Pelargonium and company. Beautiful flowers are grown in greenhouses in the Transcarpathian village of Zarichchya (PHOTOS)

Primroses, petunias, nasturtiums, field pansy, peony, daisies, purslane, verbena, violets, and dozens more names of fragile flowers – all that lives in the greenhouses of Mrs Maria’s household. "Just work is not enough. One must have a lot of love, and also a great patience" – the mistress says.

Unlike most of her neighbors, busy with commercial gardening, the woman willingly gives a tour of the estate. Traditionally, Zarichchya – the village in Irshava district – is known for the fortunes of its inhabitants, as well as their diligence. There are two main businesses here: freight transportation and cultivation of vegetable crops. The land is always in use here, and people work almost all year round, if not on open ground, then with seedlings and in greenhouses. The village is covered with greenhouses and the most famous early cabbage.

But Maria Marko has been breaking stereotypes for four years now. Yes, her family grows cabbage and peppers too (mainly the husband is in charge of that), but the wife is in charge of growing flowers. Her daughters and salaried workers help her, and the range expands with each season.

…The hostess can speak lovingly and in detail about each species of flower, telling what the plant should be like during flowering. The hostess herself likes pelargonium or geranium the most. Mrs Maria willingly poses with red and pink flowers and adds that if we had come a week ago we would have seen full greenhouses of spring beauty…. Now, most of the flowers grown in Zarichchya already decorate flower beds, terraces and balconies of Transcarpathia (and beyond).  The new season is in full swing, and these greenhouses will be re-used for vegetables – traditional for the village. However, in a few months they will once again make way to what Mrs Maria likes the most. Because cabbage is good, but there must me a place for beauty and inspiration too!