Isle of Mainau

The day we were leaving to visit the Taufer Hole, my landlords saw us in the parking garage and happened to ask if we had been to the Isle of Mainau in Germany. No, hadn't heard of it even. They suggested we include it in our itinerary which we did! (Ironically a colleague of Bob's suggested the same place the same day.) And I think we visited at a wonderful time in the growing season.

Although it rained, sometimes quite hard, we were able to use the time to visit the butterfly house with it's wonderful orchids as well as, of course, many butterflies, as well as have cappuccinos and an espresso in the adjacent snack bar! We were able to view the entire grounds without getting more than sprinkled on. There is also the castle which the count's family still resides, part of which is a gift shop and art museum.

The roses were spectacular and there were seemingly miles of them. (An exaggeration, yes, but there was a long stretch with nothing but large hedges of roses, many very fragrant. We all got the point were we said, "okay, enough rose pictures!"

The Island has many different gardens, some that are display gardens to give you ideas (along with the landscape designers name and contact information), an area devoted to container gardening, an herb garden, wooded areas with trees imported from all over, an Italian rose garden, a Palm Tree house, and much more!

Mainau Island is owned by the late Swedish Lord Bernadotte's family and has been run by the Lennart-Bernadotte foundation since the 1970s.

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