A journey by Carla

from day 04/24/2008 to 04/24/2008

A Tour in Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy:

The climate in Lake Maggiore(Lago Maggiore) is mild in both summer and winter, with beautiful gardens growing rare and exotic plants. Famous gardens include those of Isola Bella, Isolla Madre, Isole di Brissago and of the Villa Taranto in Verbania.

Verbania also called :"Lake Garden", you can image how pretty it is.

We went to visit the botanical garden in Villa Taranto, it was so beautiful ... Enjoy those beautiful flowers in my gallery!

Lake Maggiore, Italy

Lake Maggiore (Italian: Lago Maggiore, or Lago Verbano; Latin: Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest of Italy and largest of southern Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great prealpine lakes of Italy, it extends for about 70 km between Locarno and Arona.

The climate is mild in both summer and winter, producing Mediterranean vegetation, with beautiful gardens growing rare and exotic plants. Well-known gardens include those of the Isola Madre, Isola Bella and the Isole di Brissago, that of the Villa Taranto in Verbania, and the Alpinia botanical garden above Stresa.

Islands on Lake Maggiore, Italy

• Borromean Islands (three islands and two islets located between Verbania to the north and Stresa to the south)
  • Isola Bella
  • Isola Madre
  • Isola dei Pescatori (or Isola Superiore)
  • Isolino di San Giovanni (in front of Verbania)
  • Scoglio della Malghera (between Isola Bella and Isola Pescatori)
• Brissago Islands (close to Brissago)
  • San Pancrazio (or Grande Isola)
  • Isolino (or Isola Piccola or Isola di Sant’Apollinare)
• Castelli di Cannero (three small islands just off the shore from Cannero Riviera)
• Isolino Partegora (in the gulf of Angera)

♦ Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy(Lago Maggiore, Italia)

The Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto (16 hectares) are botanical gardens located on the western shore of Lake Maggiore in Pallanza, Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Italy. They are open daily; an admission fee is charged.

The gardens were established 1931-1940 by Scotsman Neil McEacharn who bought an existing villa and its neighboring estates, cut down more than 2000 trees, and undertook substantial changes to the landscape, including the addition of major water features employing 8 km of pipes. They opened to the public in 1952, and after McEacharn's death in 1964 have been run by a non-profit organization. The Villa Taranto itself is not open to the public; it is used by the government.

Today the gardens contain nearly 20,000 plant varieties, representing more than 3,000 species, set among 7 km of paths. Among its collections are azalea, cornus, greenhouses of Victoria amazonica, and 300 types of dahlias. It also contains a small herbarium and the founder's mausoleum.

Villa Taranto & fountain, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy(Lago Maggiore, Italia)

♦ Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy(Lago Maggiore, Italia)

Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy(Lago Maggiore, Italia)

»»Tulip-Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy

A tulip is a bulbous plant in the genus Tulipa, comprising of 109 species with showy flowers, in the family Liliaceae.The species native range includes southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia from Anatolia and Iran in the west to northeast of China. The centre of diversity of the genus is in the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains and the steppes of Kazakhstan. A number of species and many hybrid cultivars are grown in gardens, used as pot plants or as fresh cut flowers. Most cultivars of tulip are derived from Tulipa gesneriana.

Peony or paeony is a name for plants in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the flowering plant family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, southern Europe and western North America. Boundaries between species are not clear and estimates of the number of species range from 25 to 40.

Most are herbaceous perennial plants 0.5–1.5 metres tall, but some resemble trees up to 1.5–3 metres tall. They have compound, deeply lobed leaves, and large, often fragrant flowers, ranging from red to white or yellow, in late spring and early summer.

Tulips&Peonies-Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy

A White/Royal purple Tulip-Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy

An Amaryllis/belladonna lily/naked ladies-Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy

Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, however viola species (commonly called violets, pansies or heartsease) are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in South America.

Most Viola species are tiny perennial plants, some are annual plants, and a few are small shrubs. A number of species are grown for their ornamental flowers in borders and rock gardens; the garden pansy in particular is an extensively used spring and autumn/winter bedding and pot plant. Viola and violetta are terms used by gardeners and generally in horticulture for neat, small-flowered hybrid plants intermediate in size between pansies and violets.

A Viola-Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy

The oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare, syn. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), also known as the marguerite, is a widespread flowering plant native to Europe and the temperate regions of Asia. It is one of a number of plants to be called by the common name daisy. It is also sometimes called moon daisy or dog daisy.

It is a perennial prostrate herb with small flower head (not larger than 5 cm) that consists of about 20 white ray flowers and numerous yellow disc flowers, growing on the end of the stem. The stem is mostly unbranched and sprouts laterally from a creeping rootstock.

The leaves are dark green on both sides. The basal and middle leaves are petiolate, obovate to spoon-shaped, and serrate to dentate. The upper leaves are shorter, sessile, and borne along the stem.

It produces an abundant number of flat seeds without pappus. It spreads also vegetatively by rooting underground stems.

The oxeye daisy is often planted as a garden flower but remains a typical meadow flower, growing in a variety of plant communities such as dry fields and meadows, but also under scrubs, open-canopy forests, and waste places. It thrives in a wide range of conditions and prefers heavy and damp soils. It was introduced in parts of North America, Australia, and New Zealand, where it is now a common weed displacing native plant species in some areas. It is difficult to control or eradicate, since a new plant can regenerate from rhizome fragments. However, in North Carolina, it is planted on roadsides by the highway department.

Marguerites/oxeye daisy-Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy

Rhododendron (from the Greek: ροδον, rodon, meaning "rose", and δενδρον, dendron, meaning "tree") is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. It is a large genus with over 1000 species and most have showy flower displays. It includes the plants known to gardeners as azaleas. It is the national flower of Nepal, the State tree of Sikkim, and the State Flower of both West Virginia and Washington in the USA.

The Rhododendron is a genus characterized by shrubs and small to (rarely) large trees, the smallest species growing to 10–100 cm tall, and the largest, R. giganteum, reported to over 30 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged; leaf size can range from 1–2 cm to over 50 cm, exceptionally 100 cm in R. sinogrande. They may be either evergreen or deciduous. In some species the underside of the leaves is covered with scales (lepidote) or hairs (indumentum). Some of the best known species are noted for their many clusters of large flowers. There are alpine species with small flowers and small leaves, and tropical species such as section Vireya that often grow as epiphytes.

Azaleas/Rhododendrons-Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy

»»More pictures of beautiful flowers，click album Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto 2005 and 2008

♦ Fountain & Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy(Lago Maggiore, Italia)

A fountain in Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy(Lago Maggiore, Italia)

♦ Lake Maggiore, Verbania, Italy(Lago Maggiore, Italia)

Lake Maggiore (Italian: Lago Maggiore, or Lago Verbano; Latin: Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest of Italy and largest of southern Switzerland.

If you would like to see more views of Lake Maggiore, welcome to look on my another journey - Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore.