Thursday, June 7, 2012

For the Love of Acanthus



EV: On Tuesday, June, 5th the group headed back to Florence.  It is the most amazing city, filled with so much history and interesting things around every corner.  Along with discovering more and more about the art that flanks every inch of this city, we also were able to get a look at a little Florentine jewel that I never would have known about if it weren't for the horticulture class I am taking here.  
At the entrance of the Pitti Palace, an enormous building that once belonged to the famous Medici family, all of us students did not know what we would find on the outside, just beyond the walls of this amazing structure.  The most amazing garden I could have ever imagined was just inside, the Boboli Gardens.  It is a sprawling, 100 acre garden that goes out as far as the eye can see and is gorgeous.  
It has every kind of green plant you could imagine arranged in the traditional Italian garden style.  With a little hint of garden styles from all over the world thrown in every now and then.  And of course, it was dotted here and there with amazing gardens, unbelievable views, and an awesome grotto.  
Toward the end of the tour, Dr. Lombardini stopped all of us to show us a particular plant in which the Greeks and the Romans used as inspiration for the capital of a corinthian column.  This plant is called acanthus (Acanthus mollis) and it is really interesting to see in front of your eyes and picture how it looks on the capital of a column.  I thought that was a really cool thing to get to see along with the amazing garden.

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