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Gothenburg Botanic Gardens Day 1

It feels like I have been here more than a week already. The last 2 days have been filled to the brim with plants, people, and gardens.

On Monday, Johan introduced me to most of the garden staff and took me on a grand tour of the greenhouses and gardens. We began in the Dionysia house which features dozens of species grown to perfection; most collected by some of the staff. Many of the Dionysia are just finishing up but one does not need the flowers to appreciate them. After that we looked through the alpine greenhouse where hundreds of species of alpines grow in pots. Johan was especially excited to show me all of the Fritillaria species he is growing, many of which are flowering right now. The collection of alpines is truly incredible. There are plants from just about every corner and mountain top of the world.


Dionysia collection

The alpine house

Fritillaria pinardii

Primula reinifolia x megaseifolia

Right next to the alpine house, there is an even larger bulb house where thousands of potted bulbs
grow including many species of Crocus, Tulip, Iris, Narcissus, Muscari, Corydalis, and more Fritallaria to name a few. It's enough to make your head spin.

The bulb house
After that we toured the display houses including the tufa beds, tropical house, orchid house, and cacti house. I was quick to make my back to the alpine house to look at what is grown. As I looked closer, I noticed that every single rock was planted or covered in alpines. I could spend a full day just reading labels and taking notes. A nice feature of this tufa house is that the plants are at eye level as you walk by. This makes it much easier to appreciate and see them up close. I also noticed they use grow lights for certain areas where light is not able to fully reach boulder or for darker days when its cloudy which can be typical in Sweden.

Tufa walls









We then made our way outside to walk around the rest of the gardens. Johan brought me around to each area and highlighted several plants including the many flowering Rhododendrons, Erythroniums, Corydalis (an especially important plant to Gothenburg) and countless other spring flowering plants and shrubs. One of my favorite things that they do here is naturalize bulbs into the lawns. This technique creates a dramatic effect to the open areas.


Finally we made it to the rock garden which I had just barely glanced at the other night. Each section is divided by countries or areas of the world. Johan is responsible for the Himalayan and Asian area that is mostly made with peat blocks and is much shadier than the rest of the rock garden. Here Meconopsis, Shortia, Cardiocrinum, Erythronium, and Primula to name a few are happily growing in the sandy, peat rich soil.

The Rock Garden

Scandinavian rock garden

Shortia uniflora growing in peat blocks

Most of the rock garden is just waking up but the countless bulbs and early flowering alpines keeps you interested in every new path and corner.

After lunch we went back to discuss propagation practices, pollination and potted up Draba and Androsace.

Propagation pots and flats plunged into sand
Sowing seeds
I have had little time to work on this blog and limited Wifi but will be trying to post again tomorrow about visiting Peter Korn's Garden and much more. Stay tuned!!

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