Uppsala and the Flower King

Last week Cliff and I went on holiday to Sweden, it was a quickly planned break and we chose the destination because we've loved previous trips to Scandinavia, there was a convenient flight from our nearest airport and I'd seen some photos of lovely gardens in Uppsala on Twitter.

Uppsala is the home of Sweden's oldest university, founded in 1477; and it has a magnificent red-brick cathedral which is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. There are also impressive modern buildings, pedestrian shopping streets with heated pavements that won't get icy in winter and miles and miles of cycle-ways. 

But this blog post is about the person Uppsala is most famous for ... Carl Linnaeus, The Flower King. If you know just a little about botany or about the scientific names of living things, you will probably have heard of Linnaeus but may not know who he was and where he lived.

In 1741 Carl Linnaeus was appointed professor of Medicine at Uppsala University, with the job he got a house and a garden ... this became his botanic garden, where his collection of plants was kept and his system of how to categorise them was developed. In the years after his death the garden was neglected but has now been reconstructed and planted as Linnaeus would have organised the plants, each with their neatly written labels.

In the garden there are cold frames and an orangery, sunken ponds and even houses for monkeys! While Carl was busy giving lectures and tending his plants, his wife Sara-Lisa ran the household and looked after their 7 children; she organised the servants and with the daughters even spun and wove the cloth for the household linen. Sara-Lisa also had to entertain guests who Carl often invited at short notice ... she had a reputation of being stern, but it sounds like she had a lot on her plate!

The house is beautifully decorated with reproduced wallpapers and the exhibits include some of the family's clothes. Carl seems to have been an energetic and enthusiastic teacher, he devised nature walks from the town out into the countryside to show his students wild plants growing in different environments. And he called his 8 walking routes "Herbationes Uppsalienis", here they are drawn on a map.

If we'd had more time and and our hiking boots we would have explored the longer routes, but we were happy to walk a short section of the Herbation from the church where the Linnaeus family worshipped to the farmstead at Hammarby that Carl purchased to provide an income and produce, and a home they would have when they no longer had use of the university house in town.

Our adventure began by catching a bus to the village of Danmark and before setting off on our walk we looked inside the church ... which today is a beautifully light and serene space. In the 18th century the walls would have been white-washed but now the walls have beautiful painted decorations.

The modern glazed entrance porch is etched with horse chestnut leaves.

And the organ with birds and intertwined tendrils.

The Herbationes routes are all marked with these blue posts, so the routes are easy to navigate.

We followed a lane out of the village and along a track between a fields of green peas and flowery meadows.

The weather was warm so we took a break under the trees, the little red house was owned by Linnaeus as part of his farm, in return for allowing a veteran soldiers to live there he was let off paying tax.

After about 4 kilometres we reached the edge of the farmstead and the fenced vegetable patch.

The Linnaeus farm house is a large red-painted wooden building, visits are by guided tour only because inside has been preserved exactly as it was when Carl and Sara-Lisa lived there. One of their daughters continued to live in the house before it was preserved as a museum, Carl Linnaeus was a celebrity scientist in his own life-time so no-one changed the house after his death. 

All the wallpapers are original and Carl's study and the bedroom he shared with Sara-Lisa are decorated with botanical prints pasted over all of the walls.

(borrowed image, source unknown)

Behind the farm house and buildings is a rocky hill and woodland, here Carl built a small museum to house his precious collection of specimen plants and fossils, safe from possible fires which often broke out in the town. He also grew plants grown from seed sent to hime by people from across Europe, including Siberian plants sent by Catherine II of Russia.

I sat in the wood behind the farm and looked at the Swedish 100K note we'd brought with us (from a previous trip to Sweden, the note ceased to be legal tender 2 days before this holiday!). On the note you can see a portrait of Carl Linnaeus with a drawing from his treatise 'Sponsalia planetarium' or 'The Nuptials of Flowers' of the plant Dog's Mercury which grows abundantly all around. It was this plant that he noticed has separate male and female plants, and so it confirmed the sexual nature of plants.

The study of botany at Uppsala university continued after Linnaeus's death at a much larger botanic gardens on the site of the castle gardens. Today it's a wonderful place to wander and enjoy formal gardens and modern planting schemes as well as experimental and educational planting. (The restricted summer opening hours meant we never did get to see inside the glass houses or try the café.)

Around the city centre there are parks and plants on every corner. I loved the new planting in the new development behind the railway station. Alchemilla mollie and Alliums seem to be favourite plants throughout the city.

We noticed that many of the city flower beds and planters included vegetables, such as these huge containers right in the main square by the bus stops ... a huge abundant potager of herbs and vegetables. This is part of a scheme to get people to grow edible plants in the city in 2017 ... I wonder if it will continue after this year, I hope it does.

