The Rock Garden at its best
Gothenburg Botanical Rock Garden is very proud of its Rock Garden. The garden is divided into continents and contains around 6,000 species of plants from every corner of the world, as well as an imposing waterfall and shady and arid areas. This year there is a new area in the Rock Garden featuring plants collected during journeys to the Caucasus, where several new plants were found.
In September 2011, three colleagues from Gothenburg Botanical Garden set off for Russia and the north-west Caucasus with permits to collect plants. Just over two weeks later they returned home with their cases stuffed with seeds from wild, beautiful and rare alpines and bulbs. Thanks to excellent collaboration with Russian colleagues, the collecting trip was more successful than anyone had dared to hope.
Mats Havström, scientific curator, Henrik Zetterlund, horticultural curator, and Marika Irvine, gardener at Gothenburg Botanical Garden, sit hunched over a map. They point at it, show photos and talk enthusiastically about their adventures in the Caucasus, where they travelled during the period 1–17 September 2011.
Henrik Zetterlund
Marika Irvine
Fascinating flora in the Caucasus
“The flora of the Caucasus is very diverse in species,” explains Mats Havström. “There is also a fascinating mix of species from Europe and Asia. There are many different types of habitat in the region, so we visited both forests and alpine areas.”
Henrik Zetterlund had already visited the Caucasus several times before. His previous collecting trips had been very successful.
“We wanted to go to the Caucasus because we know that the material we collect has good potential,” he says. “The majority of seeds germinate, and the plants survive many years of cultivation even in our climate. Many garden plants in western Europe originally come from this region.”
Most of the collected plants were alpines and bulbs. One of the goals of the trip was to collect specimens of Primula renifolia. This only grows wild in the Caucasus and is difficult to cultivate. Other sought-after specimens included Omphalodes lojkae, Potentilla divina and Crocus scharojanii. Specimens of Delphinium caucasicum were also collected.
‟It was fantastic to see this relatively common garden plant in its natural habitat,” says Mats Havström.
Potentilla divina
Help from local botanist
Also accompanying the expedition was Dmitry Sergeevich, a botanist from Saint Petersburg, whose help was invaluable. Thanks to him it was possible to identify many species on location.
“Most species had already finished flowering by the time we got there. This means they have to be identified using other features, such as leaf shape and seed heads,” explains Mats Havström. “This can be difficult for anyone who does not have local knowledge, since many of the species are very rare.”
Best memories of the trip
Henrik Zetterlund says that one of his best memories from the trip is the evening they had to set up their tent in a valley that was absolutely covered in Crocus vallicola.
“We couldn’t find a space that was not carpeted with flowers. In the end we had to sleep on top of a bed of this very rare species of crocus,” he says delightedly.
The Caucasus in the Rock Garden
Now visitors to Gothenburg Botanical Garden can also enjoy the gathered treasures. “But not all of them,” adds Henrik Zetterlund.
“Some of the seeds can take years to germinate.”
A portion of the gathered seeds will also be used in seed exchanges with other botanical gardens.
“This year we will be able to offer many rare and sought-after seeds. This also gives us the opportunity to exchange them for many other desirable species,” says Mats Havström with satisfaction. “Seed exchanges reduce the risk of species dying out in cultivation.”
Scabiosa ochroleuca
Astrantia maxima