and be advised to visit Monika Hübl & Karin Szing, who will both welcome you with open hearts and (garden) doors.
Lower Austria is all about gardens (and the sweet locals to go with): Monika Hübl, in her creative studio …
… designs patterns which she then prints on aprons, shirts, and little herbal cushions available for sale in her farm shop …
… located inside the garden of her wonderful, typical Weinviertel farm estate …
… next time, I will have to come back for a local shopping spree in the farm shop, that’s for sure.
Karin Szing, at “Toni’s Blumenstube” too, is a lady full of delight and creativity …
… who welcomes us to her decorative (garden) shop area …
… offering one of the best rose flower sirups I have ever tried in my whole life …
… lovely to wind down from a day of travelling around Tulln and its gardens with a view like this …
… thank you Lower Austria (“Niederösterreich”) for your green welcome …
… and should you feel like finding out even more about the gardens of Lower Austria:
My friends & fellow bloggers have also written about, and shared beautiful photographs from their experiences here:
- Claudia Schlager: “Ein Tag auf den gartenFESTWOCHENtulln 2017“
- Wolfgang Möller & Jessica Müller: “Ein inspirierender Tag in der Gartenregion Tulln“
- Philipp-Alexander Stenzel: “Unser Besuch der Gartenfestwochen Tulln 2017“
- Klara Fraccaro & Miriam Ursenik: “Garten-Festwochen Tulln 2017: 10 Tage – 1000 Impressionen” & “Im Garten-Mekka! 7 Tipps für einen perfekten Tag in Tulln“
Disclaimer: We have been invited to travel to Tulln as part of the Lower Austrian Garden Festival Days. All opinions are my own.