Following the camellias, it’s the season of roses. Rapperswil is a quaint ancient city on the shores of Lake Zurich, known as the “City of Roses” – from June to October each year, nearly 20,000 bushes of over 600 varieties of roses bloom here. With its picturesque lakes and mountains, and the city bursting with flowers, it’s no exaggeration to say that Rapperswil is the most romantic city in Switzerland.
From the top of the hill, the quaint yet majestic castle overlooks the small city surrounded by water on three sides. At the foot of the castle is a fragrant and colorful rose garden, which, though not large, boasts a wide variety of roses and has been blooming vibrantly for many years. In the other two rose gardens and public parks of the small city, there are also plenty of roses planted. One of them is a garden for the blind, where the names of each rose variety are marked in braille, allowing the blind to learn and imagine – even though they cannot see, flowers still bloom in their lives.
This is the Swiss attitude towards flowers, they are as essential to life as sunlight and rain. In urban areas, about 40% of Swiss people play with flowers and plants every week, and almost everyone is passionate about creating a garden-style nation. In the wilderness, the awareness of protecting native and endangered plants is not only deeply rooted in people’s hearts but also integrated into the legal system. In nature reserves, no one picks wild flowers, and there are even foundations dedicated to collecting and preserving local vegetation seeds. Swiss people see the splendor of life and the beauty of life in flowers and nature, and they have turned their country into a bountiful garden.