After all the walking and looking at gardens and plants, I think it's time for Fika ... a sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and a cake ... it's the Swedish equivalent of Hygge ... how very civilised.

Celia

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Meadow appreciation

Did you know that July 1st is National Meadows Day? so this blog post is aptly timed.

For the past 2 years I have designed Christmas cards for the wildflower charity Plantlife, and as a thank you I was offered a tour of one of their nature reserves. The nearest (70 miles away) is Seaton Meadows, and today I went there to meet Plantlife's Nature Reserves Manager Joe Costley.

Seaton Meadows nature reserve is in the small county of Rutland in the East Midlands, the 28 acres of meadows are in the Welland Valley and lie under the longest brick built viaduct in Britain. Architectural and plant heritage in one place. The reserve is dedicated to the memory of Geoff Hamilton who presented Gardeners' World on BBC TV and was on Plantlife's Advisory Council.

Joe explained that just over half the meadow land is flood-meadow and this is where those plants special to the now rare water-meadow habitat can be found ... such as Greater Burnet, Pepper Saxifrage and Meadow Rue.

As we walked round the meadows Joe pointed out that the moisture levels, the areas that have silt deposits from flooding, the hummocks and the dips, each support a slightly different mix of plants. So the meadow isn't a uniform colour and texture, it is a blending of areas different grasses and herbs.

Looking across the meadow at low level you can see the different heights of the plants, the dots of purple Common Knapweed and yellow Meadow Vetchling among the green grass; pale grass seed heads sway above; and even taller, the branching stems of the Greater Burnet with their burgundy bobble-like flower-heads.

As we walked through the dense thatch of grasses and herbs, we could hear the now dry seed-pods of Yellow Rattle. This is the plant that is included in 'meadow' seed mixtures because it is a partial parasite ... its roots attach to the grasses roots and weaken them, so other meadow herbs can flourish.

After my guided tour I decided to stay a while, I'd brought with me a packed lunch, a folding chair and my sketchbook and paints. I selected a pitch on one of the hummocks in the water meadow and settled down to look, listen and sketch.

I began to hear birds singing, a Skylark rose up out of the grasses nearby and started its song directly above me, so loud! then gradually fading as it climbed into the sky.

Sitting on my low seat I could see the movement of dozens of butterflies ... Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Small Tortoiseshells. I spotted a Burnet Moth, its red and iridescent indigo wings were like jewels. The sound of bees buzzing was all around me. Mainly Red-tailed Bumblebees and some Carder Bees.

Drawing the scene meant looking even closer at the colours and textures; the swaying mix of plant shapes; and at the vast man-made viaduct striding across the valley.

So, find a meadow ... it needn't be a special nature reserve or large. Just a wild patch of grasses and flowers. Sit still and let the meadow tell you its story.

Celia
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An evening orchid hunt in the SW corner of Suffolk

We've just been on an orchid hunt . . .

The first one we spied was this bright cerise Southern Marsh Orchid, just starting to open.

Next we found some beautiful spires of palest mauve speckled flowers of the Common Spotted Orchid

And on our return route we found some lovely tall stems of the Pyramidal Orchid just coming into flower.

And nearby I was thrilled to find lots of gorgeous Bee Orchids.

Close up you can see the bee-like lower petal.

Then I spotted . . . not another orchid but a Broomrape, possibly Common Broomrape, but after consulting 'A Flora of Suffolk' I found there are many species and sub-species each specific to a different host plant and particular habitat - Broomrapes are parasitic. Amazingly a Broomrape seed can seek out and attach itself to particular species of plant's root and when it detects it has found the right host, it germinates and plugs itself into the host plant's vascular system and grows a flowering stem.

This is where we were orchid hunting . . . it isn't a nature reserve, it's the 'flood-park' on the edge of Haverhill opposite a supermarket and a DIY store. The lake and marshy meadow surrounded by high embankments is a safety-valve allowing the swollen waters of the Stour Brook to be diverted by sluices and prevent flooding in the town centre.

It's worth looking for wildflowers wherever you are . . . you never know what you may find.

Celia

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(Un)seasonality

This morning on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, there was an item about the number of wildflowers that were seen to be flowering in Cardiff on New Year's Day, 63 different species! You can read more about it and see the list of species, here.

I had exchanged Tweets with Wessex Reiver and said I'd see what was in flower on my lunch time walk . . .

I began in the garden, the Winter Honeysuckle (lonicera fragrantissima) is in full flower already and the scent is delightful

 

there are a dozen more plants and shrubs in flower . . .

