Kolašin Botanical Picture of the Day 10/08/2010

There is a small botanical garden in Kolašin run by the Vincek family. They are a very hospitable couple especially Daniel, the 70 year old curator who served apple brandy on arrival at 10am in the morning! He has officially retire but you can see the love and the care that he has for the garden and his knowledge of the plants and the conditions that they need to grow. His garden is unique as it is in a volcanic area (acid soils) in a predominately limestone area (alkali soil) and has many links with many botanical gardens around the world including Kew Gardens. We visited with two other couples from the UK and one of them really knew his plants gaining the nickname "The Professor". It was good to meet someone who lives in the area full time so we can get to ask about life in the mountains. You need 20 cubic metres of wood to get through the winter as it is cheaper then using electricity to heat the house and the locals were all chopping in mid August so they don't get surprised by an early Winter. The area looked like this