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Summer Gardens in Switzerland YOU MIGHT SAY THAT ALL OF SWITZERLAND is a garden. Its cow-filled pastures stretch green and velvety as far as the eye can see. Yellow, pink, blue, and violet flowers bedeck this green sward. As I walked through these pastures, I asked myself, “When did weeds become flowers?” In all directions there were yellow dandelions, purple asters, wild bluebells, native deep purple spikes, and carpets of gray pink mint. As I hiked purposefully up through these pastures, I asked myself, “Why would anyone plant a garden in the midst of one?” The Swiss are an intensely frugal people. Small carts behind bicycles are filled with newly cut hay for backyard cows. Stacks of precisely cut wood adorn each chalet, ready for winter’s gales. In the high pastures, cowherds have covered each cow patty with hay to add to the mulch pile below. This frugality is at the heart of one type of Swiss garden. A small vegetable garden we found in Kandersteg that fronted an ancient chalet built in 1759 epitomized a beautiful garden with a purpose. A neat square, divided into four parterres with a circular middle, contained a succulent abundance of vegetables . One parterre was iridescent green with Boston lettuce and deep green spinach. Another parterre contained cauliflower and broccoli whose gray-green leaves had droplets of fresh dew. Another parterre was full of yellow-blooming squash and orange-blooming cucumbers. The centerpiece contained cherry tomatoes and red bell peppers. The entire enclosure was flourishing in built-up beds pungent with cow manure. Surrounding this rabbit’s delight were small outcroppings of delicately scented herbs: pink- and white-blooming mint of all types; lavender spikes of rosemary; and blue spikes of lavender. Running a hand over the leaves filled the air with a multitude of scents. We settled on a small terrace surrounded by this “Peter Rabbit” garden. A pink and white Swiss damsel served us a cup of tea with fresh lemon mint leaves on the plate. The interior was filled with carved wooden antiques, with a ceramic stove for heating and round lead-rimmed windows. The salad luncheon was juicy with onions, carrots, bell peppers, and lettuce from the abundant garden. Mr. McGregor never had a more perfect garden, or one that would be more appreciated by Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. The Swiss window boxes are like moustaches on a man’s face, twinkling and smiling. Some window boxes have red and white geraniums, while others have pink and purple petunias. Still others are packed with pink and purple fuchsias and pink and red begonias. To some the pairing of crimson, violet, scarlet, and orange 56 Switzerland would seem garish. The cool weather and abundant rainfall assure that these colorful house trimmings have never-ending blooms. When low gray and white clouds blow in or slanting rainfall with booming thunder drives everyone inside, the brilliant , colorful window boxes are sparkling and bright. Swiss landmarks often come with exquisitely designed and planted gardens. Swiss pride was much in evidence at Schloss Spiez, a castle compound dating from 1388 in the small town of Spiez on the Thunersee. The castle with its multiple tiletrimmed spires occupies a fortress position on a rocky outcropping over the lake. Rapunzel might have let down her tresses for the prince from one of those towers. The garden was the entering focal point to the castle with vistas in all directions. One viewpoint was toward neat, green rows of grapes used for making MüllerThurgau , the white wine that is the specialty of the region. Another vista was toward the lake, whose mother-of-pearl surface was blue, green, or gray, depending on the sky. The garden was the centerpiece with blazes of color drawing the eye forward . The entry path was planted thick with standard and very old fuchsias. These flowers, so like dainty dancing ladies, were purple and red, or melon and pink, or rose and lavender. Each breath of wind moved their petals up like skirts so that their tendrils pranced. Six-foot beds surrounded the central greensward. At eye level were blue asters, yellow, orange, and white standard verbenas, footed by blue and red sage, blue ageratum, and masses of pink and red begonias. An orange cat, quietly stalking a yellow butterfly, added a humorous note. In the middle of this garden was a small fountain, surrounded by white phlox and pink dahlias. We strolled into the castle’s central courtyard and...

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