 

Pansy; Honesty; Winter Jasmine;
Feverfew; Perrywinkle; Primrose;
Rose; Calendula; Viburnum;
Polyanthus; Flowering Box; Garrya.

Out across the fields self-seeded Rape plants are in bloom, some fields glowed yellow in the sunshine!

 

My route took me over the fields, following a footpath parallel with the Stour Brook, one of the main feeder steams to to River Stour which divides Suffolk from Essex and winds its way through Constable Country to the North Sea at the port of Harwich. Along the way I spotted a dozen wildflowers in bloom.

 

White Deadnettle; Groundsel; Mustard;

Rape; Shepherd's Purse; Hogweed;

Chamomile; Dandelion; Yarrow;

Red Deadnettle; Red Campion; Wild Stawberry.

The wide "DEFRA Wildlife Headlands" have had their annual cut by the farm contractors (the sign has been minced too!) I've noticed the birdlife and particularly the raptor populations have seemed to benefit from these areas, as we now regularly see Barn, Tawny and Little Owls as well as Sparrow Hawks, Kestrels, Buzzards and the occasional Marsh Harrier and Red Kite.

The recent storm brought down one of the Crack Willows on the bank of the brook and smashed it down over the footpath. Crack Willows are meant to crack and if left alone the branches smashed into the ground will root and new branches with grow vertically and become new trees. This won't be allowed to happen here, it will soon be moved away and the footpath with be clear again.

Behind the village church are paddocks, normally there are elegant retired race horses, but today – look at these little Shetland ponies racing to say hello!

 

 Smile for the camera!

The ponies weren't the only creatures enjoying the mild temperatures and sun today . . . or posing for the camera . . .

 

Do you recognise who this is?

It's Cheep!

Celia
x

Suffolk . . . the sea side

We didn't want to waste a Bank Holiday Monday doing home stuff, so where should be go? We live in Suffolk, famous for it's lovely coastal towns and villages; from our village it's a good two hours drive to cross the width of the county and reach the sea side – but sometimes a visit to the sea is a must.

The sea-side! "How about Southwold, or maybe Walberswick and we could go to Dunwich Heath" . . . I had a plan :-)

We decided to skip Southwold and go straight to Walberswick, we had not been there before – and it's not exactly on the way to anywhere else, in fact it's at the end of a long narrow lane that leads to Walberswick and nowhere else! The village is quite small and sits on the right bank of the Blyth estuary and it was once a busy port, there's a couple of pubs, a tea-room and some small shops, and lots of little black-tar painted wooden shacks along the shore.

We were surprised by the number of people there, "What's going on? There must be an event!" But there wasn't, it was just lots of families happily engrossed in the simple pass-time of 'crabbing'!

After a lovely lunch in the tea-room garden (it was just warm enough to sit outside, in a bracing English sea-side fashion – and wearing outdoor jackets with the collars up) we decided to move on. We drove down the coast, past Dunwich – the town that was lost to the sea – and along a road through the mounds of purple heather to Dunwich Heath.

And look! the clouds parted and we could walk along the beach in the sunshine!

We watched the waves roll in and leave lace patterns along the sand.

I found a tiny silver fish.

We even lay down on the shingle bank and basked like a couple of seals!

Those clouds moving in from the west looked a bit serious!
So we headed back to the white buildings you can just see in the distance.

Those buildings are the Coastguard Cottages, now owned by the National Trust – they are holiday cottages and a lovely tearoom with a huge selection of delicious cakes! There's also a barn a little way behind, on the heather covered heath – we popped in to see an exhibition (you see – that was my cunning plan). I was interested to see Mandy Walden's hand-coloured colograph prints – her work is inspired by the birds, animals and landscape around Dunwich Heath and seeing her work in situ on the heathland by the sea really brought it to life.

We loved the beach – in fact I think it will now be one of our favourite Suffolk sea-sides. I liked the wildness and the curious plant-life on the shingle bank – like this Sea Kale . . .


and this Sea Poppy plant (also known as the Yellow Horned Poppy, glaucium flavum) – just look at those sculptural leaves . . .

next year that plant will be covered with bright yellow flowers and then long slim seed pods . . .


The paths over the heath were edged with gorse bushes, still covered with their coconut-scented yellow flowers and ripening blackberries tumbled over them in a rich clash of colours.


On the way home we passed through the village of Peasenhall – we'd spied an inviting emporium selling all sorts of vintage treasures . . . so we stopped and went in for a browse – which was a perfect end to a day over on the sea side of Suffolk.

Top: bargain buys from Walberswick – a butterfly printed tunic and a woven straw food cover.
Bottom: from The Shed in Peasenhall – a vintage jelly mould and a box of Suffolk blend tea from Peasenhall Village Shop.

Celia

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