When she came to Rzędziny (Nassenheide) near Szczecin, by the Baltic Sea, in the late 19th century, she created her garden practically from nothing in an old, abandoned mansion where wind howled, and half-savage vegetation crept up from the nearby forest. She did not know botany, nor gardening, and yet she created a glamorous Eden full of charm, beauty, and peace. In order to save it from oblivion, she began to write… This is how this unique publication, entitled Elizabeth and her German Garden happened (published first in 1898), which shows how the creative consciousness comes to life under the influence of the power of nature.
Welcome to the garden of the Countess Elizabeth von Arnim, AD 1900, which currently is situated in the ever-living, true-to-heart home of virtual and wonderful world of imagination. In the words of Milton, ,”The mind is its own place,” so let us join the Countess in her paths.
Photo from www.forum.gazeta.pl (villages near Szczecin, Poland)
“The house was built of grey stone, and stood in the middle of the vast Prussian plains. It had a stone-floored hall, which once was a monastery’s chapel. However, during the Thirty Years’ War, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden expelled the nuns on the plain to seek other shelter.” (Ogród wyobraźni hrabiny von Arnim-‘(in Eng.-The palace of Countess’s von Arnim imagination’ by Małgorzata Piera)
The book Ogród wyobraźni hrabiny von Arnim is already on sale http://zaczytani.pl/ksiazka/ogrod_wyobrazni_hrabiny_von_arnim,druk
Newsflash
In June this year, I have participated the Rose Festival dedicated to Countess von Arnim in Skarbimierzyce near Szczecin, Poland, where a lot of readers asked me for dedications on my book entitled Ogród wyobraźni hrabiny von Arnim, and many of them spoke of their fascination with the personality of Elizabeth.
Below you can see a fragment of the book stall.
* The Rose Garden
My Inspirations — Countess’ Sepia Roses
The sheer number of species of roses in the Countess’ garden may make your head spin. These precious flowers, which usually bloom all summer, must have looked impressive as the background of the palace, against the lush greenery of the park. Most of her roses were miniature, and she only grew two full-grown varieties, which looked, according to her, like “brooms” driven into the ground (Ogród wyobraźni hrabiny von Arnim)
Flower motifs on pots
*Flower-beds Around the Mansion
“The first summer was full of pansies, roses, thickets of overgrown shrubs, which she spent preparing plots by the sundial, and learning gardening, mainly on her own errors. But Elizabeth spent some pleasant hours writing on the house veranda — she did not like to sit indoors.” (Ogród wyobraźni hrabiny von Arnim)
Herb motifs on pots
*The Magic of a Winter Picnic
“I have a weakness for picnics, especially in winter … and of all my many favourite picnic spots this one on the Baltic is the loveliest and best … endless forest stretching along the shore as far as the eye can reach ; and after driving through it for miles you come suddenly, at the end of an avenue of arching trees, upon the glistening, oily sea, with the orange-coloured sails of distant fishing-smacks shilling in the sunlight.” (Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth and Her German Garden)
* A Moment in a Forest Retreat
,,The Hirschwald is a little open wood of silver birches and springy turf starred with flowers, and there is a tiny stream meandering amiably about it and decking itself in June with yellow flags. with the daisies up to the door, and no path of any sort …” (Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth and Her German Garden)
* Meditation in Elizabeth’s Library
“According to Liebet, the library was her favourite room, and he wrote “it looked rather too cheerfully for a standard library, and its colours, white and yellow, were extremely joyful, even frivolous.” The library had white shelves, a large fireplace, and four south-facing windows onto the most beautiful part of the garden. The fireplace provided heat in colder times, the windows — fresh air and sunlight on brighter days, and clear colours — good mood.” (Ogród wyobraźni hrabiny von Arnim)
Countess’s December Afternoon
