Color in Poland

Poland is very beautiful and colorful, and I’ll tell you why. This beauty is well enhanced by the abundance of kwiaty everywhere. This is one of the first things that I noticed when I got here, and it has been consistent everywhere we have been.

The “yards” in Poland, at least in the cities and villages, are for the most part very narrow and long, as are the houses in some areas. But the front yards (when the house does not sit right up on the road) are generally taken up with one of two things, flowers or a garden, or both. There is not a lot of lawn and when there is, it is usually green more from weeds than from any cultivated grasses. In my whole time here I have only seen one or two lawmowers, so most lawns are somewhat shaggy, though that could be due to the recent abundance of rain, too. In one area I saw someone attacking an overgrown lawn with a weed whacker. But outside of gardens which are somewhat prevalent and extensive, there is an abundance of flowers, flowers everywhere. I see a lot of marigolds, zinnias, roses, and just a wide variety of flowers, but marigolds seem to predominate, both yellow and rust colored varieties. These flower gardens appear well maintained to. I have come to the conclusion that Polish people love their kwiaty, which explains my mother’s love of flowers as well, and my sisters’, too.

The town here are filled with the sign, Kwiaciarnia. But these shops sell another type of flower that is very prevalent but only in certain areas—plastic flowers that are used to decorate graves. Yes, the cemeteries are filled nearly to overflowing with flowers decorating the graves. True, there are also other live plants sometimes planted at a gravesite, but almost always on the raised stone monuments there is an abundance of flowers as well as votive lights. Polish people show very much respect for their ancestors and in each of the many cemeteries we visited, most of not all of the graves had flowers on them. Yes, they may be a big faded with time, but it would seem that at least annually these are renewed with fresh plastic flowers. There were a few graves, very well maintained, with fresh cut flowers as well, but that is not as common.

So, Poland is a very colorful nation from the perspective of all the flowers in the yards and in the cemeteries and in the parks and on the streets. I even saw some sort of shade shelters were the roofs were made of potted flowers, very beautiful and well maintained. Ingenious, I thought!

But there is another source for all the color, and that is the houses themselves. Most all are built of brick with the exception of the mountain areas. But many of the newer ones, and some older, are plastered over the brick and all very brightly painted. The colors are very warm and cool at the same time, very soothing. Certainly there is nothing like deed restrictions and the property police here, but the people paint the houses with a good sense of color as well. I’ve taken lots of pictures of these homes and will certainly post some when I return.

So two things about color in Poland: houses and kwiaty in the yards. Polish people love color and know how to use it in balance and harmony—no bright pinks or hot reds or painful greens, just soothing and mellow colors, all enhancing what is by nature a beautiful country, a beautiful place.