Sunday, March 29, 2015

scientific settings of pleasure


Rezervaţia ştiinţifică Pădurea Domnească is the Royal Forest Reserve, a scientific reserve in the Glodheni District of Moldova along the Prut River bordering Romania was founded in 1993 and immortalized on this 1999 Europa stamp
According to the Moldova Holidays website the reserve includes various tree species including willows, oaks, poplars, and beeches. Moldova’s largest and oldest stand of old-growth oak trees can be found here; the oldest tree is recorded to be more than 450 years old. It is also home to many birds, most notably herons, which nest in the trees near the river. The herons are so abundant that the local people call the area the “land of the herons”.  Many animals can also be found in the reserve, including a small herd of bison, brought to the reserve after an agreement with the Polish government. (I am wondering why there isn't a bison or heron pictured on this stamp?). Another interesting attraction within the reserve is a landscape of hills and knolls called the “one hundred hill”; to this day how they were formed remains a mystery.

and speaking of Romania, I also have this 1965 stamp of the Cluj Botanical Gardens showing a greenhouse, hibiscus and bird of paradise

Grădina Botanică Alexandru Borza a Universităţii Cluj-Napoca (Romanian is rather easy to translate) or the Alexandru Borza Cluj-Napoca University Botanic Garden was founded in 1905 and taken over by the university in 1920 and became a historical monument in 2010. It is both a tourist attraction as well as a scientific and educational garden.

There is a complex of six greenhouses (sera) for orchids and ferns, bromeliades, succulents, palms trees, and aquatic plants.

I must say, I have no idea how I would have found out any of this information on these two stamps without the aid of the internet. It has made stamp collecting so much more interesting and I now even go to shows with specifics in mind, rather than my usual response (when asked what I'm looking for) "something pretty".

for SundayStampsII - gardens and woodlands

5 comments:

  1. Botanical Gardens are some of my favourite places. The stag in the glade definitely comes within the "something pretty" request. I can go to shows with something in mind but go "off piste" at an instant at the sight of a attractive stamp.

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  2. I nearly missed the owl in the tree on the Moldova stamp. My Romanian stamps are a pretty dull lot - yours is a beauty.
    With the topics posted so many weeks in advance I now have time to look for specifics - only one 'blank' so far.

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  3. These are lovely - and thanks to Bob for finding the owl - I would have missed it every time.

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  4. All these Europa stamps are beautiful. I have posted one of them. I remember I sent the Spanish one more than once.

    I agree with you about the helpfulness of Internet. I'm not a stamps collector, just a stamps sender/receiver. But I really like to learn through stamps.

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