A sunny day in Stockholm

I visit Stockholm often , because I have a son who lives there. Of all the places to sightsee, my favorite is Kolonistugor, the allotment gardens established as early as 1904. Back then, city dwellers lived in small apartments that barely offered room for a family. The inside courtyard might have some dirt or trees, but mostly they were concrete. A small window box was the best one could do to grow herbs or flowers.

The pictures are ones I took in Kolonistugor, on the island of Södermalm, on the south banks. Facing a lake, the gardens are made up of small parcels of land separated by narrow lanes and picket fences. Families wait many years for a plot to become available. Once they get one, they are likely to keep it for life. Families then can go out there on warm summer days, plant trees, bushes, flowers, and vegetables. The community provides public toilets. There is no electricity and small cottages hold only room for supplies and , perhaps, a table and chairs.
An outside water tap provides water for drinking and plants.
In 1904, an upper-class woman named Anna Lindhagen, a social-democratic leader , visited the allotment gardens of Copenhagen and determined to start them in Stockholm . The Swedish Federation of Leisure Gardening represents the more than 26,000 allotment and leisure gardeners in Sweden. The land is usually rented from local authorities.
It is my joy to roam idly through the gardens and along the paths, trying to learn a whole new set of birds and recognizing some delightful plants which grow in W.Va. (my native state) but not in Florida.
Rhododendron in many colors delight the eye. Poppies burst forth like Georgia O'Keefe paintings, Roses cover large bushes as abundantly as the gardenias do in Florida . Lilacs hang down where , standing on tiptoes, one can inhale their intoxicating fragrance. All sorts of fruit and flowering trees line the paths.
At the bottom of the hill, a wider path traces the banks of the lake and bikers, walkers, runners, mothers pushing strollers: all inhabit this wonderful world of color in the heart of town.

Kolonistugor means "weekend cottages".